Clear-Out

Melanie —  July 11, 2010

Our glorious sunny (and hot!) weather is continuing here in our part of the United Kingdom.  It is a little too hot for my liking but we aren’t complaining . . . just soaking up as much vitamin D as possible to make up for the rest of the year when it is so rainy.  In preparation for our upcoming move, we have been having a HUGE clearout and de-clutter.  My friend Michelle came over yesterday and helped me do most of the playroom yesterday and today the older girls and I did their room.  Much, much rubbish taken out and many bags for charity shop, etc.  We are thinking of having a sale out front of our house soon and giving the proceeds to Open Doors.  The charity shop would be easier but the kids are very keen to have the sale. 🙂   The Lord has blessed us and friends have given us money to pay for us to use a moving company.  So I guess in reality we wouldn’t  have to be doing all this decluttering as the movers will be packing us but it sure will be nice to start fresh in our new house.  I can’t believe just the sheer amount of rubbish that has been living in our house!  This morning’s message at church was from Colossians 3 and included the verses about putting to death the deeds of the sinful nature and getting rid of sins of the tongue, etc.  The “rubbish” we harbor in our lives is far more serious than the rubbish hanging around in our houses . . . very convicting for me . . . maybe its time for a spiritual clear-out.

So, three weeks from tomorrow the big move happens.  I have a long list of people to arrange to get together with before we go.  Thankfully, since we don’t have to pack, we should have plenty of time to spend with friends.   I am feeling good physically so that is helping immensely with all the busyness.  Peter has had a marathon day, well a marathon weekend actually.  He left yesterday at 5:30am and got home at 3:30 pm.  Then he left at 9am this morning for the church he preached at and came back at 6pm (after spending hours in traffic) just in time to get to the Oakhall evening service to preach there.  Then he went off to some friends’ house to watch the World Cup final which was recorded.  The kids and I went to some other friends’ house late this afternoon and the children had a blast playing in the paddling pool and having water fights.  There are so many people we will miss so much.

A few more tidbits from life around here . . . Joel’s precious bear-bear went missing for 2 days but was found this morning on our windowsill behind the lace curtain.  I think Peter and I stressed about it even more than Joel did! . . . Our baby bunnies are growing like crazy.  They are the cutest things.  The girls have named them (uh-oh!) . . . Sunny, Daffodil, Patches and Sleepy (the runt).  We are hoping Daffodil is a girl because we would like to keep her.  The rest need to find good homes!  They will be moving with us to Chippenham because they won’t be old enough to leave their mum in 3 weeks time.  OK, it is late and I need to clean up the kitchen before I sleep.  Thank you for praying for us in this busy time.  I am really feeling relaxed (I think especially due to us having a moving company AND all the prayer that I am sure is going up for us).  We are very thankful for God’s amazing goodness in our lives.