3000 lbs

So this past week we had to sort all of our belongings down to only 3000 lbs. Ok, so missionary friends who sort down to 2 suit cases per person, how? How do you sort all of your worldly goods to such small amounts? I am struggling with 3000 lbs! Part of my struggle has been dating back to a conversation M and I had when we were dating and talking about marriage. This is how the conversation went...

B - I love you and want to marry you. This Marine Corps thing can work for me. I do not like to travel (hahahaha because of all the traveling I do) but I would not mind living all over. The military moves our things, right?
M - Right
B - So, as long as I can come home to my things that make my home homey, it will be fine.
M - Nod

Can you tell M was not wordy back then either?

So now comes week before last. We are preparing for our 5th move in 6 years...that is a lot to begin with. Matthew calls to let me know that we can only take 3000 lbs of our allotted home goods because we are doing an overseas tour. That means none of my furniture id going. I cried and cried. This was not what I had signed up for. I thought our moves would look differently. Especially -- USMC -- if you are listening. Doesn't is cost just as much to store our things for 3 years as it would to ship our things? So I struggled...yes I am attached to my stuff. I look at my dining room set and think, wow, we bought that with my first pay check after we were married. Or I look at my brand new living room furniture and think, we took 2 years to find that and we finally have the living room that we wanted. You see, when we married, part of wanting to wait 5 years to have a baby was so that we could work on each room pay check at a time. We would be able to decide what we wanted and have nice things to live in.

We also feel that as a couple, we love to have people over. We love having Bible studies at our house, people for dinner, kids to play, etc. Part of our home being inviting is that we have a homey home. So now that is gone for the next 3 years. Overseas without any of my furniture that makes my home mine.

Then I struggle because Christians are constantly talking about this world being temporary and we can't take it when we go and that being attached to worldly things is wrong. So then I feel guilty about liking my home and the things in my home. Well, you know what, when you want to have a place for other Christians to gather, a comfortable home is better. God has blessed us with the ability to have a comfortable home that we like to welcome others with. Though during the last several years we have not as much because of recruiting, and M being gone for a total of 10 months since 2007, we haven't been able to have lots of events at our house. We have done what we could and I enjoy having a place where people can gather.


I have come to terms with this move not looking like I thought it would and we got to work. On Sat. M and I met up at the storage unit and sorted through all of our boxes, furniture and stuff. We stored away all big furniture. We stored away my books...I love to read and reread books, so this sucks...
We pulled out anything that would help make our home homey:
linens, decorations, wall hangings, Christmas stuff, decorative pillows, and all of L's items. Her dresser, crib, books and toys are going. I hope we have some how sorted our stuff down to 3000 lbs. If not we have to pay $4.00/pound if we go over our weight. YIKES!!! We shall see how this goes.

On a positive note, friends and family have helped me to think of the good things about not taking as much stuff:
* I had joked about going to the beach every day, but now since I may not like our home as much, I may really go to the beach every day
* L can throw up, poop on and spill things on the Gov' furniture and when I come back my furniture will still look brand new
* We are going to a a BEAUTIFUL island where there are tons of outdoors things to do
* We get to be on island with my brother who is stationed there
* We get to take several vacations not visiting family since we have been married 6 years on Sunday and have yet to Vaca w/o visiting family. We love our family of course, but it will be nice to get away just the 3 of us
* L gets to see a different culture, festivals, and experiences
* I might get to sub since the DOD schools really need subs. So I may get a taste of the classroom again
* God will be glorified for all the blessings we have!
* God is teaching me to live without my stuff and he didn't have to burn down my house for me to learn the lesson. He is teaching me the easy way to be more reliant on him
* The best of all...We will be with M on a more regular basis! Even though he will be deployed frequently, we will still see him more than we do now
* We are all healthy and able to go on this new adventure
* We get to think about what traditions we want to start with our daughter. Maybe we can have some cool traditions around moving and starting in new places. Any ideas??

So that has been where I have been, mentally, for the past couple of weeks. We are grateful to family and friends for supporting us through talks, letting us stay with you and just your overall love and prayers!