Everybody should move houses every once in a while. We've been in this house for close to 9 years. In that amount of time we went from a two-person young couple to a middle aged couple with 2 children. The amount of "stuff" we've accumlated is mind-boggling, and we're not even people who go shopping every weekend (or hardly ever).

I'm discovering that there is something very freeing about packing up to move. Going through every little thing we own, one piece at a time, is very liberating. I'm finding all kinds of things I didn't know I had but am glad I do. And lots more things we need to find an appropriate home for. As I organize (yes, we Vieten's love to organize) and really sift through things with a critical eye, I'm sort of enjoying the process of getting rid of things we no longer need. Does that make me weird?

God Bless Craigslist.com. I've listed several things for sale, and several things under the "free" section and have found many grateful people who are happy to come and take things from my doorway that I'm happy to have out of my house. I kept 3 boxes of kids books and gave away one giant box. Boy, was that lady happy. And the box of children's videos (yes, videos, not even DVDs) was incredibly helpful to another young couple and their children. As we cull through things it's a good exercise for us all, including the kids. Christopher discovered that yes, there are some stuffed animals that are important to him, and others that we could happily give away to another child with less. It's a wonderful lesson.

I'm grateful that so far, the moving and packing has been liberating and beneficial to others rather than stressful. I'm praying that we can get things done over the course of the month and keep it this way rather than feeling stressed by last minute details (although to a certain extent, that is probably inevitable..but I'm looking at degrees!).