We barely had enough time to pull this off in time. I was so grateful that I had just gotten rid of a TON of stuff around the whole house and felt really organized (was it inspired maybe??). But I immediately listed some bigger furniture items on Craigslist and gave away a TON more to friends and the Goodwill. The literal day after receiving the job offer a friend in the ward came and filled up the back of a pickup truck with furniture we wanted to give away. It was awesome.
The first priority was getting our house on the market ASAP. We hired a realtor who is really great. We had a stager come and tell us what to do to make the house look good for pictures. So... job offer Friday, got rid of a TON of stuff Saturday, stager came Sunday. My goal was to get the house ready for pictures by that Friday, NO LATER. That meant getting rid of a TON more, throwing a lot away, packing up almost everything (basically just leaving the things that make the house look good for pictures and things that we'd still need that could fit in a closet or cupboard or things we would pack in suitcases to last us the next month until we got to our destination). Oh boy. I thought I could do it by myself but I was feeling pretty stressed out.
My dear friend Karen (who I refer to as my Virginia mom) came over all day everyday Monday-Thursday that week. I was imagining she would help take care of the kids so I could pack and clean but no, she showed up Monday morning with a bunch of supplies- heavy duty packing tape dispensers, painting supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. and she got to work helping me pack. She basically taught me how to pack (I didn't think about how small boxes are good for heavy things ;-)), she played with the kids when they needed attention but for the most part the kids helped, played by themselves, or watched movies and stayed out of the way. Karen either held Jack or kept working while I got him to sleep or fed him. It energized and encouraged me to have her there with me so I didn't feel alone. I saw so many miracles that week. The kids were so self-sufficient, well-behaved, patient, and helpful. Jack basically put himself to sleep, the poor babe. Karen was an angel heaven-sent. There's no way I could've pulled it off at all by myself, let alone by my deadline, without her help. Also my friend Emily went in her pickup truck to fill it up with tons of boxes and packing supplies from a house across town (like 40 minutes away) someone was getting rid of on Craigslist and brought them to me, that was huge.
We packed up half our garage full of boxes, painted a wall, did touch-up painting throughout the house, Magic-Erased the walls (friends came over to help with that too!), cleaned baseboards, all while taking care of kids. After a couple days we lost some steam but pushed through, kept working, and made the deadline of Friday morning (July 31st). Karen also brought beautiful arrangements of flowers to put throughout the house (the stager had suggested that but there is no way I would've made that happen). The photographer came Friday morning to take pictures of the house. It was SUCH A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT!!!
Here is the link of pictures of the house that I was so proud to show my family and close friends!! :-)
http://tours.vahomepics.com/public/vtour/display/386237
It was so crazy when the house was officially listed and they brought the For Sale sign. It all felt so surreal. That happened the following Tuesday, August 4th.
Once pictures were taken I sold/got rid of more, did more cleaning, more throwing away, packed up all the kitchen cupboards, the framed pictures, food storage, pantry, bathroom closets, everything in the whole house besides big stuff that would go in the moving truck, and our suitcases. It had to be all done and we had to be ready to start our trek West Thursday morning (August 6th). Some great friends took the kids all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday which was sooo helpful. Some friends came to help me pack and clean too. It was so awesome, so heaven-sent. I was so grateful and felt so much love. I saw Heavenly Father's hand in our lives over and over and over and over, blessing us, guiding us, helping us, sending us help. It was the only way we could've done all we did in the time we had. I felt His love and help and awareness of me throughout this whole process, it was amazing and something I'll never forget. It confirmed to me that this was the right thing for us to do at this time and that everything would work out.
We took a picture of us our last day at our house together as a family.
No comments:
Post a Comment