

As I prepare to sell the house and transition into living alone, I've been trying to eliminate as much stuff as possible. I'm also trying to do it in a responsible way: finding new homes for things with people who can use them, donating to organizations that I know need what we have, and of course I hope the kids will take a lot with them when they move out and set up their own homes. There are a few things I will probably try to sell, but mostly I hope to use everything to bless other people.

I've cried when I parted with Kevin's glasses (Lions Club), and some of his coats (Horizon House), but it all still felt right even though it is really sad. There was one last week that was really upsetting, though, and sadly it's not going to someone who can use it - it's going back to the bank.

Kevin & I bought a camper in 2010, and we had so much fun in it. When the kids and I were cleaning it out, I realized that we had never had a fight or a bad day at all while we were camping. That camper holds nothing but good memories and lots of love. I've tried to sell it and I can't, because we owe more than it's worth. I can't justify continuing to make payments on something, especially since I can't use it (can't pull a camper behind a Beetle), and I really don't want to go camping without Kevin anyway. So I finally told the bank to come get it, and they picked it up a few days ago.
It made me sadder than I expected; I actually burst into tears at work as soon as I hung up the phone. Thank God for a caring coworker who took the time to pray with me for comfort, and share a scripture and some chocolate with me too.
It's not the camper itself that I really want to hang on to, though. It's all the good memories we made there. So I'm sharing a few pictures and a few memories here. And since I know that God is in control, I trust that when the bank auctions the camper off He will direct it to to someone who will enjoy it as much as we did. The top left picture at the start of this post is the day we picked the camper up, still at the dealership. The pictures above on the right side are all at the dealership too, the day we decided this camper was the one for us. Kevin didn't really like me to make his picture, so sometimes I had to take two or three before I could get him to smile.