Organization

I spent most of my day in the garage. Why? Because my husband had a bug up his butt (finally) to organize all of our things. That means going through all of our boxes and re-stacking. I think it was mainly to gain more space so he and Chad can work on a truck motor...

Being in that garage, touching our things, never fails to open my eyes to the fact that we live with other people. Since soon before our son was born we have lived completely on our own. There was a time after Ike's birth that Jenn and Chad lived with us in Kansas...but it is so very different. Now we reside in a room with our 3 year old daughter and our son shares a room with their son. The majority of the life we left behind sits in a 4x10 space outside, neatly stacked and out of the way.
All of the things that have identified us as a family for the last 9 years is packaged up in cardboard.

I realize I am probably stating the same thing...just in different ways. I am trying to convey, and understand, how I feel right now.

But...today has reminded me that those 'things' out there do NOT define us...they merely belong to us. The bodies in this house, our relationship with each other, and the lessons that we have learned through all of this - those things define us.

And we have hope - something we did not have at this time last year. Some things have been brought to our attention in the last few weeks that I feel will completely change our lives, but we must keep the lessons we've learned fresh in our minds or it will be inevitable that we fail again. I believe we have grown and come past all that.