Day 5: August 31, 2023
Diapers changed: 8
Remember yesterday when I was thinking really big picture? Yeah, me too.
That was nice. Now this weekend is going to be all about the next two months aka moving to our home state of Texas.
First step? Clean the house for showings to get it sold.
At around 9 a.m. today, I got up before the rest of the house (we’re late to bed and late to rise around these parts!)
I got to work cleaning the house for our fifth showing. When we sold our first house about a year and a half ago, Abigail was, well, only about 7 months old. Which meant she didn’t have the mobility or desire to leave her clothing and toys strewn about the house.
Showings were much easier back then. As we downsize to move into the camper, I’ve realized something that is helping me keep the house together:
Less stuff = less mess.
This is probably pretty apparent to most of you reading this, but I suppose I’d just ignored my mom every time she told me growing up that it didn’t seem like a real thing as a mom myself.
But here I am! Now donating more and more tubs filled with toys and clothes. It feels like every time I get the house ready for a showing I find more secret stashes of plastic toys Abigail doesn’t care about that I promptly drive over to the Salvation Army.
This consistent donation process has made cleaning up the floors and the kitchen counter (previously our most troublesome spots in the house) a thirty-minute sweep instead of a two-hour endeavor. Win!
At about 1:45 p.m. we skedaddled out of the house, picked up some Chik-Fil-A for the family, and went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore to see if we couldn’t replace all of the stuff I was donating. (Kidding, we were looking for a desk chair for our camper living room. Another thing I’ve learned while preparing to downsize is that if you don’t stop buying a bunch of junk, you’ll always be surrounded by the same amount of junk!)
We’ll hear back tomorrow what they thought about the house and if they’re putting in an offer. Asking Saint Joseph to intercede on our behalf and send somebody our way who wants to buy it!
Marinara & Monotony
In the evening, I was planning to make some spaghetti but realized we were out of marinara sauce. Alas. Caleb saved the day with a delicious idea for a chicken and cream of mushroom pasta bake which turned out fabulous (as most of his cooking endeavors do . . . it’s why I keep him around!)
This might seem like a monotonous detail to mention. Perhaps it is. But it’s these little wins that bring joy to the mundanity (and sometimes, pain) of married life. Caleb and I are far from perfect and have had seriously painful times in our marriage (maybe I’ll share this another day, I think pain in marriage is a more common experience than most committed Christians want to admit).
Here’s an incredible quote on this from Father Altier’s “God’s Plan for Your Marriage”:
“Married people must understand this: on the Day of Judgement they will not be responsible for how well their spouses lived out their marriage vows; they will be responsible for how they themselves lived out their marriage vows. Since the vow is to love, it is necessary to make the love grow every day. Love is a virtue, and like any other virtue, it grows only when it is tested. This is why God does not allow the emotional high to remain long after the wedding day and why it occurs seldom thereafter.
God wants your love to grow, so He allows the majority of the spousal relationship to be routine or even difficult.”
God works through all things, happy or painful, to bring joy.
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