To store and to take

After the last post many people have asked me what we will be storing and taking.  The few things we are storing at my Aunt Margie's are family treasures.  The dining table that use to be my great Aunt Julia's.  It is where some of my favorite memories have taken place.  Where we sit to eat, paint, write letters and do homework year after year.  It is where Uno and Monopoly are played late into the night.  And where some of the most important conversations and deepest belly laughing have taken place.  Our bedroom furniture will be stored with the table also.  My parents had it when I was a girl and my mom's parents had it before her.  I remember watching my mom put on her perfume for a date while sitting at the desk where I now write thank you notes.  The sideboard my parents bought as newlyweds and the blue wedding china that was my grandmother's, a few blue glass pieces, and the polish pottery from Aunt B.  And I cannot not forget the basic kitchen items worth storing.  My kitchen was never as well stocked as my art closet, but my mother in law gave me a beautiful cast iron dutch oven this Christmas that my sister will now cook soup in.

So what made the list to take?  Favorite photos that will remind us of our stories, art work, and few other things.  They hold no monetary value but tremendous heart value.  I will take one blue glass piece my sister gave me in college.  A letter from my grandmother reminding me to give and save before I spend.  And a book my mom and dad gave me in college, the note written inside making it impossible to part with.

I will bring the clay pieces the boys have made.  The toothy play dough grin that Levi made when he was four.  It's lopsided grin has smiled me through every dish washing for the past five years.  And Luke's happy made up creature he made when he was seven.  His yellow mitts held up in the air, seeming to always yell "hurrah, isn't life grand?"  One of the drawings I bring will be the picture Ian drew last month.  The one where Levi is towering over me with his hand outstretched and resting on my shoulder.  I love that one piece of art more than any I have created.

Luke wants to bring some of his favorite books. The ones that he pours over late into the night.  Each one picked out by a Grandparent, Aunt, or Uncle that knows him well.  Levi is convinced he can pack every Lego piece in the house.  With generous Young Life guys having given the majority, I am pretty sure a large amount will be left at Grandma's house.  Ian wants to pack all things Nerf... and Jub Jub, the cat.  Jeff is happy to bring some books that have helped him get through ten years of ministry with a heart still full.  The things we will take will remind us where we have come from and who we say good bye to.  They will bring pieces of our past and our home with us to begin a new chapter.  It is pretty interesting that a house full of beautiful things can get whittled down to papers, photos, and handwritten notes.  So we plan to land in Scotland with a light load but with very full hearts.