NEXT STEP

Last night I finished the last of the book boxes - I can't believe how ruthless I was cutting down on my inventory! Today's project will be taking pictures down - we plan to take them "by hand." Paul says, "It all has to be done." Indeed, it does. It's only about eight weeks until he retires and that is rushing by at the speed of light. Yesterday Sher called at lunchtime - she does when she's sitting outside because she has no cell phone reception in her building - and said, "I'm coming to see you!" "When? Was your TDY cancelled?" "No, but it's only three and a half weeks till I come for my reunion!" Put that way, it just seems right upon us!

And baby Tyler will be here about that time - due date July 19. Morgan's shower is May 22, and I'm not sure I'll be able to go since we will have been home two weekends in a row, and then I'll be there the week of June 4 when Sher comes. So excited about my new great-nephew! Can't wait to meet him! Marsha said something about Grandmommy and Granddaddy - I told her it'll be interesting to see how Tyler hears and says those words - who Grandmommy and Granddaddy will eventually "be!"

I finished packing the last of the books last night, with the exception of a few stragglers, or those I want to know where they are and can get to them. Today's project: start taking pictures down. Won't the house look stripped then!? Well, ours sure will because we (I) have lots of pictures... I have used the smallest hanger/nail/pin I could use for the weight just so there wouldn't be huge visible holes in the walls. We have the paint for touch-ups though. Pictures will be hand-moved by us. Also all my pottery I made in the class I took in 2006; Sher's gift pottery to me. Sea shells. My "Girl Reading Book" statuette, of course. This one is Sher's and I have one just like her.

So up I get and to work I go. I'm sure the tears will come later, but I have to say - I feel so fortunate, so blessed that we've had fine people looking at the house and any of them today I would feel great about living here and loving this little house. Mama Nick's house is becoming home and not just a place to visit. What a history we've had there as well! Christmases, holidays, Amy's summer vacations there. How many trips we've made over the last 42 years, carrying Christmas gifts home with us, getting stuck behind trucks when Highway 72 was still two-lane, taking potty chairs, bottles, baby dolls; taking friends on visits (Traveling Buddies); seeing Mama at her little house by the creek; getting iced in one winter when I went to see her and "having" to stay until the roads thawed!; trips Sher and I took with her, rides down Rose Trail, overnight in the state park in Alabama... So, yeah - really going "home." We've been blessed to have two homes, really. And Mama Nick has reassured us, too, that she is thankful we will be taking up the care of her house, happy that we bought it. When we moved to Wynne, I "found" (God showed me) this verse:

God setteth the solitary in families...

Psalm 68:6a

His reassurance to me that we would be part of His family here, in Wynne. And now I'm thankful that we'll get to be with relatives and old friends and he once again "setteth" us in families.