these walls

We close on our current home in 2 days and move is 6!!

It is a strange feeling, leaving this house.  So much of me inside is just so eager to leave, to get out of the packing mess, to have a yard, and to not feel like the walls are enclosing in on me any longer.  But there are a lot of emotions attached to this house also.

When Brett and I moved in just 6 years ago it was just the 2 of us.  Our first home together.  It was such an exciting time, buying a house, settling in and creating new friendships close by, not realizing all that the walls surrounded us had in store for the next 6 years.

The person buying our house is a single male, which is slightly funny since he didn't mind all of the pink included in the house, it actually somehow makes me appreciate him more.  However, little will he know all of the stories and all the life that the walls that surround him hold.

These walls share so much laughter, and the building of friendships, the sounds of guitar hero and late nights and dinner with our friends.

These walls tell a story of a beginning, full of excitement of the life of a couple who like so many others wanted a place to start a family. 

These walls tell of the start of that journey of a tiny baby girl conceived, a baby that would change them forever.  That would allow them to see the joy of life, to understand so much more of how much their heavenly father loves them.

But then these walls tell of a devastating loss of a mother.  They hold the tears and sounds of a completely unexpected death during that pregnancy.  They hold a few memories of that mom, what seems like just a few minutes of her knowing the exciting news of a grand baby to come.

These walls hold those very first tiny cries of when that baby girl came.  They hold that night the parents stayed up so late, although exhausted, but some how to excited to sleep on the night they first held that baby girl in those walls.

And then the walls, they see and hear that child grow. The squeals and delights that fill the walls.  The help protect her and surround her and keep her safe.

Many years later these walls know of another baby conceived and yet lost just a few weeks later.... they again hold the tears and sadness as this family mourns knowing their family won't grow like expected.

These walls hold the memory of special girl, so dear to the families heart, one that the walls got to know a little as she lived with the family for several months.  The walls were blessed by her presence and forever changed, just like the family for knowing her.

These walls know of the completely unexpected this family has encountered and has yet to come.

These walls know of the deep cries and moans on Dec 11, 2010 when yet again a devastating loss of a sister has occurred.  These walls hold that raw moment, they hear it like no one else.  They see and hear the intensity of the loss, the deep wound and scar it has caused and has forever changed these walls and this family.

Yet these walls feel the warmth and hope of yet another baby conceived.  They hear the laughter and feel the joy of the family who knows a God who s always full of surprises.  They hold that moment, that day when a seed of hope is planted within that family, within the walls.

These walls hold another incredibly special moment, when a sweet little 20 month old girls was brought into these walls, to be kept forever. These walls surrounded her and protected her the instant she came inside.  They knew she was precious, they knew the loss she held was deep.  They new that something special had happened, unlike anything it had every know.  These walls held the excitement of a family growing, experiencing change and difficulty, heartache and love all at once.

These walls see the bonds grow between the 2 little girls.  It sees that sweet love between the two cousins, now sisters.

And then these walls hear the sweet cries of a tiny baby again, a sound they have been longing to hear.  The sound of a sister added to the family.  The sound of rejoicing.  The sound of hope.  The sound of once was a family of 2, now a family of 5.

And these walls watch these 3 sisters grow.

And for a final time these walls hear the exciting news of another baby yet to come.  The walls rejoice, but hold a sense of sadness as they know they will be no longer be able to hold this family, the one that started with just 2.  These walls treasure the last moments of the squeals, the dancing, the delight this family has given them.  And this family will forever be grateful for the 6 years these walls gave them.

Now these walls will get a fresh start and hopefully a fresh coat of paint with the new owner.  They will have new memories to build and hold, but hopefully they will never forget they ones they started with.

And the carpet.... well it holds more poop, pee and vomit than the new owner would ever care to know.....