The big project Saturday was to make a serious dent in cleaning out our shed before getting ready to move. Some stuff (which somehow was mostly mine….) was in boxes that had not been touched since we moved here years ago. 😳 I knew I wouldn’t keep most of it, but I didn’t want to just throw the boxes away without looking through them first, because I knew there were some treasures in there.

So while Jim, Jeremy, and Jesse took care of some of the bigger items, I sorted through boxes of old magazine articles and recipes (that I had planned someday to file :roll:), letters, notes, etc. I just flipped through and threw away most of anything that appeared to be torn out of a magazine or newspaper — I figured if I had done without those clippings this long, I probably didn’t need them. But this struck me funny in light of all of our house-hunting:

I did find some old bulletins with some poems and quotes I want to keep. Some of them that I tossed included stories and poems that still circulate the Internet today! I found some “Pastorgraphs,” various thoughts on the backs of church bulletins from a beloved former pastor for whom our son Jesse is named, some of which I might post in the future.

I found an old notebook from college days with dividers for sections for devotions, sermon notes, prayer requests, Christmas shopping lists, etc. The very first page had this list:

And yes, I think I got him. 🙂 ♥

I found several pages of notes from devotions that I will have to read through later:

I don’t take notes like that any more, I think because I kept piling up all these notes without ever really consulting them again. But I probably should. What little bit I read was an interesting picture of what I was learning and thinking at the time. I probably would think through the passages better if I were still taking notes like that.

I also found a few letters and personal notes. One from Jim from dating days brought a smile. It said:

THIS IS A LEGAL DOCUMENT

Do not destroy until the agreement specified has been fulfilled.

To the bearer, Barbara F—, I,  James H—, promise to honor this note concerning an agreement made in the month of February 1979. Because of her gracious acceptance of a date on a Sunday of the previously mentioned month, I promise and rightfully owe Miss F— one day of her choosing in which I shall do whatever she wishes (within reason). This IOU is binding and shall not be dissolved.

Sincerely (i.e., “with love”),

Signed: James H—

Recipient signature: Barbara F—

I showed it to him and asked him if I had ever cashed in on that. He said, “Many times.” 😀

He found a stray slide on the floor, and saw that it was a picture of me from a couple of months after we started dating. He cleaned it up and printed it out:

We still haven’t figured out why it was in slide form.

I also found a pillow from a quilting class I took. I didn’t like the backing I had used, so I cut it off and want to see about remaking it with other fabric.

The front is pilling a little bit — I probably used cheap fabric. But we’ll see if it can be salvaged. I also found another pillow that I had spent hours embroidering and lost track of. Somehow it was stored in an open box and got all gunky.

Any suggestions for cleaning it? I am going to take the old stuffing out and soak the fabric in…something. Woolite, maybe?

As I sorted through and threw away so much stuff (I did keep all of the above, by the way!) I felt so embarrassed that I had had it all sitting out there so long only to be tossed out. But I comforted myself with the fact that I have learned better now! I keep much less of that kind of thing and try to be discriminating about what I might really look at again and treasure and use in the years to come. So at least  I haven’t accumulated another several boxes to add to those from our years here. Well, maybe I have accumulated as much stuff or more — but it’s not boxes of clippings, anyway! 🙂

After a very hot several hours out there (thankfully it has electricity and we had an old fan going), two trips to the dump and one to Salvation Army (and no, that wasn’t all only my stuff!!), we’re maybe — oh — more than a third but less than half done? I’m hoping to do some more this week, but as there are other obligations this week, we’ll see.

And after we get the shed done — next is the attic!

An accumulation of various stray thoughts over the last several days…

• I’ve often wished I could take photos during the drive to TN, but it’s pretty fast-moving traffic on winding roads for most of it. There is a shoulder, but I wouldn’t stop there unless it was an emergency. Once when it had been raining off and on, there were little wisps of clouds right at eye level.

• Every time we’ve gone to the hotel in TN, I have planned to take a photo of the carpet in the hallway, but I keep forgetting. The design in it looks like fish bones. I wonder if the designer had fish before coming up with that design.

• This last Thursday morning at the hotel, Jim went on to work and I stayed at the room a little longer, planning to leave at my leisure. He had told the front desk I would probably check out at 9 or 10, and I put out the “Do Not Disturb” sign so they wouldn’t come in to change towels til after I left. I was at the desk using the computer when two ladies from housekeeping barged in at 9:07. They apologized all over themselves — they had thought I was gone already. I was glad I wasn’t dressing or using the restroom — I don’t always close the restroom door all the way when I am in there by myself, but I did for the rest of the time I was there!

• The hardest thing about looking at houses is that no one house has every feature we like. There was one gorgeous house, but it was squished up against the houses behind it — very little yard space, and very little distance between the kitchen table and one neighbor’s house. It would be disturbing to have neighbors right outside your window while you’re eating (at least for me). We loved the living area in one, the kitchen in another, the screened in porch, back yard, and bedrooms of another. We even gave a fleeting thought to building, but there’s not time at this stage, and I’ve heard that can be a major headache. We did find one that is nice, has the space we want, and is arranged well, with some extra features we like. The bedrooms are smaller than some we had seen, but I think they’re ok: the bathrooms aren’t as up-to-date as other houses, but they have the basic requirements. We’ll see what happens!

• One house we looked at had a pink toilet! Really! I thought it was cute. Jesse said he would never use it. Jim said he probably would if he needed to badly enough, but Jesse maintained he wouldn’t. I told him a pink toilet was better than a yellow one. We saw one of those in another house.

• A lot of houses up there have gas log fireplaces — just flip a switch, and voila! I’m assuming there is probably a little more snow up there than here, so that will be nice. We have a fireplace now, but it is wood-burning and we pretty much only use it when the power is out in winter. It’s smelly, requires tending, and you have to deal with cleaning out the ashes. So I am all for just flipping a switch.

• We’ve known about the possibility of moving for almost a year, though we only decided to for sure a few months ago. We’ve needed to keep it quiet for various reasons, but we let Jesse tell his classmates so he could tell them good-bye, and word started to filter from there. Then we made it public a couple of weeks ago. So I understand that what we’ve had time to get adjusted to is new for many people we know. But some people have said things like, “I’m mad at you!” or “Why do you want to go off and leave us?” I know they’re teasing and basically mean, “We’re sorry to see you go,” but it comes across a little negative that way. With some people we’ve almost had to defend why we’re leaving. Only a very few people have said anything positive. One lady today told me she was going to miss us, but she was excited for what the Lord was doing for our family. That was such a balm.

• Our church is going through a time of change: we’ve been without a youth pastor for a year, our business manager is retiring, our custodian is moving away, and our family is moving. I don’t mean to elevate myself to any level of importance, but the ladies’ ministry, especially, will undergo the most change by my leaving. And change can be disconcerting. I have one last ladies’ booklet to do, and one thing that has come to mind to share there is the last line of a stanza of a verse in “Be Still My Soul” — “In every change, He faithful will remain.” “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). God is with us throughout each change in life. He promises to work everything together for good. I’m sure He will raise up someone to take the ladies’ group to the next level, to take it places that I could not.

• I’m sure I will need to remind myself of that many times as well. We’re excited about many of the changes coming up for our family, but actually facing getting to know new places and people, and especially the change of our family being scattered will be hard. I’m thankful we can count on God’s grace in every circumstance.