Not everyone will understand what I do...

So today I thought I would update but also mention some obstacles we are facing in this Big Move we are planning.  If you are new here my husband and I are selling off or giving away most of our possessions and moving across the US, leaving behind our family of adult children and grandchildren as well as our parents and many of our siblings.  We originally wanted to look at moving out west in our later years of life for health reasons, but now we see the time is right for so many more reasons to move now...this is our process.

We have been trying to explain or decisions and actions as patiently as we can, we have been trying to be sure to include as many people as we can in discussing the process, but there have still been repeated comments along the lines of    "you're doing what??????"

It is hard to face the feeling of loss already as we think of missing our families and friends here, but we are more strongly experiencing the sensation of being compelled to do this as if we almost have no choice.  We have lived such a stressed out lifestyle for many years.  We have tried so many seasons of simplifying our activities, changing our financial positions, diving into church activities all for momentary changes that often did not have lasting effects.  We have grown and developed over the years of our marriage and family lives, we have survived some horrific events in the lives of our family as a unit that have molded and shaped us and been used to see life and growth produced rather than the death that could have come.

As they say whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger, well in many ways we as a family are a rock!

But now my husband and I come to this season where things are shifting.  The focus has been on the children or our parents or whatever else for so many years, feels like always actually. This season we are being catapulted into what seems to be a season to focus on what is to happen now with us.  We have never lived alone until recently and we still have so much of our adult children's belongings being removed from our home almost daily.  We have poured so many hard years into the lives of our families that we just gave ourselves the scraps we could to just keep it together.

This season of moving, and this being such a drastic move, we are already learning how to communicate and love each other on a totally different level.

We are trying to lovingly continue the separation but there are some pretty deep wounds coming up to the surface in some of our family members that are making the separation look like it is going to become painful and sorrowful.  It doesn't have to be this way, but some chose the way of pain rather than the way of life and we cannot help the choices others make.

So my summary for today is that there will be decisions you make in life, if you are truly making the decisions that are yours to make and owning your own responsibility, that some other people in your world may not understand or accept.  The truth is we need to do whatever we are meant to do whatever the cost.

Are the decisions you are making today 'Big'?

Are you feeling the pressure to change your course because others don't like how it feels to them, or how it affects them?

What are you going to do under this pressure?

I am going to stay calm and carry on....I must, this is where we are meant to be.  We have felt drawn into this move by circumstances, possibilities and yes- God's spirit leading us and confirming by many things that this is our next portion of our journey.

I arise today excited to see what unfolds as our preparations continue and we see the road ahead...

westward ho!

The Purging...

We are coming up on 4 weeks ago now that we decided to make this big move across the US, and we have seen much of our belongings sold pretty fast.  We have had to move items we had in storage and sort through them and let go of a lot.  This process has been so spiritual, emotional and physical all together.

We have decided on a small storage unit when we get to ABQ (Albuquerque) so that we can look around at the several places that seem to be catching our eye on the internet.  We are still not sure if we are going to rent for a season or buy right away but either way we have found several apartment complexes that do month to month rentals fully furnished so we will have our place to stay while we decide.

We have a triptik from AAA coming this week that will help with all the plans of our travels out there- we believe we will be taking 4 days to get there, we will take 3 only if we are just too excited to take our time.  We already know where the best lodging options are along the way.  It is amazing how the internet makes it so easy to plan every detail like this out.  How did people move across the US 100 years ago?

As far as work we have seen many options that fit for us, we really don't feel like this is going to be a problem at all.  The cost of living in ABQ is much lower than what we are used to here so with both of us working out there we will really be fine.  Actually we feel we will be more than fine.

We have a plan to have an account set up where we put little bits of money in often as we can and have it used as the family travel fund.  This way anything anyone was going to spend of Christmas, birthdays etc. will instead be converted into funds available for the family to travel.  We are hoping this winter to have the kids come visit for Christmas, if not then then at least next year.

I think the most difficult portion of this purging part has not been seeing the things we have go, or deciphering exactly what to do with those items, It has been sorting through the mounds of paperwork and paper memories I have held on to.  I realized I still had many of my children's home school records from up to 20 years ago.  I still have papers and pictures and notes.  I still had address books ( remember those, they were before you put all your contacts in your phone) from when we were first married.  This has been the overwhelming part of our purge.  What do we take when we want what will only fit is a small 2 drawer file cabinet? Well, we are figuring that out.

I keep feeling this morbid but freeing thought, what if I were to pass away, what would be the things that I would want left for my family to have to go through?  How can I make it simple and streamlined so there is less to deal with?  I know, this is sort of , well like I said, morbid.  This type of thinking is going to make our load to carry so light though.  The more we seem to get rid of the more freedom we feel inside.  It is so strange how all of this 'stuff' we have had surrounding us everyday has really gotten in the way of our ability to live...

until next week,

I am off to do more purging.........Betty K

things I will most definitely miss........

Yes, there are some things I am going to miss more than others when we leave here...

I will definitely need to learn how to skype!

Where do you start when you are getting rid of everything?

So it has now been only 19 days since my husband and I made the final decision to move to New Mexico.  I mean we had wanted to relocate some day in the next year or two, and we had visited Albuquerque a couple of times and realized that was where we wanted to live one day...it just seemed a little farther off that this when we would talk about our dreams and plans.  

What happened recently to speed up this plan was really a couple of unexpected events that seemed to just open this door of opportunity.  After 10 years at the same company my husband Chris was actually laid off in January and though he had updated the resume, posted it on all the right sites, met with the right person at the local Career Link and applied at dozens of locations (adding weekly to the number of apps he applied) still it didn't seem like a job was coming his way.  We had talked about opening a new business but as we got closer to actually doing this it didn't really feel like the time was right, then, our son and his children moved out of our house.  For the first time in a our lives together Chris and I were alone.   

We felt like there was something we needed to face; right now was probably the best time to do something big, and this was only a window of time that would eventually close.  What were we going to do?  It seemed to come easy to decide that we were going to take the plunge and move across the US and relocate to New Mexico.

We went through discussing several scenarios of how we could do this.  I think now how quickly we ruled out the ideas that we didn't like and how quickly we narrowed things down to a pretty clear plan of action. We were going to sell most of what we owned, sell our home, get rid of our current vehicles and obtain a more practical one and say good bye to PA and head on out.  

Options we axed were things like:

• keeping all of our belongings here in PA in a storage unit or container while we went out and sought our home...
• driving out in a big truck with most of our stuff, towing a car on back and camping as we traveled across states till we got to New Mexico and found our home...
• buying an RV and slimming down to absolute necessities and planning on driving it out and living in it for the first 6 months to a year before settling somewhere...
• packing everything into a container (selling what doesn't fit as well as our vehicles) and flying out to NM, getting a place to rent and a car when we got there and then sending for our stuff.

There were other details that as we would think of them we would easily nix them and move on.  It seemed easy to hone down to this plan with precision and detail...

So-

1. We are selling almost all we own through yard sales, internet and private sales
2. We are freshening up our house (even traded a paint job to the exterior for paint supplies and equipment)inside and out and then we will sell it
3. We are going to take our bed and a few other items that will fit in the smallest rental truck or van option and tow a small car behind
4. We are getting rid of our minivan and his truck to get this smaller more practical car 
5. We are going to be here to see grandchild number 6 born and get a time with our kiddos & grandkids, then...
6. We are mapping out a plan to drive out and take about 4 days to enjoy our trip out.

When we get to NM we know of housing options for fully furnished rentals that you pay month to month, we will grab one to explore for a month and decide if we will rent for a year first or find a place to buy right away...in the meantime we will put out the job applications and find employment but with the lower cost of living and the opportunities we already know of out there we feel this will be a matter of deciding what we want in relation to where we want to live...I will write more about the financial process involved so far and in our plans because I am amazed how things are working out, but that is for the next post!

Our first yard sale was reeeaally successful, we will have to have at least 1-2 more but we did see a lot of items find their new home and money find it's way into our bank account ;o)

SO so far, all is fitting together and happening rather quickly.  I will continue to fill you in on details and events along the way, with the progress we have seen so far getting out to NM in July seems extremely doable!

Westward ho!!!!!

And here we go...

Why would I want to leave a place where I get sinus headaches and joint pain, where my voice crackles almost year round when I talk, where I have had to use inhalers at times to deal with asthmatic symptoms and allergy medicine often to cope with the changing seasons....well let me tell you why- average of 300 sunny days a year, dry arid weather almost everyday, freedom to breath deeply and move freely while feeling 10 years younger, the sense of adventure and the excitement of my husband and I getting to look forward to a season of time for just the two of us, a much friendlier cost of living and work we know of for my husband who was laid off in January. These are just a few reasons why!

So if you know me from life, or facebook, you will see that we have announced that we care moving to New Mexico.  Yes we know we are looking at moving over 1800 miles from home...we are really excited to do this!

We are starting our next leg of the journey, we are going to be alone for the first real time since we were married in 1988...this is amazing for us!

We will be selling almost everything we own, we will be starting out fresh, we will be traveling light and enjoying the ride!

I guess all of the posts I have made about wanting to purge and simplify my life are going to actually come to fruition now.....Let me share the journey with you as we go....may it inspire you as well!

Looking forward to this being my skyline! 

Take care

BettyK