Countdown

17 days, 6 hours, and 39 minutes.

I write this from the floor of my living room, because we no longer have chairs or desks or tables in our house. We've been able to sell and give away almost everything we own. The feeling is incredibly freeing and yet somehow still scares me a little. While the majority of our house lies empty, my bedroom is still full of piles of clothes. Another item on my To Do list. What the heck do I do with all those clothes? I'm moving...so I should probably take them...but it's expensive to take all of them...and what do I wear for the next two and a half weeks while we live out of our carry-ons? I can't plan my wardrobe that far in advance. I'm not that organized.

I think those excuses are swirling around my head because a small piece of me doesn't want to finish packing. It doesn't want to leave our first little home on Shockley Street. It doesn't want to close the door and hand in the key. Memories were made here. Insane, stomach-ache-inducing laughter and deep, can't-breath tears were shared here. Love grew by leaps and bounds here. Friendships blossomed here. Our first memories were here. It's hard to leave this place. 

But the spirit of adventure and the excitement of new experiences helps counter these thoughts. We're moving out of our house and in with my grandparents on Thursday. We've crossed so many new milestones together- marriage, new jobs, college graduation, acceptance into a new school, and now moving out of our first home. In 17 days, 6 hours, and 30 minutes we'll be boarding a plane in a terminal at Charlotte Douglas International Airport that will take us to Boston, then to Reykjavik, then to Amsterdam. Our second home together. 

I'm excited to discover new experiences during our years in Amsterdam. I'm excited to have the opportunity to travel, to learn to be ok without a car, to learn to buy groceries every day, to become more intentional about my cooking, to meet new friends, to try a new job, to learn new customs, and to see our marriage become mature. I'm looking forward to the newness.

I'm nervous, yes. Finances are going to be tight. A job isn't guaranteed immediately. But I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are certainly supposed to be there. God has made it abundantly clear that he wants us in The Netherlands. He has provided for us financially while we're here and continues to provide for us so we can meet our monetary goal before we leave. He is big. He is constant. He's loud. He's standing by our heads with a megaphone on full blast saying "GO".

So we're going. In 17 days, 6 hours, and 15 minutes.  

Below I'm posting a few photos from the last several weeks. AS you click through the gallery you'll see pictures from several shoots, several Resident-of-South-Carolina 'lasts', and time with family and friends. The memories i've made the past few months are just the beginning of many more memories in the years to come, and I'm SO looking forward to seeing what those memories will look like.

17 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes.