"Staged"

Does anyone recognize this kitchen- it sure doesn't look like mine... And what happened to my pictures...
and all the things that make my house homey... and my rocking chair...
it's all gone...
ALL of it...
Oh wait- here's some of it on the floor...
And this is the wall where I had 7 pictures- one for each baby- all in their baptism outfits...
and my dresser was covered with pictures of my babies...
and the trunk in the living room is now bare...
Well, here's some of our stuff...

YES, that's the storage room...
and remember the WALLS of pictures in the basement...
But guess what- we're moving!!! At least that's what our new real estate agent said. Yep, we're no longer living in our own home- it's now a show place for all who want to come and oogle and then list off all the things that are still wrong with it and the reasons why it's still not good enough for them to buy... so, even though we still have to live here physically, somehow we are supposed to pretend that, even in this terrible buyers' market, our house is going to sell really fast, and all the things that we've done just to make the house more acceptable to "would-be" buyers are just temporary... TEMPORARY- even though we've been at this for almost a year now. STAGED- that's what it's called. Our house has been staged! That means: very few family pictures, no treasures that your kids made in art class, no fun things that you found on the clearance shelf at Target, nothing that might capture the buyer's interest and distract them from simply looking at your house. NOTHING that makes your house your home. Nothing that might take up space and make your house look -Oh my gosh- small. Nothing that might distract from the color of the paint on the walls. Has it really come to this? So, after our new agent left me today with my list of things to remove from my house, promising that she would be back tomorrow to check my progress, take professional pictures, and put up description cards all over the house, I fell to the floor sobbing. Has it really come to this? Are people really so callous these days that they can't even appreciate that we still have to live here and try to look past our family treasures? Do we have to pretend that 7 kids, two adults and a puppy do not live within these walls? As I slowly began to walk around the house and remove my stuff, I tried hard to remind myself that it truly is just stuff, and I will get to put it all out again- hopefully sooner rather than later- and that I don't need these things to make me happy... and then I saw this...
"Keep on doing what is right..." A simple verse really. And I'm sure that when Noah made it in church yesterday, the class talked about doing the right things- not lying to mom and dad, not fighting with brothers and sisters, etc....but to me, it took on a whole different meaning. I realized that Zack and I made the very hard decision to sell this house based on what we believe God would have us do. All of these things that continue to get in the way of us selling the house, are simply the roadblocks that satan is setting up to throw us off our path- see, satan doesn't want our house to sell because he knows that we will continue to struggle in our marriage and our finances as long as we live under this roof- that's his goal. So, I dried my tears, got myself together and started singing God's praises! I look forward to the day that I can set out all my stuff once again- in the house that God is preparing for us... And I vow to keep on doing what is right-even when it seems soooo hard, and it's the last thing I want to do- because then, and only then, will I be happy. I know that God's plan is perfect, and by being patient and keeping my feet firmly planted, I am obeying Him.