End of An Era...

Today was the big moving sale and after talking to Dennis,Deana and Carolyn tonight I hear it was a huge sucess. Thank you to everyone who attended, purchased and carted away large amounts of stuff. I was touched to hear about the people who "just wanted something to remember the Ruge's." I am so glad people had a good time. I cannot thank Deana (and Dennis) enough for the hours and hours of time spent moving our belongings outside and pricing and promoting the sale. I am also so grateful for Carolyn and Kari and Debbie and Larry for all their help and support.
When I was talking to Carolyn I had such a feeling of melancholy come over me. The finality of this phase of our lives hit home hard. It is good though because some of the decisions we have to make about service and where to land may be difficult. We are forced to look ahead because everything is gone. I have never felt so free in my life. Thanks to Pastor Bob for all the sermons about simplifying. Thanks to Carolyn for the years of our weekly fireplace prayers. Thanks to Dorene for knowing everything about me but still loving me. Phew, I am just sitting here thinking about all the people that have impacted my life and saying thanks here just doesn't do justice...guess I have a lot of letter writing ahead! I haven't bought into "it takes a village to raise a child" but I will acknowledge that it takes a community of Christian brothers and sisters to help us grow, sharpen us and give us courage to keep on keeping on.
Thank you, for if you read this you are a friend and you may not believe this but you are a thread in the tapestry of our lives, the splash of color just when we needed it or a strong thread that pulled all our frayed ends together. We cherish our friends.
Keep watching. Only God knows what we will get into next (and I am so glad He doesn't tell us ahead of time because I think there may be snakes in my future and I don't want to think about them until the time comes!)
Patiently waiting,
Melody