A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Or in the case of our journey of 6,000 miles (as the crow flies), it begins with a series of interconnected and complex steps. One of those steps is deciding what stays and goes in general, and then what goes to Kazakhstan with us, specifically. We are packing up our household and the accumulated possessions of 12 1/2 years of marriage, 4 kids, and the accumulated goods that come from home ownership in temperate states. In general we are in favor of downsizing our possessions, but there is also the idea that we are likely going to return to the United States within the next 5 years and there are things we would like to have when we come back.
So we are renting a storage shed near my Mom's house in Payson and keeping many of our possessions there. All of our winnowing of stuff will not leave us empty-handed, just lighter for the future. The packing of our things requires a number of decisions to be made for each item. If we are keeping it AND taking it with us, we need to set it aside to pack later. If we are keeping it, but leaving it in Utah, we need to pack it. Another category of items are those that we are leaving, but which we want to have access to for later - on our trips home - to bring back and forth. We have a number of books for kids that we plan on rotating back and forth on our trips home, so those need to be packed, but kept accessible when we unload our truck in Utah at the storage shed.
When I (Spencer) was a kid, our family moved out of our large house in Ephraim, Utah to a trailer in Payson Utah. We had to get rid of most of our things to make the move work. That was a valuable exercise in learning about the true value of possessions in relation to the rest of life. Our time in our single-wide trailer in Payson with 5 teenage kids was one of the best of our family. One of the appealing aspects of our move to Kazakhstan is that our kids will be able to learn some of those same lessons about what is important in life.
This morning (Friday July 11, 2014) the girls did just that as we packed up their toy room. On our last move from Iowa City to Las Vegas the kids didn't need to really make any hard choices about what to leave behind. We gave away a bunch of their kids toys, but not anything that they were really using. We limited the four of the girls to one stuffed animal to take with them in their carry-on bag and to one large duffle bag of other toys for all four of them.
They all did a great job of making hard choices. After we had gone through a few things, the kids voluntarily gave up a number of items to the Deseret Industries (thrift store) box and got rid of previous "treasures" that were little more than trinkets and garbage (the trash bag in the second picture above). We are blessed to have great kids who are willing to embark on a grand family adventure and to make the tough choices along the way that make that journey possible.
So we are renting a storage shed near my Mom's house in Payson and keeping many of our possessions there. All of our winnowing of stuff will not leave us empty-handed, just lighter for the future. The packing of our things requires a number of decisions to be made for each item. If we are keeping it AND taking it with us, we need to set it aside to pack later. If we are keeping it, but leaving it in Utah, we need to pack it. Another category of items are those that we are leaving, but which we want to have access to for later - on our trips home - to bring back and forth. We have a number of books for kids that we plan on rotating back and forth on our trips home, so those need to be packed, but kept accessible when we unload our truck in Utah at the storage shed.
When I (Spencer) was a kid, our family moved out of our large house in Ephraim, Utah to a trailer in Payson Utah. We had to get rid of most of our things to make the move work. That was a valuable exercise in learning about the true value of possessions in relation to the rest of life. Our time in our single-wide trailer in Payson with 5 teenage kids was one of the best of our family. One of the appealing aspects of our move to Kazakhstan is that our kids will be able to learn some of those same lessons about what is important in life.
This morning (Friday July 11, 2014) the girls did just that as we packed up their toy room. On our last move from Iowa City to Las Vegas the kids didn't need to really make any hard choices about what to leave behind. We gave away a bunch of their kids toys, but not anything that they were really using. We limited the four of the girls to one stuffed animal to take with them in their carry-on bag and to one large duffle bag of other toys for all four of them.
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| Lina helping to sort out the toys. |
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| The Kid's Toy Bag |
They all did a great job of making hard choices. After we had gone through a few things, the kids voluntarily gave up a number of items to the Deseret Industries (thrift store) box and got rid of previous "treasures" that were little more than trinkets and garbage (the trash bag in the second picture above). We are blessed to have great kids who are willing to embark on a grand family adventure and to make the tough choices along the way that make that journey possible.
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