Out with the Old, In with the New

We've officially been living in the new house for almost a month now, and things are finally starting to feel like home. 

Last week, Matt Wilson came and had our old house and small barn torn down, taken to the dump, and dirt work completed in five days- can you say amazing! Last weekend we took one more picture of us in front of the old house to commemorate the ending of that chapter of our lives.

On Tuesday when we got home from work, half the house was gone! 

Brady and Ashley took a little time to wave a final goodbye to the house as Matt continued to knock it down. 

By Wednesday all that was left was a little concrete. 

And by Saturday we ended up looking like this.

But I won't lie and say this whole process wasn't a little bittersweet. While our first house together was technically in Pinkneyville, this was the first house that we actually owned. I remember the pride we felt making that final house payment and getting that debt off our back. 

I still see myself crying on the couch in the living room when we found out that Ian had died. I know exactly where we were standing in the kitchen when I told Eric we were pregnant with Madison, and then again where we cried when we found out she too would die.  And that same place we held each other when mourning the loss of Jordan. 

The wall in the "extra" room saw my belly grow with Ian, Madison, Brayden and Ashley, Jordan, and Katie. 

The house was filled with the sounds of baby cries, laughter, and little footsteps once the twins arrived. I'm pretty sure there are dents in the carpet where I shushed them in front of their cribs when they were crying. I could show you exactly where each one took their first steps. The guest bed they loved to play on. The path in the kitchen and living room that they wore out running around on.

There were so many Christmases, birthdays, and anniversaries celebrated in that house. There were tears of joy, of sadness, of anger, of love. We went through our highest highs and our lowest lows there. Grew as ourselves, as friends, as husband and wife, as a family. Brayden and Ashley might not remember their first house, and I know that Katie sure won't. But we will. 

As much as I wanted to finally get out of that house for good, there will always be a tiny part of me that wishes we could hold on to it for one more minute longer. It served our family, and all those families before us, well. 

But now, there's no looking back. We're in the "boo" house (as Ashley calls it), and we couldn't be more excited to see what it has in store for our little family.