And then there was the day we said goodbye...

Since I returned from Africa, life at the Bilberry house has been nothing short of crazy. We've been moving, working, trying to sleep, taking lots of family portraits, attending some awesome events and flat out just trying to hang in there!

Madelyn has been quite the trooper through it all. My husband is superman and hasn't stopped moving (pun intended) in two weeks. My mom is the bomb (Mom, that means you're awesome!). And me, well I have been an emotional mess trying to process Africa, dreaming of the day our house will be in order again and realizing that I was a bit more attached to the house we are leaving behind than I once thought.

So today, we said goodbye. It won't be the last time I walk through the doors, because I have to meet the realtor to hand over the keys and garage door openers, but it was the last time my family of three will be there together.

As we watched Madelyn run through the front yard just as she has done since the day she gained her balance and her two little feet coordinated enough to walk, my mind flooded with all the memories of that house. This is the house my husband and his family lived in when we met. The pool that our friends gathered around and we witnessed Luke's sister be baptized in. The yard that we played a game of mud football in as seniors in high school, not realizing that we destroyed the yard until the next morning (sorry again, Shorty). The room that we gathered in with 20-40 other students to have Bible study on a weekly basis. The doors that were always open and welcoming. The path that I broke my tailbone riding a go cart way too fast around. The patio that I listened to Luke learn to play the guitar on. The room where Luke and I decided that we felt more for each other than just the friendship we had enjoyed for three years. The house we went to show his parents my ring the night he purposed.

And then, after he had moved out and they had moved down South, it was the house that we moved in to as a married couple. The house we learned we were pregnant in. It holds the room that I spent weeks on bed rest. The house where my Grandma and aunts came to visit us. The house that held many family gatherings on both sides of the family and together as a big group. The house that I woke up at 3am on the morning of September 24, 2009 to shower and prepare to meet our sweet Madelyn. The house where we created a special little space for her. The house that after days of being unsure if we would ever bring her home, we drove up to signs and balloons that Gigi and Papa put out and walked through the door with our newborn Madelyn Kate for the first time. Not to mention all the firsts that followed. Baths, smile, Christmas, giggles, Birthday, steps, snow days and so much more.

It's the house that will always be the house that watched two young high school friends turn in to high school sweethearts and then in to a family of three.

And then there was the day we said goodbye.