Day 1: Thursday, July 29th, 2021

Firstly, I’m not sure what day of our journey this really should be called. Would Day 1 be the day we called the doctor and we were told they suspected mold? Or when he had his first doctor's appointment? Or when we did the blood work? Or the follow up appointment that confirmed their suspicions? Maybe it should be yesterday, when we had the inspection and we were told there was indeed a LOT of mold in our crawl space.

For the sake of ease, I’m just calling today Day 1.

The day we left our home - with no expectation of returning to live there.

This morning, I was excited to finally, FINALLY, have some answers when the technician called with our air quality test results. After years of chasing symptoms, we finally had a reason for all the sickness and struggles we have endured in the five years we’ve lived here. Probably even the cause of the struggles before that. There was no real emotion other than a drive to begin the healing process and get things in motion.

However, as the day moved forward, we were slow to make preparations to get out of the house. You would have thought we would have raced out of there, but there was hesitancy. Distraction. Fatigue. And then creeping, heart-wrenching sorrow. I watched the kids play outside and realized this was likely the last day we would ever live in our home. It was not a great day. I am still not feeling well from being sick, and my energy is barely keeping up with basic needs. The kids responded to all the uncertainty with erratic, slightly wild behavior. I have learned this is their usual response to stress of this level, but I have not learned to deal with it well in the moment. When you are trying to manage a flood of so many decisions and needs all at once, the kids acting more wild and rambunctious than normal is definitely a trial.

KP - 11/18/2021: I'm looking back on this journal now, knowing what would follow in the next several months. Time has made me grateful that if July 2021 was going to be the last month in our home, it was a month full of memories, celebration, and joy. We celebrated three birthdays (two of them late celebrations for June birthdays, one of them a few days early.) In fact, it was just a day after our oldest turned 13 that we had to leave the house. She was away at a girls' Bible camp as all these events transpired. I am thankful, looking back now, that one of our last memories at home as a whole family was a night filled with her sweet friends, giving thanks to God for one of His best gifts.