A Journey of Memories: Fresno House for Sale

Part of our journey to Haiti has been downsizing our possessions and putting our Fresno home up on the market. At this point, our plans are to go to Haiti for a one-year commitment. Many people ask why we would sell our beautiful home when the market is so horrible. We certainly have asked ourselves this tough question on many occasions. We continue to believe that God wants us to downsize what we have and go serve without major debts or worries hanging over our heads. Even if we come back to Fresno, we would hope to find something smaller.

I have to admit I feel ready to move on from the house now. I mourned it last fall when we first put it on the market. I cried a lot of tears. Ericlee and I worked together to make this place our own. We have splashed color on the walls. We chose paintings and art to make it speak our style and our hearts. In this journey, I realized it's about the memories more than the place. And when it comes down to it, the memories can still go with me. Memories are tied to spending time with people and sharing stories and we will have the opportunity for both.

This home has been a wonderful place to build our little family, to open to our community of friends, family and church. These walls speak of parties and laughter, of tears and dancing. From birthday soirees to Cooking Club to poolside BBQs to Christmas mornings - we have truly lived in this house. Our youngest daughter, Giada, was even born here in her little bedroom in a birthing pool two years ago on a rainy February afternoon.

These words from Francis Chan's book CRAZY LOVE ring in my ears: "Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants? Do you believe that wholehearted commitment to Him is more than any other thing or person in your life? Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He made?" (p. 97) Some might say these are harsh words. They cut right to the core. For the Gilmore family, it meant saying we are willing to give up our home. Maybe that's not what God wants other people to do but we heard that message loud and clear. We know if we spend less time spinning our wheels to pay for a house this big that we would have more time and perhaps more resources to share with others. We're moving forward until we hear otherwise.