It’s 4 a.m., and I stare at my sleeping baby with bittersweet feelings. I wish I could sleep like her right now, but it’s our last night in the U.S., and a tiny, annoying voice in my head is keeping me up. “You need to downsize again.”

“But it’s the fifth time!” I sigh, hoping it will go away.

“You need to get rid of half of this stuff,” I hear again. This time, the voice sounds real. It’s actually my husband, who has been up since 12 a.m. packing and weighing suitcases. I reluctantly slide out of bed, thinking about the days when we first decided to become missionaries with AFM. That’s when I learned that things don’t matter. Yet, here I am, trying to hold onto things once again.

I’m holding my daughter’s tiny, soft, adorable coat. It’s cute, but it takes up a lot of volume. On top of that, she’ll probably outgrow it by December. Donation it is! My son’s toy trucks. He has three of them that he really loves, but we only have space for one. The other two will make another child happy. We sold all his big items last week anyway, and he was so understanding. He certainly won’t miss these. Oh, but I will!

“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” I keep telling myself. But still, this one will be stored for a while here on Earth. It’s the kids’ big memory box. Hospital bracelets, tiny shoes, the first baby gown, and many other items that make my eyes misty. The box is huge, so it will need to stay behind in storage. I hope that someday I’ll be able to bring it home.

Framed family photos. I love them, but instead of paying for extra baggage, I will buy new photo frames when we get to our new country. Of course I know we’ll have more important things to do when we arrive, but I have to keep believing it so I can leave these behind. Two pairs of nice shoes that I haven’t worn in two years. Running around after little children makes heels difficult, so they will stay behind. Books I haven’t gotten to read yet. They’re too heavy. We should have bought electronic books. I’m definitely out of my comfort zone getting rid of all this perfectly good stuff and packing memories that I will not get to see in years, so I replay over and over in my head: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.”

When all 13 bags have been packed, weighted and loaded into two vans, I can finally catch a breath and look through the van window as we leave behind our wonderful home at AFM. I’m silently asking God why He keeps not letting me get attached to things. I won’t have to wait too long to find the answer. Deep in my heart, I already know it: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We are moving our hearts and our treasure to the Republic of Georgia. Thank you for sacrificing a little bit of your hearts and earthly treasures to send and sustain us there!

• Twitter