More helping hands and more goodbyes

 

 I'm continually amazed at the people God is placing across our paths.  Moving is hard.  Moving overseas is even harder.  I feel so fragile every minute of the day.

 

Then God plops friends and family into our midst to help share the burden.  Friends who were supposed to just drop by to pick up the gerbil but end up staying for several hours and helping pack bags.

 

Family members who enter into the chaos and don't judge, they just get to work.  And they bring donuts.

 

We've also entered into the season of goodbyes.  I don't do goodbyes well.

 

 

 My thoughtful aunt and uncle drove a couple of hours just to take us out to lunch

 and to inject our lives with a little bit more laughter to fuel us through the rest of the day.

 

They even invited my grandmother to come along.  I love that all four of my grandparents knew each other long before their children ever married and that both sides of my family have their lives intertwined.

 

 

Hanging out with this side of my family brings us great joy!

 

 

And we weren't finished with the Schalchlin joy!  Some of my cousins couldn't come for lunch, but after classes were over they drove up to lend some muscle.

 

 

We spent the afternoon weighing bags and deciding what couldn't go with us, but having extended family around cushioned those hard decisions.

 

And we laughed a lot, too!

 

So you know it's really time to move when the piano leaves the house.  My brother offered his skills this morning to help load the piano into the trailer.

 

 

And I cried as I had to say yet another goodbye.  This friend is my lifeline.  When nothing in me wants to do the hard parts of moving and heading back overseas, she reminds me of God's truth:

 

"Even when it's not your will, you're surrendering your will.  That's not selfish.  That's just acknowledging where your heart is instead of lying and saying it's all good."