Shabbat Shalom

...the greeting during the Sabbath amongst Jews that I learned while studying abroad in Jerusalem (10 years ago!!! Yikes I’m getting old).

Yesterday was a REAL Sabbath rest….the first real rest I’ve had in months I think…the way a Sunday should be.

In the Lutjens household, we have a habit of what we call a “heavy sigh.” It started when we were small and mom would be overwhelmed with one thing or another, or there was something weighing heavy on her heart, and she would snap back into reality with what us kids deemed a “heavy sigh.” I’m not sure how you spell the heavy sigh, so I’ll leave it up to your imagination. However you spell it, that’s what our little remnant of a team here in BGO experienced yesterday I think. Staying home, watching movies, reading, writing, talking, listening, eating.

Anna and I sent the Pierces off with bellies full of pancakes and bacon…sent them off…for real…that’s the heavy part of the sigh that was yesterday’s Shabbat…we said tearful (on my part) goodbyes with big hugs and know that there is for sure a bond we share in these 2 years my path has crossed with theirs’…a bond of “cabbage salads” and transitions and change, and laughs over G&T’s, and tears, and well, yeah, I’ll miss them, we’ll miss them.

So, saying goodbye makes a sigh heavy, but I can’t wait to see what God has next for them and for us here. It’s been a crazy several months…really crazy…but a good Sabbath’s rest (Annelise prayed before we dove into our pancakes, that we would have good rest and boy did God answer!) has left me hopeful for what is to come, and hopeful for more rests like it ☺