I don’t like goodbyes. I’m not sure anyone does. Losing people from our lives is painful; and really, it should be. Feeling sad when people leave is a mark of how much we loved them when they were with us.

We lost a lot of people this weekend. Two families that we have known and shared life with and loved for years are both moving away this week. Saturday, we went down to spend the day with one family -to share a meal and a day and have a chance to pray a blessing over them and say goodbye. They’re heading the farthest away – Central America -and the chances we will ever see them again are not terribly high. They have built into our life a lot. They helped us build our house. They have spent holidays and sabbaths with us for the last four years. She drove me to the hospital and stayed with me last summer when I miscarried and hemhorraged. They have invested in us and we in them, and we will miss them.

They loaded us up when we left. Winemaking equipment, including a REALLY good bottle corker. Bags of wool, in various stages of processing. A 4′ dual drainboard metal sink that will be perfect for my eventual summer kitchen. Things they cannot take with them and didnt sell at auction. Mom adopted the youngest daughter’s cat, who also cannot go and needed a home.

Yesterday, we said goodbye to the other family also. We didnt stay long, as they were very much still in the middle of packing, but we had a chance to pray a blessing over them and hug them and wish them well. The internet has made the world a small place and the US isnt that far away, and we aren’t finished with each other’s lives, but distance does make things harder.

They also loaded us up with things they cannot take along. Books, dress-up clothes for the kiddos, homeschool curriculum and study materials, a couple super cute metal chair/plant stands, a wooden potato bin. Things that will bring them to mind when we use them, and remind us to pray for them

I don’t like goodbyes. They hurt. But both of these families have been waiting almost 2 years for their adventure to begin. The process of listing and showing and selling and packing up is always long and never tidy, and it has been a frustrating season for them. So I bless them in their new season, even as I grieve the loss of the season past.

May God place them precisely where they can the most useful. May He move them out and in with excellence, and may He abundantly bless where they come to dwell.