Another Move...

I just registered for my Swedish personal number (like SSN) this morning and moved a dresser full of clothes one drawer at a time up 4 flights of stairs with the help of my new roommate and former landlady :) (My lovely friends Peninah and Teri-Anne). I'm going to be staying with Teri-Anne until Wednesday to help with the kids while Anders is out of the country on business.

And then it's on to a new address, a new roommate (please, God, may we be a blessing to one another!!), a new flat :)

A part of me is very very excited, and a part of me is very very sad to leave this family that I have been renting from the first few months in Sweden. We really have become a family together. T-A is my big sis, Anders my big bro, the kids my niece and nephew. We are so familiar with one another and appreciate one another so much. It's been really beautiful. I feel so at home with them. I'll miss this arrangement. They keep asking why in the world I would go to a one room flat with a roommate when I could be here!! And all I can think is, well, cheaper rent, but also that all-important element of learning to trust God in a new situation. Again. And I really long to have that bit of space that is kind of my own, to put my mark on, to rest in, to be hospitable with... Oh Lord, I can only wait on You and watch what You do with this new step...

Sunday was my first day back in the little church I'm working with and it was so lovely to see everyone and slide right back in to my place, but my heart is a bit of a jumble that God is tenderly untangling. Afterwards, T-A and the kids and I visited our friend Jonas, who I LOVE to lead worship with at church, at the hospital where he's in waiting for a surgery. He has something like MS and fell recently and fractured his knee cap :(

God is graciously reminding me of His beauty here to keep me from missing desperately His beauty about my family and home in America. He's so good like that. Yes, following Him in obedience takes perseverence, but He showers the path with glories and entices us with His love...

These photos were taken on a beautiful nearly 2 hour walk along a river to some waterfalls very near T-A and Anders' house. It's a walk He gave to me earlier in my stay in Sweden when I was seeking Him hard one day about a few specific things and needing Him to come through. His presence is so real to me in His beauty :)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
-- Philippians 4:6-7