Time to move on....

Sometimes God just says “it’s time to move on!”  And that’s the words that I (Barb) heard in recent weeks.  Time to move on from the unsettledness of having been out of ministry and life here in Sweden ~ in order to embrace what God has in store for us this season.

So one final look back, because it helps us communicate the last stages of our “exile” from Sweden….

First snow in October ~ being the snow lovers that we are, we were pretty excited!

Fika!!! It works wherever you are in the world....here on the balcony looking over the Mississippi River towards downtown Minneapolis ~

Working on Swedish language while in Minneapolis ~ a COVID-19 update from the Public Health Authorities back in Sweden

A homeless tent camp in Minneapolis ~ with snow on the ground and a bite in the cold winter air

And then, two days later, it was baseball in the park ~ in mid December ~ go figure!

Missing this team ~ both in Limhamn and in Rosengård

Got our Christmas cookie fix in the US ~ which meant that we weren't so interested in baking cookies when we got home to Sweden ~ which was a good thing since it was just the two of us doing quarantine together ~ and who needs all those calories!

Borrowing a pastor friend's office at church to do some board work online ~ helps to have pastors who are friends who have empty offices because they are all working now from home!

Steve hanging out with supporters and friends in MN ~ it's a good thing we love snow!

I call this photo "sista samtalar" ~ last conversations ~ after having spent our last 2 weeks in MN with friends who warmly welcomed us into their homes, and their lives, even in the midst of this crazy corona pandemic!

 

Starting the journey back home ~ because every journey should start with a negative covid test, right???

Sitting in Minneapolis with extra forms to fill out for the immigration authorities in Amsterdam ~

We used to fly a lot with KLM when we lived in Belgium ~ somehow this seemed so familiar to us to read things in Dutch and eat stroopwafels, those yummy Dutch wafers with syrup sandwiched in between two wafers !

This says it all ~ välkommen tillbaka till Sverige!

Our journey couldn't be complete if we didn't include a photo of Albin, friend, pastor, house companion who took care of everything while we were gone, and took care of us when we landed in Malmö again.  You can call this photo "Swedish comfort food" ~ homemade Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and lingonberries!

 

And, by the way, this doesn't mean it's time to move on, as in leave Sweden!!!  Yikes, no way!  We just got back!!!  Just time to move on from these unstable months in the midst of this crazy unstable world we live in just now....to move on to the next relationships and adventures that God is calling us to, has equipped us for, and we wait in anticipation!