Sarah

Today, I am saying goodbye to a friend as she moves out of our home and into the next stage of her glorious journey in life. We met her 5 1/2 years ago, but it has only been in the last 2 that we have come together in partnership and ultimately in friendship. Our family needed a nanny and she was the answer. It was a mutual partnership. She would live in our apartment expense free in exchange for roughly 25 hours of childcare and what started as employment turned into something altogether sweeter.

Because of the nature of living in the same house we saw each other at our best and worst. No make-up, ugliest granny pj's, hair sticking out 5 inches after a rough night...it didn't matter - we always seem to have a genuine connect for one another. Something wholly unique happens when women live together in community. When they rub shoulders on a regular basis over children and dishes and tea and life and loss. When they cry together, pray together and say "it is going to be alright" to each other. When they turn the other's face toward the mirror and say "look beyond the tasks at hand and into the future; into your dreams".

I am very excited about the door she is walking through as she heads off to work on her Master's. I have no doubt she is going to be successful, but man alive, we will miss her!
Of course, we will stay connected. I have no doubt that she will be a lifelong family friend, but for now I am sad and grieving the loss of the mystery of this friendship in it's present state. I will miss the morning hello's and late night goodnight as she pops her head upstairs to share about some special thing that happened in her day. The prayers, the tears, the music, the dreams.

I always knew she would leave. That was a given. We talked about it from the start, before she even took the job. I remember saying "nannying is not the call on your life. This is just a season in which we can come together in mutual partnership. You love on our kids, we love on you." AND - she loved well.

This is my goodbye letter to her. I want it here in cyber-space, because there might be a time when life is difficult, a day when circumstances seem harder to deal with than normal and she is questioning herself, wondering if she was crazy to be where she is, doing what she is doing and I want her to be able to come here and be reminded that she is wonderful!. That God DOES have a plan and she is smack-dab in the middle of it. That there is a whole lotta love comin' her way!


August 13, 2010


Sarah –

Well – today is the day.
The final day of being our “nanny” (I still laugh at that title because it makes us sounds so posh and we know the truth about our humble surroundings ). Tomorrow you will pack your u-haul, drive away and this season will be over. We both know that although it is an ending, it is also a beginning. I say to you again my friend….THIS is only the beginning!!! And what the Lord started in you and around you will be completed, because we understand (even if we don’t fully understand) that He is faithful to ever plan and purpose. There are SO many exciting adventures, wonderful moments and glorious discoveries yet to come as the Lord draws you into the fulfillment of a dream that was way down deep inside of you, yet to be realized, and now being played out.

I have been encouraging you to take this step and am excited for what is ahead, but I have also been dreading this day in many ways because I know that it is the completion of a segment of time in my life that has been such a huge blessing. Your friendship has carried me through some days when I needed the tender love of the father to be tangible.

There will never be another Sara.
You are a unique and incredible woman and we have been blessed by you ! I am sure in ways we don't even get, but that is the beauty of good gifts....they keep giving in memories and love stored up deep in the heart. We have you stored up girl!

The other day I was looking at cards trying to find one for you and although some of them expressed snippets of what I wanted to say, they just seemed inadequate or only half done.

I want to say…

Thank You in 25 different languages.

Thanks for loving us. For flexibility, and grace. Thanks for long suffering. Thanks for sharing your heart. Thanks for camaraderie; friendship, faithfulness and loyalty. Thanks for the times you did your job even when you were sick, because you knew it would bless me. Thanks for your listening ear and your available heart. Thanks for being with our kids, for laughing with them, playing with them, reading to them, wiping their tushies (there’ve been many wipes ). Thanks for seemingly always being patient with them, for appreciating them. Thanks for being taken by their fascinatingly unique personalities.

Thanks for the hugs and the smiles. Thanks for asking how I was and then waiting to hear my heart. Thanks for even letting me ramble and lose my train of thought and than laugh with me when I had no idea why I made the point I made. Thanks for your perseverance in the Lord and your faithfulness to intercession. Thanks for your patience with change and for wanting to be with us even when it meant a sacrifice in your schedule. Thanks for the words and THE WORD. Thanks for the many, many, many times you prayed with me and went to bat in prayer for us. Thanks for your love and tenderness!

I WILL MISS YOU SARAH STROER. You will be missed by all of us – BUT most especially by me. I love you and am proud to call you my friend.

It will be strange to wake up on Monday and not hear your voice or see your face or feel a hug. This will take some getting used to, but we will and you will and the call of God will carry us into wonderful things. AND this friendship we have built will continue….regardless of where we are; there you will be, in our hearts and our memories. Regardless of where we are – you are welcome.

We look forward to the days ahead….hearing about the journey and the jobs and the relationships and the music and the relationships (oh..did I already say that????. We look forward to seeing you bloom even more.

Go BIG girl – or don’t go at all
Go big in your own, unique Sara way.
Mark the world some more with the colors in your hand!!
We know it is going to be a beautiful tapestry.

And down the road we will be together… standing side by side, arm in arm, looking at the weaving of our life’s and we will recognize skeins of each other in the pictures. This is how God does it. Nothing is lost and so much is gained. He is good that way. He is eternal that way. He calls things significant we label as minimal. He sees every stitch and He saw every thread that you sewed into us and He called it beautiful!!!!

Well done Sarah – you loved well and served well! Huge, huge, huge hugs from us!

Shalom, Shalom and Peace of God!