A Weekend with Friends

Pastor's Log - Sabbatical Date: 2-1-25 - 11:30
(A recap of the weekend)

We had a wonderful weekend getting together with some of our Bluffton friends at the Musser's house in Sandusky.  We weren't to arrive until around 6PM on Friday so we spent a relaxed day at home gathering our stuff and packing up our van.  We left home around 3:30PM.  Along the way, I showed Beth most of the route that I biked home from Jacob's auto on Thursday morning.  We also made a restroom stop at a quaint little restaurant.

A Panoramic Shot of the Musser's awesome back yard

When we arrived, we had supper and then set up our tent in the back yard.  The kids all played together and as we settled them down for bed, the adults gathered around the camp fire to catch up and visit.

Group Shot

Beth chatting with the Mussers

Saturday morning, we got up and had a pancake breakfast together and then the kids all hit the pool that the Mussers have in their back yard.  It's about 2.5 feet deep and 12ft around.  We took a lunch break and then the kids hit the pool again in the afternoon before we cleaned up and did our group shot.  Then we headed to church together at the Musser's church, The Chapel.   They are in the midst of a sermon series on the "I Am's" of Jesus.  After the service, we went back to the house and had a Mexican supper together with awesome homemade ice cream for dessert.  Our kids went to sleep much earlier on Saturday night after a full day in the pool.  The adults gathered around the camp fire again.  One of our friends tried a recipe for glow in the dark bubbles.  The bottle glowed, but not the bubbles themselves.  It was still a fun little experiment.

Some of the kids eating

Sunday morning, we milled around and had breakfast.  In between visiting and supervising children, we all worked at packing up our things.  The Adlers departed first.  The rest of us had leftovers for lunch.  My oldest went home with the Speros clan because he and their oldest went to Camp Luz this morning for the week.

Erika left and we were soon to follow with Noah in tow for the week.  Josiah and Noah are only about a year a part and have a lot of fun playing together.  They refer to each other as brothers.  The drive home was pretty uneventful.  We got home and unloaded the van.  For supper, we had mac and cheese along with cheese puffs.  Noah usually doesn't get to eat these things because his sister is allergic to them.

We feel very fortunate to have such a good group of friends.  We only see each other 3-4 times a year, but those weekends are very precious to us.  They are a time to relax, have fun, share our struggles and offer encouragement to one another.  I gained a lot of things from my time at Bluffton. I met my wife, grew in my faith, discovered my calling to the Mennonite Church, gained an ongoing mentor/friend, and built life long friendships with some truly wonderful people like these.  Oh yeah, and I got a BA in Religion, almost forgot. ;)