Sabbatical Summary - Week 2

Pastor’s Log - Sabbatical Date 3.2.4

May has been a busy month.  While I have been able to take time for rest and renewal, there has also been a lot going on in the lives of our children with the end of another school year.  As such, I have gotten behind on posting my weekly sabbatical updates.  But here is a recap of what happened during the second week of my sabbatical.

On Monday (May 6th), I worked on the visa applications to Burkina Faso for Maggie and me.  After getting our shots that week, we needed to get the application in the mail as soon as possible.  Also on Monday, Beth and I did the second session in the Art of Marriage curriculum.  That afternoon, I helped coach practice for Maggie’s Jr. High girls soccer team.  Then Maggie and I went to get pictures for our visa’s at Walgreen's in Bad Axe.  While over there, we did some shopping for Mother’s Day.

On Tuesday, I did some things around the house and helped Beth take her babysitting children to a petting zoo that the library was hosting at Country Bay Village. 

From there, I attended a walking path meeting and did more work on our visa application.  Maggie had a soccer game that I helped coach in Midland. Unfortunately, they did not win, but the game was much closer this time than the last time we played that team.

Finally I got things ready for Maggie and me to get our vaccinations for Burkina Faso on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, I had breakfast with Pastor Ean Green.  I deeply value my relationships with fellow pastors and find our monthly time to check in very life giving for me.  I spent time reading the book Growing Young, worked on our visa applications and took Maggie to Midland to get our vaccinations.  I had to take her out of school a little early, but we were right on time for our appointment.  While there, we dropped down to Saginaw and picked up Elam's suit for prom. It was a little more to buy a suit than to rent a tux, but it fits him and now he has it for other events as well.  Meanwhile, the rest of the family attended the annual Laker FFA banquet with Elam.

On Thursday, I had coffee with David Snider at Emma’s in Bad Axe.  He has asked me to serve as a mentor and so I also meet with him on a monthly basis.  Afterward, I did a little work to try to fix our sump pump connection to the storm sewer which seems to be clogged.  Thankfully, the clean out trap is allowing the water to escape so  I have a temporary solution in place; but need to do more work on it so that it is no longer flowing onto our sidewalk.

I mailed in our visa applications and took Silas and Josiah to Bay City for dinner at Taco Bell.   They have been waking to see the Detective Pikachu movie and we knew that a full weekend was not going to afford us the opportunity to do it, so I took them over opening night.

While at Taco Bell, I prayed with the boys for our meal, and was complimented by a man who overheard me.  He was encouraged to hear a father praying with his sons.  We also began listening to this week’s album, “The Sign” by Ace of Bass. 

They boys all seemed to appreciate it, but Maggie not so much.  On the way home, from the movie we stopped at McDonald’s in Sebewaing for ice cream Sundaes.

On Friday, I did some chores and worked on backing up the pictures on my phone to make more room before our summer travels.  Maggie and I had soccer practice in the afternoon. My family came back up Friday evening for a longer stay and to celebrate my sister, Lorenne’s 40^th birthday.  We went to Pepper’s in Bad Axe for dinner that night and ate old fashioned cream pie when we got home.

Saturday, Silas’ soccer game got cancelled so we had an unexpected but very welcome opportunity to sleep in.  Then I ended up serving breakfast to several of the neighborhood kids.  They have begun showing up in droves to jump on our trampoline.  As I was getting breakfast for my boys, I learned that some of them had not eaten yet, so I fed them as well.  Maggie and I began taking our oral Typhoid vaccination and I mowed the lawn.  I also raked up some of the leaves left over from last fall and Dad and I began repairing the fence around our pool for Beth as some of the wooden sections were falling down.  The highlight for the day was that Elam went to his first prom, even though he is a sophomore.  He went with his girlfriend, Haley who is a junior at Lakers.  Beth and I went to take pictures.

Sunday was Mother’s Day so I got up early and made breakfast for Beth and the crew.  While my family went to worship at Pigeon River, I worshiped at Michigan Avenue Mennonite Church.  This allowed me to get home before everyone else and make lunch so that Beth could have a well deserved break.  We gave our gifts to Beth and my mother. 

While Beth took Elam to musical practice, I supervised the neighborhood recess on our trampoline.  Two of the kids were mine.  The other 8 were from the neighborhood.  The one family just recently moved in across the street.  They have at least 6 of the children who were playing at our place.  The one daughter was impressed that I was already getting down their names.  She said her mom has a friend who just refers to them by their birth order number.  That seems pretty sad to me.  Keeping an eye on the kids also gave my dad and me more time to work on repairing the fence.  All in all, it was a good week.