Gary is in week 2 of his 12-week Sabbatical. Our church is generous in giving its pastors a Sabbatical every 6 years, and we are enjoying Gary's second Sabbatical this spring/summer. We're so grateful for this gift. And so are our kids; they are unbelievably glad to have Daddy around all the time for the next three months.
And I have a confession: when he went on Sabbatical six years ago, I was nervous about having him around all. the. time. But it turned out to be incredible, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for our family this time around.
The purpose of the Sabbatical is to offer rest and rejuvenation for pastors, and to get healthy in all areas of life while seeking the Lord. During this time, he won't be going to work (although he will be planning and praying along the way), and so we won't be attending our church on a weekly basis. Instead, we'll get to see how other churches do things and he'll get to learn from other leaders in his position. Exciting!
What Sabbatical doesn't mean: We are NOT in solitary confinement! Are you reading this, friends and family? We love our church family so much and it's actually difficult to think about not being intimately involved in your lives over the next few months! We're still "allowed" to hang out with you, so don't be surprised when you see us and hear from us. :)
We just got back from an amazing week-long kick off to Gary's Sabbatical in California. Here's just a glimpse of some of the fun we had...
We celebrated Gary's Granny's 90th birthday.
We had a blast at Legoland...
Gary and I spent two days away (sans kids!) in Laguna Beach and Dana Point for silence and solitude, and during that time we saw WHALES just 40 yards from shore. Amazing!
And a couple of other SUPER FUN things that I'll blog about later this week...
We don't intend to keep up this kind of pace for the next 11 weeks, but what a joy to launch into Sabbatical in this way. Gary's posting a picture a day on his Facebook page to track his Sabbatical, and I told him that the pictures might start getting dull now that we're home. A picture of him helping with the laundry... a picture of him taking the girls to school... but that sounds pretty awesome to me!
Wow! You are blessed!
ReplyDeleteThat is an awesome gift. And also, I just want you to know that I noticed that you guys packed books for your excursion sans kids. That pretty much made my day. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome! And fun whales! And thanks for posting a picture of your feet instead of your bare legs on the beach. Because I am sure your legs are hot in a bikini, but do I really need to see them?
ReplyDeleteAnd also, does this mean your are not in Cali anymore??? Did you make it up this way?
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