December Sabbath

My boy turned five yesterday. I got up early to find his present. Had breakfast with a great group of guys from our church. Decided on the Animal Planet Farm playset at Toys R Us. Came home and cleaned house with the family. Kids went with Grandma. The wife and I went to a former student's wedding. Had a liitle bit of a break, just us, before the reception. Picked the kids ups, and had some real challenging discussion before agreeing to postpone a decision and head to bed. Not bad for a sabbath.

Everything seems very emotioally charged right now. I'm feeling fairly overwhelmed. My head has been spinning, but not so much since I took a nap. I'm looking for God'g grace in the storm and I'm thankful for his continued provision and protection. I know what's happening is bigger than me and there's actually great comfort and rest in knowing that.

I can't believe my boy is five! I can't believe it's December! I can't believe all this is happening! There's just 28 days till the cat's officially out of the bag.

Sabbath...Sorta

I should probably stop doing this because I pretty much suck at keeping a sabbath. Here's to a little bit of virtual accountability. Had four kids to the ball park before 8:00AM. The boy played his last game. Season batting average... .000. Never even stepped into the box. It's cool he's four. Today a line drive nearly took his head off but he told me it was cool. Left the boy and the wife to watch a buddies game, and I took the girls to the bank, which doesn't open till 10. We strolled around Stater Bro's Market until someone was available to take my money and then went back to the ball park. Picked up wife and son and watched almost a half hour of flag football before heading to Shakeys for the team party. Four toddlers at a Pizza place, lost in the "fun zone", politely asking for more tokens... "daddy!". Ran into a ministry mentor/ buddy and was able to catch up a little. The boy was honored (he got pizza, pepsi, a pin and a punchball...WOOHOO!). I thanked the talented, patient, and extremely gracious coaches for a great season, before we headed out. We just got one of these in our town and the wife wanted to check it out for upcoming B-Days or Youth ministry stuff. The place is like Chuck E Cheese on Steroids. Came home. Snuck over to church and did some work (I told you I suck). Came home and took a nap (counts as rest right?). Was able to go to a high school play, just me and my wife, where we ran into a bunch of our students. Picked up the kiddos (Thanks Mom!) Did a little more work and am now writing this grammatically messy confessional Sabbath Post.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time seperating work, ministry, personal time, family, etc because it all seems so connected. I desire for all these areas to be integrated. I desire to be healthy, to feel whole, and to know peace. I'm just not there yet.

Sabbath... day six

Okay so yesterday was the sixth day of our vacation. It was also Saturday. So here's the update. We found ourselves back in the IE so I could attend a very important meeting with my s.p. and his advisory board. Yes, that was as exciting as it sounds. Went from my meeting to catch the end of my boy's game. He won the game ball for making an outstanding fielding play. The kid still won't hit. Came home and spent some time catching up on the blog world. Took a nap. And then headed to the OC to visit the in- laws. My brother in-law is trying desperately to pass third year high school french so he needed an audience to serve his homemade french meal to. We had baguettes and cheese, french onion soup, more baguettes with cheese, french style green beans, potatoes au gratin and pork cooked in a white wine and onion bath. For dessert, we had baked apples. The meal was fantastic and it was really cool to be together. I put the kids down early and fell asleep with the baby. Oh yeah, we did a little bit of returns and shopping on the way and made a visit by the new Jack in the Box. Or in keeping in the theme of our day... Jaque in the box. wi. wi. It was fairly restful.

Sabbath

So my non reverend buddy Rev Rock has made a public commitment to do better at honoring the sabbath. And as part of that commitment he blogs about them. And as a hopeful fantasy that I might practice this better I anxiously check his blog multiple times on sunday looking for an update. And I've tried to do the same but much less regularly. See here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
So I haven't done too many lately... Saturday was nice. The wife was away so I was playing Mr. Mom. Woke up to wet ground outside which meant the morning's PONY baseball event was canceled. Played dominos with the boy (he's actually very good), and then with the girls when they woke up. Served up Cereal for everyone and lounged around till late morning. Took a long hot shower and got all three kids dressed. Moved the church buses away from the potential sink hole (it's a long story, see previous post). Went to Shakeys for Lunch-Bunch. Scored some free tokens from coach stanley, which we transformed to tickets and then into small animal erasors.
FUNNIEST PART OF MY DAY: I'm driving home and #2 says "Dad, the erasors nose is IN my nose". Yes she had broken off a piece and somehow lodged it in her nostril. I am so stoked I got it out with a mini-screw driver and did not have to visit Kaiser Permamente. Took naps. I love my chair. Played outside. I love my fence. Went to Blockbuster, Everyone should try this on a Saurday night with three toddlers. Got fast food dinner for the kids, I was still stuffed from Shakeys. Gave the kids bathes. Watched a video with the kids. Read books (Good stuff like "The little Red Caboose"). The wife came home. Kids greeted mom. Put kids down to sleep.
Watched Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with the wife.

I think Rev says parenting by yourself doesn't count as rest but this was the closest I've got in several saturdays. The Fantastic Four sequel was terrible, but if that's the worst part of my day, who can complain. Tomorrow we head to AZ for vacation with family and friends. I'm anxious in a good way.

Post Camp Sabbath...

...Sorta

This is my bed from camp. This is the dummy I made to scare the crap out of the "clean dorm" judges. See the resemblance?

Oh yeah, it did scare the judges.

Slept till almost 9AM today. Spent the morning chillin' at home catching up with the blog world. Cut my grass and raked my dirt. Hauled away a truckload of trash. Had Del Taco in the park with the wife, my three kids, one more, and uncle Danny. Played on the tunnels, slides, and poles at the playground. Checked out uncle Danny's new place, (a little bit of a fixer upper but has a trampoline, three bar bq's, a fire pit and several good spots for a dart board). It's on a huge lot and he actually has plans for a go kart track. Stopped at Rite Aid for some scoop ice cream before going to my least favorite place on the planet (Wal Mart). Got Superman Ice Cream all over three kids (the baby was asleep). Came home and had a good phone conversation with one Mr. G (To anyone else who was worried about me after reading this post, I'm doing fine) and had spagetthi dinner at the table as a family. Gave kids bathes in the sink and then spent some time at church putting away some camp leftovers and sorting through some photos for a slideshow in tomorrow morning's services. It's been nice to catch my breath today, but this week will be crazy.

Besides further camp and missions trip planning, a summer nights fellowship, Tuesday's Beach and Bibles outing, Thursday's missions team meeting, and all my normal stuff, I have to figure out why my van pukes when going up hill. It's like the mountain road makes it car sick...Get it?... CAR... Sick? It's a car. Never Mind. Looking forward to spending Monday morning at the dealer and the rest of the day vanless...NOT! Happy Lord's Day. Good Night!

Yesterday was a Sabbath.

My friend Dan has been posting weekly updates of his Sabbath. I find them wildly interesting in a bizarre way. I'm hopeful that through the monotony he is finding rest, and I'm hopeful that the rest of us might find inspiration in his efforts. Here's is a slightly paraphrased and more polished copy of a comment I left on his blog...

Yesterday I got up and played some Karoke Revolution, (I like the songs with two many words. ie; "one week" and "it's the end of the world") read some blogs, and made lunch for myself and three kids (grilled cheese and tomato soup with whole grain fishy crackers). The in-laws dropped in for a visit and we played more karoke revolution (grandma got booed for her rendition of "girls just want to have fun"). We ended the day by going to watch some minor league baseball. The R.C. Quakes lost an 8 run lead to the I.E. 66ers. This keeps them rock solid at the bottom of their league. Win or lose, three kids, one "tia", the wife and I, + minor league baseball with figurine giveaways = a good ending to a great Sabbath.

What do you do to rest?