I am back.

It has been three years since I last blogged. I made a new years resolution to blog more but that fell by the wayside. This morning I decided that part of my blogging would be to post about once a week, and to post about what ever is on my mind at that moment, and depending on what is happening at the moment. One of the things that I am going to blog about is what I hope will become a book. I am going to blog about two people and their pre adolescent and adolescent adventures. The working title of the book is going to be called The Adventures of Ponoppscott and Wormy. This will be a funny but sometimes irreverent look at growing up in a religious environment that beat one into submission, and conformed to a set of rules, or forced one to leave in rebellion. Keep checking back as I will try to post on fridays.

Sabbatical Day 10

Today was a very lazy day. After arriving home on tuesday from a week of traveling and visiting I cleaned out my email, went through the mail that arrived while I was gone, and worked a little on a technology project. I felt it was time to trim my beard because I am starting to resemble Si from Duck Dynasty. I have not been to get my hair cut since late August when I was asked to do a funeral for a family member. I am wondering how much money this is saving me! I looked over the pictures we took while on our trip and will post some on the days that correspond with our activities. While on our trip we traveled to Indiana to see my dad who we were not able to see at christmas. He is doing fine, and enjoys being retired and hunts most every day. The hamlet that he lives in is 17 miles away from the nearest WalMart. We spent the night in Salem, IN and then Alec and I went to Paoli, IN where he snowboarded. After that adventure, we traveled to Farmersburg, IN to visit with my cousins. This is the town where my grandma and mother grew up in, and it takes me back in my mind to hot summer days where we played with our cousins and life seemed to be sooo much simpler. We had a good visit, and got to catch up with everyone. My cousin's granddaughter was sick and her mother said the doctor said she did not have strep throat so no antibiotics. My cousin said she claims she is a carrier because everyone that comes in contact with this 18 month old gets sick. Well true to form, that's where I got my sore throat from. (I jokingly nicknamed the child Mary after Typhoid Mary.) Our visit was fun, and relaxing. While we were there I did some research on family history. (I figure it helps to know where we have come from.) We traveled home on tuesday and part of me did not really want to come back, but things at home needed to be done. (I like visiting the favorite places of my childhood as it reminds me how good my childhood was, where there were very little concerns.) We passed by the cemetery that is the final earthly resting place of my mother, her parents, an aunt i never met, and several great uncles and aunts who gave me many great memories. Passing by this place was bittersweet as I counted the number of funerals I conducted at this place and how many of the people in my life are now no longer physically present with us. Our trip home was uneventful and we made it home in record time just under 11 hours.

Sabbatical Day 9

We headed home after saying good bye to some little ones. Stopped and had lunch on the way and talked about what needed to be done when we arrived back in texas. We made good time and good MPG. We talked about stopping for the night but after discussing it we decided it was better to push and drive straight through since we were only a few hours away and we could catch NCIS on reruns instead of paying for a hotel. We made it home a little after midnight. Overall this first week has been relaxing. For several days we were with out internet so I had to catch up on the blog after we arrived home.

Sabbatical Day 8

Day 8 of the sabbatical and I traveled to the mall to take Alec to do some shopping and I went to a library to do some research. I had been wanting to do some research for a while and this was the opportunity to do just that. Was able to obtain some information that I could only get in person, so this trip and time allowed me to do just that. Alec finished his shopping at the mall, so we headed out to lunch at Fazzoli's but had to make a stop at a pawn shop. We went back and relaxed the rest of the day. We made plans to get ready to hit the road and head back to texas.

Sabbatical Day 7

Made plans last night to go to church today. I woke to the alarm and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and found my eye matted and my throat sore. (I was holding sick child the day before, and she shared her food and illness with me. She also shared the illness with everyone in the house.) So trying to decide what to do about church, and wondering what to do. I was taught or maybe it was more like one repeated guilt trip, when I was younger that you should always be in church on sunday. As a pastor, I even have encouraged and told people to be in church. Here I am as a pastor and what do i do? DO I go to church, not knowing if I was contagious would this be the best thing to do? Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me from a passage in Mark 6. The disciples had been busy and lots of things were happening and they were not able to eat. Here is the scripture: Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest". Mark 6:31 The thought occurred to me that in the busyness of doing I have failed to take time to spend time with Jesus, because I have been busy doing stuff for Jesus. Here is what I needed to do on this sunday, get away and spend time with Jesus. Instead of doing today, or going, it was time to stay right where I was and spend time with Jesus. I did just, read some scripture and spent time reading. Relaxed in a chair with a blanket and visited.

Sabbatical Day 6

Today we got to sleep in and spend time visiting. Made a trip to walmart for some food, and mad white fiesta chicken chili. Did not do much of anything, and we opted to stay in due the weather report of rain, sleet and snow, but as the forecasts go nothing happened.

Sabbatical Day 5

This morning we got up and had breakfast and headed to the ski slopes. The nights sleep at the "Bates Motel" was relaxing and quiet. We made it to the slopes and Alec went snowboarding and I found a warm spot in the lodge to sit and read. Read some emails and comments from friends about my blog, thanks everyone for reading. After a couple of hours, Alec was ready to go, but he enjoyed the snowboarding experience and wants to do try it again. We hit the road, with me driving and Alec soon fell asleep. We drove for about 2 hours and made it to our destination.