So....How Was the Sabbatical?

That's the question of the day. Lots of people wanted to know. I think I'd like to know as well. I can't seem to come up with one word to describe it and that's really all there is time for in that brief contact in the church foyer. It was hard to know what to expect with 6 weeks away from church ministry. We've never had that. Since Brian started part-time church ministry, we've never had a break that long. Ever. Not even close. We haven't even had a full two-week break. We truly didn't know what to expect. Especially to the people that stepped in and covered in big ways while Brian was gone, I want to be able to answer, but it's simply not possible in one word. Here's the rundown:

- Brian was thankful for a week of training in his area of focus--mentoring.

- Brian had lots of opportunity to study.

- We had dinner as a family nearly every night. (Two thumbs up!!!)

- We hiked.

- We painted the basement--a project so overdue it was ridiculous.

- I continued my streak of needing obscene amounts of sleep. I just wish my body would cooperate on 7 hours of sleep and not scream for 9.

- We all traveled to Texas where Brian officiated at a wedding and we stayed with our Texas "family".

- The boys had a week of VBS and lots of time with friends.

- I did not get the house deep-cleaned or catch up on scrapbooking, but I did reign at laundry.

- We had adventures on Lake Powell. A huge, memorable adventure. Unforgettable.

- We came to the closest to a life-ending head-on collison we ever have on the trip back from Lake Powell. Still makes me feel shaky to remember seeing a car in our lane headed toward us at 80 miles per hour.

- We saw lots of family we don't get to see very often and were kept from others by a wildfire in our way.

- We had not one, but two trip routes change significantly due to wildfires.

- We swam. And swam. And swam. And....yup, you guessed it. We swam. Pools. Lots of pools. Lots of time in the lake. We all escaped sunburn thanks to diligent application of gallons of sunscreen. Perhaps we will have sunscreen poisoning, but we were protected from the sun....

It just doesn't all fit into one word. Yes, we're rested. No, we're really not in some ways. Was 6 weeks away necessary? Yup. It was. Vocational church ministry is messy, all-consuming, life-altering, and very much like living in close proximity to a huge extended family all the time. We all know family is precious and complicated and we do love this big, precious, complicated family of ours.

I'll let you know what I have a word to sum it up. If that ever happens.