Sabbatical Serenades 1

13 Jun Sabbatical Serenades 1

If you’re savvy to another title for these posts I’ll do once in a while during the sabbatical other than “Sabbatical Serenades”, let me know. I’m open. Couldn’t come up with anything more creative or alliteratorical (is that a word?) alliterative (Thanks David Simkovsky!!).

We are almost at the end of the second week of the sabbatical. Well, kinda. The first week was what I consider an “easing” into the sabbatical. I was still doing work on and off, though certainly not inundated or constantly working.

There were a few loose ends that needed to be tied up. Among them was a decision on our next Children’s Ministries Director. A couple weeks before the sabbatical, our current CM Director, Jenifer Milbauer, shared with me she was feeling it was time for her to move on. She’s done a great job with our Children’s Ministries for three years now.

I am happy to report that we are bringing on Leslie Hertweck. Her maiden name is Taylor, and she spent her childhood and Middle School years as a part of our church. Her dad, Stan, was an Associate Pastor here in the 80’s. He was also very instrumental in Colleen and I getting together!

Leslie starts next week, while I am out on sabbatical. Jenifer will be training with her until July 31. That was the largest loose end, and I am glad to say that the other ones seem to be wrapped up at this point.

The sabbatical started off on a very sad note when I got a call on Sunday night, May 31. A young man whose family used to be a part of NewHeart, and who used to be part of our Youth Ministries, Joey Pullen, had taken his own life. I write about that here.

It was certainly a very difficult way to begin this sabbatical season. It is always one of the worst pieces of news to receive, especially when it is a young person, and more so when they have made the decision to end their own life! Words can’t describe what a family and the friends endure when someone takes their own life.

The first day of the sabbatical, I had arranged to play a round of golf at my favorite golf course, Elkins Ranch in Fillmore. First one in probably three years. I honestly can’t remember the last time I played!

That alone kept my expectations low. I usually have 3-4 blow up holes each round I play. The ones where you lose count how many strokes you’ve taken just to get the ball to the green. Top that with rarely playing the same ball for the whole round. I usually lose at least a few to the hills and water and am happy just to shoot close to 100 over 18 holes.

Well, this turned out to be no usual round of golf! I shot a 98 (and yes, that was BOTh the front AND back 9 combined!). I played the same ball the entire round, and only had 1 blow-up hole. Other than that, I had nothing over a double bogey on the card and even birdied one hole!!

Great start to the sabbatical as far as golf is concerned!

The rest of the week, as mentioned already, was on and off work. With the boys still in school and Colleen working hard to finish off her 2nd semester of teaching Certified Nurse’s Assistants at Simi Valley Adult School, I had the mornings to sleep in and was able to rest pretty well and get some reading done.

Our first Sunday on sabbatical went well. I had hoped to be out of town, but that didn’t happen. Living right next door to the church facility, there is a supernatural gravitational pull that happens on Sunday mornings.

It was not an easy fight, but Colleen’s french toast made it a little easier. We ended up staying home the entire day and evening and it was quite peaceful and enjoyable!

Actually, this second week was my first real week of allowing the sabbatical to settle in. It hasn’t yet, not really. Jonathan ended up home nursing a pretty nasty head cold through Wednesday, so the week has been fairly busy being with him. We ran some errands together and accomplished a project together as well. That was a lot of fun.

At the end of two weeks, unless you’re somewhere else physically, I think it just feels like vacation. I’ve done two weeks off before many times, even three a few times. I guess I kind of expect it to settle in more over the next couple of weeks.

I never did follow up with a post about how the “Connecting With Your Congregation Electronically” workshop went at Convention in Anaheim. It really went well and the room was packed. Made a lot of great connections through the opportunity and have some good thoughts about how I would do it differently.

Last night, Colleen graduated her 2nd class of Certified Nurse’s Assistants, a class of 13. I am so proud of her, and her students couldn’t talk her up enough. She is still working a couple shifts a month at Los Roblers Pediatric Medical Group, and is planning to cover a few classes over the Summer for her daytime counterpart at the Adult School. Other than that, she is free for the Summer.

I think that’s pretty much it for now. If you’ve got another idea for the title of these posts for the Summer, comment on it below and let me know!