Pot Luck!: Refreshed and Renewed.....

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Refreshed and Renewed.....

We left our house three weeks ago in the overpacked camper and truck. We were EXHAUSTED physically, emotionally, and spiritually. There was not much left to give. As a couple we had been snapping at each other for weeks. Truly Dave could barely smile! Tho he did not loose his sense of humor......

For everyone, life takes a toll.....life is stressful. For us this year was unusual.....and we did our best to cope and keep up with things..... I did the stress-O-meter test at a retreat a few weeks ago and my score was off the chart.....Yikes! We had:

A family member with a Serious illness
change in family status (we have a wedding in the family this summer)
Lent/Easter with extra worship services
Every three weeks since last summer we had a funeral, two were just before Easter.
end of school year stuff
long winter
and a few other things.....

I am not complaining....just saying! And then I read again:

³¹He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. ³²And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Mark 6:31-32

That passage reminded me that even Jesus went away to rest....and so by Jesus example, we are encouraged to go away to rest too....Each week we are given the gift of Sabbath. But we, as humans feel the need to fill up all the time with business and don't always take the gift to rest. And we become tired from all the things, even the good things that we do in a day.

So we left....it would have been good to stay home, but when we are at home, we find more things to do, and so we don't rest......We drove south and arrived at our destination Monday evening....just in time to go to our room and sleep.....four days later we woke up! Ok not really, but we were in bed early and I got up late!

Part of our time away was for continuing education. We read books, studied, wrote, and did a few interviews.

Other times we celebrated.....

We opened the Magic Kingdom!

We ate foods that were new to us and are now favorites....Chicken Tikka Masala and beef Kabobs are my new favorite! Dave had a new kind of fish....he loved it and wants to go back to Cafe Marachesh and Yak and Yeti.....