Month: April 2017

We are fresh off our visit to Florida to visit relatives (and mix in a little fun for the boys). We spent a few days with Miki’s aunt in Nokomis, FL and my God parents at the Villages. Wow…great visit on many fronts. Miki’s aunt is a long time employee at a local golf club and has formed many deep relationships with the members there. However, with the death of her long time partner (Wally) a few years back, she remains alone. She has struggled with the uncertainty of an unstable employment situation and worries about what she will do if she is let go. For now, she has her heart set on staying in Florida but has thought about returning home to Minnesota at some point. Of course, we have opened our doors to her should she ever want to come home. The timing was right for us to visit and we are so blessed to have been able to be there for her last week.

With my God parents (and Aunt and Uncle), the visit was also VERY beneficial I think for both them and me. My aunt continues to receive cancer treatment and travels to Gainesville frequently for treatments. Considering what she is going through, she looks great and I made sure she knew it. My uncle continues to stay busy with golf, softball and pickleball which I think by design allows him to spend time away from my aunt. A little sad, but it has been that way since I can remember. What I didn’t know is how close my uncle and mom are to each other. They are the only 2 siblings from my grandma and grandpa who are both deceased. According to my uncle, he and my mom talk once a week by phone.

Anyway, we had great quality time with all and I feel so good to have spend time with all of them. For some reason the hugs felt much tighter this time around. All good.

A couple of days at Disney with my boys included visits to the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Both the boys were crazy about all of the Star Wars stuff and we were fortunate to spend a couple hundred bucks on a bunch of plastic light sabers, spray bottle fans and chicken nuggets. All good…with a lot of great memories to be had. Ben’s highlight of the trip was riding on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster. My highlight was exploring with Ben around the Port Orleans Riverside resort where we stayed.

We finished yesterday at Disney Springs and arrived back in Minneapolis just before midnight last night. Reflection time today will more than likely be a nap!

Next steps: Continued focus on my service project with new developments in my next blog.  Upcoming visits with my Mom and possibly a LONG awaited fishing trip with my Dad.

God Bless!

I must admit it’s VERY weird not being at work.  But, I’m starting to really grab hold of this and am starting to really understand the WHY behind the sabbatical.  Primarily, each day my mind is consumed with thoughts of work such as, pre-call prep for appointments, marketing, lead generation, prospecting, putting out fires, etc…you all know the drill.  These thoughts subside somewhat at night with family when we gather to eat but then creep back in prior to shutting it down for the night.  Now that I’m letting go of that, all kinds of new thoughts are coming in.  Primarily guided by the devotional and my reflection time.  I’m really starting to see there is so much more I can become if I just commit to it.  What a great opportunity I have and I’m going to make the most of it.

The first couple of days it has been difficult to not think about clients, so I immersed myself in reading and activities.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you a day by day account of what I’ve been doing but since it’s only been 3 days…

Day 1:  I spent the entire day with my son Ben.  He is 5 years old and is in preschool part time.  Ordinarily on Monday he has school but not this time.  As Ben put it “Mom, today is Me and Dad time!”.  So, after my morning exercise and coffee, Ben and I went to the range to hit some golf balls and do some chipping and putting.  All that work made us hungry so…off to McDonalds.  From there, we went to Dick’s to shop for new batting gloves and a bat for Ben as he is starting baseball soon.  He’s only five, but will be in minor C which is the next step up from T-ball.  He hits the ball better if it is pitched to him than if it is on a tee (actually he’s VERY good at it).  However, he needs to work on his catching, throwing and fielding (He has time…he’s only 5).  Anyway, the day was awesome, and I can’t really recall having a whole day one on one with just Ben.  Pretty special.

Day 2:  The service component of my Sabbatical is something I’ve been thinking about and praying about probably since last year when we started preparing for the Sabbatical.  Yes, I’m very passionate about funeral service…and also very protective of it.  With Children’s Grief Connection in Minnesota, I’ve learned over the years how amazing funeral directors really are.  Of course coming from manufacturing and engineering, I was an outsider like most and was skeptical about the profession.  To make a long story short (very difficult for me to do) I have never met anyone as passionate and caring about people as are funeral directors.  And, when our industry receives publicity, it is generally negative…wrong body at a viewing, cremated the body and shouldn’t have, she didn’t look right, flowers were terrible, etc…the list goes on and on.  So, I’ll be working hard to educate and inform some of our local media outlets in the Minneapolis area on CGC and lift up our funeral director volunteers.  My ultimate goal is for someone to pick up the story, but If I can meet with as many as I can and educate them on our great organization, perhaps it will lead to something in the future.  Ultimately, story or not…I’m going to spread the good word.

So, this morning, I stopped in to talk with Bill Sherck from Due North Outdoors.  No commitment yet, but Bill is asking questions and considering how we could spin an outdoor element into doing a show about our CGC camp.  Also, I have reached out to a couple others at Kare 11 and WCCO in Minneapolis through networking connections.  We’ll see how that goes.  When I secure an appointment, I’m hoping to connect with Coral and have her joint me.

Today:  Thanks to my devotional, I walked out my door and had conversations with neighbors that I rarely ever talk to.  We live in a neighborhood of empty nesters and my perception is that we really don’t have much in common.  Nothing could be further from the truth…our lawns all look horrible from the winter, this spring has been way too cold, taxes are too high…yep, plenty in common.  Also, in the past I’ve somewhat been resentful of the fact that if we stay in this neighborhood long enough, my neighbors are going to need our help with more things…what?  I don’t have time to help myself…let alone…wait, stop…what am I thinking?  This is a great opportunity to help people!  The good Lord has put this right in my lap and I’ve been blind.  Blind no more…this is going to be an awesome next several weeks.  I’m hopeful to reach out and start planting seeds that I’m here to help and just hope and pray that my neighbors will welcome an extra hand.  More to come on this topic…

What’s next?  Off to Florida tomorrow.  Seeing Miki’s Aunt and going to see my God Parents (Aunt and Uncle).  My Aunt Donna has been battling cancer for the past year and it’s been a struggle.  I haven’t seen her or my uncle for over 5 years…I’m super excited to see them.  They send me a birthday card every year and haven’t missed one in 47 years.  I’m very grateful.  We’ll be in the Nakomis area for 3 days, then at the Villages north of Orlando and then off to Disney with Ben and Will for a couple of days.  Ben was at Disney when he was a baby, but doesn’t remember.  With Will 9 and Ben 5 years, they are at pretty good ages.

God Bless!

Scott

This week I took more time to relax, enjoy the gorgeous weather, and get ready for Easter.
Monday I tried out a new life group and had a blast hanging out with everyone. It is the first group that, instead of following after Pastor David’s sermon, started our own discusssion. It was interesting to see why everyone believed what they do about Christianity.
Tuesday I worked at OTWH again. It was busier than it had been last week. But with 4 people, we were able to have two walk people through and two restock the shelves. We had received 6 boxes from Market Street and Emma and I were able to get the boxes emptied and get the shelves restocked from the storeroom. At the end of the day, we had a lady stop by and ask for help for a guy in Abilene. He was young about 19 or 20 and when he had graduated high school and turned 18, his parents had left him behind when they moved and he has been struggling ever since. She said that he is struggling socially and survives off a can or two of vegetables a day. Everything he does is within walking distance from where is he staying, which makes doing everyday things (like going to the laundromat and getting groceries) difficult. Diane and I went through the pantry and pulled everything he would need for the week. In total I believe it was a little over 3 boxes worth of items we sent; including toilet paper, detergent, cereal, noodles, mac and cheese, all sorts of canned everything, and on and on. The lady also told us about a sale that would be happening the next day at HEB where everything was $1. She told us that HEB frequently did these sales to get rid of any overstock and it would be great way for us to stock up on some much needed items.
Which brings us to Wednesday. I got up early and headed out to HEB. I arrived at 8am and joined the queue. By the time it opened at 9 there was over 30 people in line with their baskets ready to go. Once the manager said ‘Go’ all 30 shot into the sale area and pandemonium began. Think Black Friday, but instead of TVs and video games it was giant folgers containers and shampoo for $1. Most were filling up their carts with with as much as they could hold. At check out time, everything was cash and all barcodes had to be marked through (to keep people from returning the items for more cash). I wound up getting three boxes full of our most needed items for $100, easily 5x less than what it would have been normally. I was able to get a before picture and one with the end of the queue, but no pictures of the chaos.

Wednesday was also the Passover meal at Beltway. I have been to the Passover before and I always enjoy going. For those that have never been I’ll give a brief description. The celebration is done at Beltway Church and everything is already laid out on the table. It’s a Jewish tradition to celebrate when they were liberated from slavery from the Egyptians. At Beltway, we also tie it to when Jesus celebrated the Passover with his desciples. We have a Jewish rabbi perform the Passover for us and much of it is in Hebrew. They do serve a supper and everything is explained as we go through the ceremony.
Thursday I finished handing out brochures about our STC cleanup Sunday April 23rd to those houses that were missed on Wednesday night. I finished the day off by working at OTWH that evening and packed and headed to Lake Brownwood to be with my family for Easter. We had a total of 24 at the lake even though we were missing 7.
I’ve spent the rest of the week and Easter at the lake. It’s been great to be able to relax and spend time with family. Hope everyone had a great Easter and is enjoying the rain and sunshine!

Read more…

It’s safe to say that God knew things were about to get messy, and my energy was supposed to be focused elsewhere.

Maybe Dog Update ♥

Maybe has now been to see the vet 7 times! The majority of my sabbatical has been spent caring for my pup and struggling through each night and day. She was on meds for her heart murmur that changed her completely. Bryan has been a wreck and we talked about taking her off of them so she would be the Maybe we know. After a visit to the vet, we found that her heart is not enlarged and were able to take her off one of the meds. Hours later she was acting so miserable and seemed as though her back legs were not working and hurt, so we had to take her to the emergency vet. This was the best appt we have ever had! Tests were run and we found that she was super dehydrated and still had some gastro weakness from her early problem. She was placed on a new diet, taken off of the med that was dehydrating her from her heart problem, and given antibiotics. Maybe was finally herself and things were on the mend. Fast forward to Monday afternoon, and she had a seizure in front of me (so scary). She had skull x-rays and testing done under anesthesia, and the problem is the way her liver is working. New meds, new diet (this is the 3rd change), no apparent side effects, and a happy puppy. Thank you for hanging in with me on so much talk of Maybe, but she has had so much of my energy lately, and always has my heart.

Helpers of Animals

My last post let you know about my upcoming volunteer work with the animal shelter, but things never worked out. The volunteer coordinator took an impromptu week off and the secretary had no clue if she was ever coming back to work. This had me panicked, but the Taylor Humane Society wanted help with the dogs they house. Playing with dogs is exhausting and way harder than it seems! I was concerned about how hard clean-up would be for my knees and back, but playing with the dogs is so much harder (and more fun)! The most rewarding thing has been spending time with the scared dogs, because when we get outside and they know they are okay, they only want to sit with me and press their tiny faces against mine. I’ve always respected people who work with animal rescues, but my volunteer work has taken that to a whole new level. The Taylor Humane Society always needs donations and people to adopt from them.

Rollerskating with 4th and 5th Graders

My team was recently contacted by an elementary teacher asking if a few of the players would come skate with her students. The students who read enough Bluebonnet books this year were rewarded with a trip to the Family Life Center for some rollerskating. They had a rollerskating party because the students of Texas voted the book Roller Girl as the best! Most of our team had to work, but a teammate took off and came with me to teach the kids about roller derby. They already knew so much about the sport because of the book – the author actually plays for Rose City out of Portland, Oregon (home to the #1 team in the world). We showed them fundamental stops and strategy, and had snacks with them while we learned about some other books.

Tomorrow, I am blessed to get back to the office! I am ready, I missed my friends and work.   I am so grateful to Kris and our Company for the gift of Sabbatical.  It has been nice to take a step back, relax and reset.  These 30 days of Sabbatical our Company has provided me has encouraged and strengthened my relationship with God, family and others.  The blessing to help care for my new grand baby and daughter, soon after her giving birth, is something we will always cherish. Also, spending time with my grandchildren, how I will miss Bible stories at bedtime with them.  My son called me and said that he was very thankful for the Sabbatical  time we had together.  He said that it has made a big difference in our relationship and also in his life and future.  For the better!  Yes, he said that : )

Thank you to everyone who has been covering for me at work. I know you have done a great job! I know this because we are A Great Place to Work with Awesome, Talented People!  I got my gym bag ready and clothes laid out for tomorrow, feels like the 1st day of school!

Well I am behind a post so I need to catch up. I have to say I do not remember the last time I was off for this long. I have been in school and the working world since I was 16 and the only time off I have taken was when I had my two girls. As most of you know having a newborn is NOT a vacation : ) It was such a blessing to be able to spend time with my family and friends. I was able to build deeper relationships with several friends and even make a few new ones.

I know for sure God lead me to this company at the right time in my life which in turn brought me to today. I have discovered how to have peace in my life and most of that discovery came with my devotional time over the last month. Trusting God is a challenge for all of us and even though it is high on the list of importance it is also one of the hardest things to really do. My goal going forward is to TRUST God, I mean really trust Him in every decision I make and every obstacle that comes my way. I know this is the key to that peace we all hope for and that brings us closer in our relationships with God.

I am beyond thankful for the time and I feel it was very well spent. I am more thankful that I have a job to come back to that I love and people that are supportive. My team had my back and went above and beyond to take care of my customers while I was away. That allowed me to rest and relax and not worry too much about what was happening at work. I want to say thank you to those in Passare that covered me while I was on Sabbatical. I cannot wait to return the favor.

Too Blessed to be Stressed!

Julie

I started my sabbatical on Saturday and have already been blessed. I started the day off by going with my Mom to Beltway’s garage sale and then going to look through a few vintage shops around Abilene with her.  I was also able to go hang out with some friends and go see the new beauty and the beast that night.

Sunday I went to church at Beltway and they gave out free money! Kind of. I am suppose to give the money to someone this week and report back this Sunday. I’ve been keeping the money with me and am praying for a God opportunity to give it away. My family and the Jones met up and had lunch together and then everyone headed to Fred and Lydia Sandlin’s house to help them pack. They are moving to be closer to their son and are leaving the area that they have lived for several decades. The church family of Lawn Baptist Church gave them a send off that night and we prayed over their family and everyone wished them the best as they began their next adventure.

With all the blessings going on around me, it seems that God always has to outdo himself. It has been raining on and off all weekend. I LOVE it when it rains. I couldn’t help but take a walk in the rain last night and think about what this month has in store for me.

Today, has been so relaxing. I have enjoyed the rain. It gives me such sense of renewal. I sat outside on the porch taking it all in. I had the opportunity to take a few trips.  I like to drive. I think it is very calming to take a drive and enjoy the beauty around us. Truly, this time of year is pretty, different colors of green flourishing. Makes me happy! I enjoyed visiting with friends and catching up with all that is going on in their lives.

I am really going to miss my Crossfit class.  I have enjoyed working out with the team at Black & Gold Fitness, in Andrews. Funny, how quickly a group of people can connect when they have a common goal and support one another! I am excited for Spin on Wednesday at DIG Wellness Center!!

We had a Spaghetti Dinner for the youth. It has been fun getting to know them and sharing this time with them. I know these are such difficult times for young people. You just want to do more. I asked my son how he does not get discouraged with some of the issues they face. Abel, just smiled and said “Mom my calling is to tell them about Jesus, He takes it from there.”

I am just about finished with the book “The Most Excellent Way to Lead” by Perry Noble. It has been a great read.  I know that living and leading by love has power to build relationships, promote understanding and ushers in wisdom.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps not record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Truth, though we do not always walk in it.  In my study of James, he speaks to walking it out, being doers of the word not just hearers. The following verse really spoke to me.

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” James 3:17  

Would you agree that we could all do a little better at showing love for one another in all areas of our life? I believe that leading by love is the most excellent way to lead. This is a must read, get the book!

I will leave you with this picture I have hanging on the wall at the office.  It reminds me of our many blessings : )