September 2018 – Sabbatical

My hubby, Chris, is passionate about running…and most recently, triathlons. Because of his passion, we have been able to do some pretty cool things throughout the course of our eleven-year marriage! Our latest adventure took us all the way to South Africa for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship race!

As we began planning our trip, we decided that we really wanted to incorporate some Helpers of People activities. It was quite the process for us…we had a plan, but sadly, that seemed to fall through. So, we came up with a second plan and moved forward with that for our mini-sabbatical. God has a funny way of working things out the way He really wants, though! I always think it is so neat to see him working in our life.

As odd as it sounds, Chris became friends with a guy named Garreth through the social media platform Instagram about two years ago. We have since met him and his family in person and we’ve all formed quite a good friendship! Crazy stuff! Fast forward to this year, when the championship race location was announced — it just so happens that Garreth was born and raised in South Africa, in the very same town that the race would be held! And even more, his family still owns a farm there, where his mom currently lives. I can’t make this stuff up! He offered to let us stay at the chalets on his farm, and he actually ended up being there for part of the time we visited.

Garreth’s family uses their farm, Seaview Guest Farm, as a place where local leaders come together for leadership conferences and development. Their goal is to “teach a man to fish” with strong leadership principles that can change their entire life path. The farm consists of the main house, where his mom lives, as well as six small chalets and a handful of dorm-like cabin rooms. His elderly mom runs the non-profit business and farm locally and Garreth runs it remotely from Texas. Since his mom has had some health issues this year, we developed a plan with Garreth to help her do some things around the farm that she can’t keep up with at the moment.

Right around the time we were packing our bags and getting ready to head to Dallas for our flight, Chris received news that changed our sabbatical plan! Our original plan was going to fall into place after all! We were both very excited! So, while Chris did help out with a few things around the farm while we were there, and while I will be helping one of the local South African leaders with a marketing plan once he is ready, what I have to share here looks a little different than we anticipated. As a very analytical and by-the-numbers planning kind of girl, I could have let this stress me out a bit! But, our experience was so incredible and we were thrilled with how God worked it all out! We were honored to participate in two separate volunteer events with the Ironman Foundation, both of which were partnered with Ironman 4 the Kidz.

Early Birds Daycare
On Thursday, 8-31-18, we visited the Early Birds Daycare facility that had just opened about one week earlier and was funded by the Ironman Foundation. During the Ironman Expo earlier in the week, we helped pack backpacks for the children that were handed out during this visit. Now, to be transparent — I am not really a “kid” person…so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this experience. I can honestly say that I was incredibly moved by the entire day there!

When we arrived, we were met with the little toddlers singing a song for us! It was such a sweet sound. We all filed into the playground area where we each handed out a backpack to one of the children. Chris and I found two little girls and spent some time with them going through their goody bags. We helped them open their snacks and drinks, which they thoroughly enjoyed all at once until they were gone. Then we introduced them to their coloring books and crayons, and spent some time coloring with them. They really loved the sheets of stickers — they loved sticking them on their faces and bodies! Throughout the fun, we were taking selfies with the kiddies. It was joyous to see how enamored they were with their reflection in the camera phone. We finished off by spending some time pushing them on the swings and seeing their joy.

This daycare is providing these children with a safe place to spend their days, and they are getting food and skills that are necessary for their survival and their future. It was amazing to see how much the Ironman Foundation pours into this community and how appreciative the teachers and children are of everything. I loved spending a day in this environment and pouring into the sweet children.

Eastern Province Child & Youth Care Centre
We spent the day after the Ironman race, Monday, 9-3-18, volunteering with the Ironman Foundation again. Altogether, about 25 of us rode a bus to the centre, where we were met by the wonderful staff members. After a few of the small children sang us a beautiful song, we were educated on the mission of the centre. They currently have 104 children of all races between the ages of 4 and 18, and they provide residential care and schooling with the aim of producing productive citizens for the South African community. Because the children live at the centre, they have age- and gender-specific cottages on the property to take care of their needs. Our mission for the day was to help repaint one of the cottages.

We broke into groups of four and were led to different rooms in the cottage by one of the employees. Our leader was Sonya and she was spunky! She showed us to one of the bedrooms and explained the painting process — the walls would be a light gray and the trim, doors, closet doors, and window sill would be a dark gray. They had everything prepped for us, so we were able to meet the other two people in our group — Peta and Jan — and get started painting right away.

Chris pretty much took care of the wall painting, while us girls handled the trim and doors. I grabbed the small roller and went to work on the closet doors (which took up most of one wall). I was also able to accomplish the main door, too! It was quite humid there, so about three coats of paint were needed on all of the surfaces. We painted for hours, and it was amazing what the four of us were able to accomplish!

As a reward for all of our hard work, we were able to visit some of the children in their classrooms! They were prepared to share some of their work with us. Chris and I found our way to TJ’s desk, and he was a cute little guy. I think he was about 10. He proudly went through three of his class workbooks, showing us the things he had written and drawn. It was very impressive! He spoke very good English, and shyly asked us a few questions along the way. He was very excited to hear Chris had done the Ironman! I let him down a bit when I admitted that I, in fact, had NOT. Ha! The thing that touched me the most was how serious these children were about school. They were very lucky to have the opportunities provided by the school, and they were taking full advantage that.

This whole experience was out of my comfort zone, on many levels. As I mentioned, I’ve never been drawn to children; I am also not drawn to manual labor! The entire day was so perfect though, and filled my heart with a joy I haven’t felt in a long time. I loved the time with the children, and the manual labor turned out to be quite fun with our little group! I am so, so grateful that our original Sabbatical plan fell into place. God put me right where I needed to be!

Sabbatical Reading
For my personal growth reading, I was very excited to choose “Becoming Myself” by Stasi Eldredge. For my full Sabbatical in 2010, I read her popular book “Captivating”. That book made a significant impact on my life, and I was ready to dive into this new one. Well…my Kindle tells me I am 54% through the book. I am still working through it. I am sad to report that this book is NOT impacting my life in the same way as her previous book. In fact, currently I am not even really sure what her point is. She seems to be all over the place with her thoughts, and I can’t quite pull the meaning out of it yet. I will finish the book and see what I can glean from my notes. There will be something there, in the end.

I want to thank Kris Seale and our Board for the gift of a mini-Sabbatical…it was a refreshing two-week period that allowed me to reset and also to be a blessing to others. Also, a big thank you to Allison and my amazing Marketing family for taking care of everything so well while I was away!

To wrap up, I’d love to share some photos with you! Enjoy!