Author: Carlos Peña

The last few days of my sabbatical have been interesting. Our trip to Houston ended earlier than expected due to Hurricane Harvey, the wedding was moved to Friday and plans quickly changed to accommodate the day early wedding. Even though it was rushed and there weren’t as many guests as originally expected, you would hardly notice as the ceremony was beautiful and captured their love greatly. The rehearsal dinner served as the reception to the wedding, which worked out great. A few friends left that night, but we decided to stay and get some rest to leave in the morning, that didn’t work out as well as planned; turns out its a bit difficult to get good sleep when you’re worried about getting stuck. So we ended up leaving about 5:30 in the morning to make it home in time for my nephews first birthday party. After the party I tackled the task of getting my house put back together since we got the new carpet in. With the house all back together I was able to relax again.

I am very thankful for this experience, it really helps put things into perspective allowing me to focus on parts of my life that I may neglect while working. I really enjoyed being able to spend all this time with my family and grow relationships with them. I go back to work tomorrow refreshed and ready to start again.

It has been an interesting time since my last post. A bit of good news, my house is all cleaned and we have fresh carpet for my older dog, my son, and the new baby on the way. Yes you read that last part right, we went to see the little one on an ultra sound Wednesday. Seeing the ultrasound can really put things in perspective, making many things seem so small and unimportant. I’m very thankful to have family here in town who were able to help us in our time of need with the flooding, it really helped us get through this stressful time.

On a bit lighter note, my best friend gets married this weekend down in Houston! The Woodlands to be exact, a bit north of Houston thankfully. We arrived Thursday afternoon, and went to downtown Houston to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston to check out an exhibit on the Mexican Revolution through art, we wanted to slip that in before all the rain and potential flooding. The plans are changing as Hurricane Harvey begins throwing rain this direction, but its the joining of 2 people in love so no amount of rain can ruin that, at least in my opinion. Please pray for our safe travels and happiness for the newly weds!

This week I really embraced the rest and relaxation part of my sabbatical, I did not really work on any projects or anything. Most of the week consisted of binge watching Game of Thrones so I can catch up, only 4 seasons left!

I volunteered at Habit For Humanity on Saturday, this week we focused on cutting out the holes for the windows, getting the windows put in and weather wrapping the house. It truly is amazing how people can come together to help build a home for someone. While there was a few people I was working working with the week before, it was mostly new people, and seeing how we were able to organize and get going pretty efficiently was a sight to see.

The change for this week wasn’t great, as I’m sure you know we got a pretty good rain Monday night; that rain along with development going on behind my house caused water to seep into my home. Thankfully I had family that was able to come as it was happening and helped me to clean up and contain the water as best we could until it stopped. I believed that really helped keep the damage down, and am very thankful for that. It is tough seeing your house, something you worked so hard for, torn up. As it dries it gets better, and we can rebuild, you really have to stay positive in these situations, and turning to God through prayer is really helping us stay positive in this.

Proverbs 16:3 – “Entrust your works to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”

The first week of my sabbatical was both relaxing and productive. I was able to enjoy some much needed quality time with my son as well as get some projects started/finished that I have been putting off for some time. The big project I was able to finish this week was putting up a small shed in my back yard for my lawn equipment. I was able to start my service project this Saturday as well, volunteering at Habit for Humanity along with a few coworkers. This week the goal was to set up the roof trusses for the house which is a difficult process as you need to organize them in the right order then get them on top of the house while balancing on the frame. It was interesting seeing a group of people who don’t really know each other at the beginning able to come together to help build a home for a family.

The biggest adjustment for me as my sabbatical has started is that while I get a break, my wife still has to work and keep her normal routine, making it almost feel like everyone is moving around me while I get the chance to take a breather. My wife has joined me in my daily devotional (Proverbs), which has made it much easier to keep up with and has brought us closer together with God.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” ~Proverbs 3:5