Author: Greg Neeley

The end of my sabbatical blessing is near, and as I write this and reflect on the past several weeks, I realize now more than ever, that I am truly blessed!  Blessed by the family and friends that I have been able to visit, blessed by the places I have been able to go and the things I have been able to do, blessed by the great health and abilities to do all of those things, and last but definitely not least, blessed by this sabbatical time given to me.  Thank You Kris & FD!

Last week I visited my parent’s again, to work on Dad’s hot-tub house, and to take my two nephews deer hunting – one of them one weekend and the other the next weekend.   Actually, since my two nephews are grown and have their own families now, it was more like Them Taking Me hunting.  It was some great one-on-one time with them, just to get to visit and chat about almost everything from hunting and fishing, to house repair, to favorite foods, to the how and why I was off work for so long (that story was the most fun to tell!).  Didn’t see one this hunting trip, but did get some good pics from the trail-cameras, so we know they are there!

Dad and I finished the hot-tub house!  Well, at least the inside.  They still haven’t decided on the colors for painting the outside, so maybe we can finished that on Thanksgiving weekend if the weather is nice.  We dropped in a couple of windows, electrical wiring, got the insulation installed, drywall installed and painted, flooring installed, and windows and doors trimmed and base-boards done!  Might sound like a lot, but its a small room, and things moved pretty quick.  Then we got the hot-tub moved into place.  Had to turn it on it’s side to go thru the doorway, and we had about one inch to spare on all sides!  Glad my measurements were accurate (for a change)!

— Added a couple of windows

—  Then the not-so-fun job of insulation

— A bit of paint and trim, and a ceiling fan !   Done!

Missing my FD peeps!  and (almost) ready to go back to the office…..

hmmm……now what did I do with FD’s address….oh well….GoogleMaps !!!

You might have heard the saying, “It’s the little things that make the biggest difference. “.

That phrase applied to me this past week as I helped Habitat For Humanity, working on the construction of a Habitat Home for a few days, and building cabinets in the cabinet-shop for a day, and also working a bit at the Habitat ReStore.

The little bit of knowledge I gained from them greatly increased my understanding of why and how Habitat works. From fund raising, acquiring properties, construction of the home, and basic cabinetry, to the purpose of the ReStore: to provide funding for the administrative side of Habitat, and to raise additional funds for a Habitat Home, if necessary, and to try to actually fund an entire home each year.

I hope that my little bit of help at Habitat will make just as big a difference in their lives, as they did in mine.  I learned so much about Habitat and the people there that they made a very big difference in the way I see them and what they do.  I plan on getting more involved with Habitat in the near future, so I can continue this learning and helping process!

What a great experience! And I am ready for more!

I finally saw the sun again!  For a brief 45 minutes this past Friday the sun appeared from behind the clouds!

I have been at my parent’s house this past week, and although it hasn’t rained a lot there, it has rained some every day, except Friday and Saturday(today).   I have been building a “hot-tub” house for my Dad this week.  My Dad is soon to be 84 years young, and was out there helping me all day long,  between rain showers.   He is a joy to work with, but this week has tested my patience.  Not meaning that he is “a pain to work with”, but rather patience as in my dad has one “speed” (slow), and my “speed” is quite a bit faster than his!  But we still managed to get the little house framed, roofed, and siding installed.   They decided to add a couple of windows (a change to the original plans), but we can do that later, no problem.

I am back in Abilene this week to work with Habitat For Humanity for a few days, yes probably building a house, and also at the Habitat “ReStore” store for a couple of days.   Some people may think that I have not had any “restful” time with all this house building.  But for me, this type of activity is very relaxing.  This sabbatical is not only for resting the body, but for also resting the mind and soul.  Creating and building is my way of resting my mind.  I can let everything else on my mind just go away for awhile, and then focus on the one project.  And the tired feeling at the end of the day helps me to sleep better at night!   Now that I’m on the subject of sleep and rest, I don’t believe I am getting ‘exactly’ the required 9 hours of sleep per day….bed time at 10:30 pm, up at 7:30 am, a one-hour nap after lunch, and a nap after dinner….(my Dad likes to nap, so I might as well too!)

Next week I will be returning to my parent’s to finish the inside of the hot-tub house.  Walls, ceiling, flooring, and some painting.   Here’s some pics to-date. More to come later after the final product.

— Foundation —

— Day three —

–Day Five — (windows to be added next trip)

Sunrise one morning….look closely….yes, it’s starting to rain.

Week one is almost done.  This is my second sabbatical (Thank You Kris and FD!) so I know the feeling of being away from the office for a while.  But for this week, it still feels like vacation-mode.  I’m sure the feeling of “joblessness” will hit me again soon (HA).

This week I have been visiting my sister & brother in-law, nephew and his wife, and niece and her husband, that all live in Stinnett, Texas.  A small town about 60 miles north of Amarillo.  I helped out with some repairs on their houses and yards.   Actually not as much yard work as we had hoped for, because it has rained a bit every day that I have been here (5 days straight).   I haven’t seen the sun since I started my sabbatical!

We all needed this time together here in Stinnett, and it has taught us that we need to spend time with each other more often.  I am leaving today (Friday), and going to Wellington to stay a week with my parents.  Dad has a new hot-tub/spa thing that is currently in his garage. I am going to build him a “hot-tub house”, as he calls it, off the patio in the back yard, weather permitting.   Hopefully pics to come next week.

It’s now 7:30 am, time for some (more) coffee and some reading and study time.  I enjoy the early mornings.  I am alert (after a cup of coffee), and the world is still mostly quiet.

From something I read a long time ago — “Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak”.

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Testing out the blog. Trying to get all my DIGicon-Ducks in-a-row before I leave on this wonderful Sabbatical ! Thank you Kris and FD!