Author: jake.kramar

Last day of my sabbatical, others told me that the time will fly by but I honestly feel like time didn’t fly by. Looking back on my sabbatical I accomplished a lot of goals I had set for myself and even accomplished a few I had no clue were coming. Since my last blog a lot has changed in regards to our living situation but lets start off by talking about the weekend.

Stephanie & I as well as our dog Ellie traveled 3 hours south back to my hometown of Durand, IL. Saturday was all about Stephanie, my mother threw her a lovely bridal shower in the afternoon and Stephanie got to meet a lot of extended family members for the first time. While the girls were having their fun my dad and I vacuum sealed the cheese that we smoked a few weeks back. Upon multiple quality control tests I can officially say the cheese turned out amazing! That night we were invited to have dinner at my uncles house and I got to catch up with a few family members that I haven’t seen in ages.

Sunday We had a huge family reunion on my mothers side out at my uncle’s pond. We had around 50 family members attend and some drove from as far away as Alabama! We grilled out and shared stories about the past as well as what’s currently going on in our lives. I even met some 3rd cousins of mine that live a few towns over from me who own and operate a honey bee farm.

Monday through today have honestly been kinda stressful. This new living situation has had me running all over town. Long story short after dozens of emails, phone calls and meetings I received an email today that the sellers of a house I was looking at accepted my offer and we will close on December 15th, which is a long closing date but that’s probably a good thing  because now we can focus our attention on the wedding and worry about moving once the wedding is done. My landlord told me last night that he accepted an offer for the house we are currently living in and that the buyer doesn’t want to move in until the spring of 2018, so hopefully the buyer will let us stay here until December. I was hoping to spend a few more days at the Hunger Task Force but this whole housing situation made it impossible to donate more time. I would like to spend more time with the Hunger Task Force in the future though, they are awesome people helping out so many families in the community.

Overall my sabbatical was a success, It had its ups and downs but God works in mysterious ways and it appears everything is going to work out. I am blessed to work for an amazing company and want to say thank you for allowing us to participate in this event. I will be honest though, I think I enjoyed my time away from work just a little too much. I had no problems letting go of work duties and could easily get into a groove of not having to go to work everyday :+) However I’m ready to go back to the funeral home and start helping out families again, I assume the first few days are going to be crazy but I will take it one day at a time and try not to get too overwhelmed.

Thanks again to everyone at FDLIC. This will be a month that I will never forget.

my apologies for not blogging earlier this week, my relaxing sabbatical just received an interesting plot twist. Last week the night before I was going to leave home for 7 days my landlord told me he is selling the house I am renting so now I must find a house to buy/rent in an extremely short amount of time, while simultaneously finalizing the rest of my wedding plans! Yikes…needless to say this blog will be short because I have time sensative issues to deal with so again I’m sorry for not blogging more.

Thursday night through Sunday morning I was able to spend some time in Wisconsin dells with a few friends and family members I don’t get to see that often. It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend on the lake but my mind was more focused on my new living situation, I still managed to have some fun and relax but it was not as relaxing as I had hoped.

Sunday afternoon I flew out to Rhode Island to visit with my best childhood friend who moved out there about 6 years ago. We were very close growing up due to the fact that we lived on the same street growing up and in 5th grade he was diagnosed with cancer and I was by his side through treatment. I asked him to be in my wedding and he said yes. He gave me a tour of Rhode Island and we even went to Martha’s Vineyard. It was an enjoyable trip to catch up with such a good friend but I couldn’t stop thinking of my living issues waiting for me back home. We toured the east coast of Massachusetts before I flew back Thursday night. Today has been filled with scheduling appointments with realtors, loan officers and attorneys. I have a lot to do before Stephanie and I have to drive 3 hours south for a bridal shower and a family reunion.

I will keep you posted on my travels and my housing situation.

These first two weeks felt like they flew by! As I left off in my previous post the next step in my sabbatical was all about spending quality time with friends and family. Last Thursday and Friday I went back to my hometown of Durand, IL where I grew up. I tried to stop and visit with as many family members as I possibly could. I wanted to talk to them about their families/lives since I don’t get to see them that often as well as hand out as many wedding RSVPs as I could. (stamps aren’t cheap!) I got to play a round of golf with my father which is something I haven’t been able to do in years. We also went down to the local funeral home and finalized his funeral plans!!! Unfortunately I only got to spend a few hours with my mom since she got called into work while I was home, but that’s ok since I will be seeing her in a few weekends anyways.

Friday night through Monday morning I was in Bloomington, IL which is where I recently lived for the past 10 years. I was blessed with the opportunity to see a bunch of close friends that I haven’t seen since I moved up to Wisconsin. One of the families I got to spend time with has a 6 year old son named Liam who tells all his friends that his buddy Jake is “the coolest man alive”. I asked him if he would help me out by being the ring bearer in my wedding and he freaked out in excitement!

Monday I spent the day driving back to Wisconsin. Tuesday – today I have been trying my best to take it slow, meditate and rest, but I also spent a lot of time over at the Hunger Task Force too. The HTF is a rewarding place to donate your time. Everyone there is so nice and very down to earth, they have a common goal to help out those in need and they are an awesome team. I got to ride along in the truck again (my favorite part) handing out pallets of food to local establishments. It’s nice to know that I live in a town that has so many organizations that care about the less fortunate in the community. I have a fairly lengthy to do list for today due to the fact that I am planning on being gone for the next ten days so I better wrap this blog up and get my chores done!

Where am I going next you ask? Well…..you’re going to have to be patient and tune in next week to find out!

First off I want to apologize about my delayed posts, I ran into a little technical difficulties but we are up and running now!

Okay, so week one of my sabbatical went very smooth. I’m not sure what all these other folks are talking about on finding it difficult to transition from work mode to sabbatical mode, I had no problem whatsoever transitioning into sabbatical mode, maybe too easy! I’m guessing getting out of sabbatical mode might not be as easy…

I started my sabbatical Wednesday August 2nd and spent the first few days relaxing, meditating and reading. My first book is titled Powerful Thoughts by Joyce Meyer. So far it’s a very interesting read, she explains how when we think negatively we receive negative results and how to train our minds to think positively and get positive results.

My brother and father drove up to my place for the weekend and we had a blast. It’s been a while since the three of us were able to be together. For those of you who aren’t aware, I love to cook food for me and others. The weather was beautiful that weekend and we literally smoked/grilled food all weekend. Friday night I prepared stuffed cream cheese jalapeno hamburgers on my charcoal Weber (no gas grills around my house) with a grilled bacon cheddar onion blossom as a side. Saturday morning we cold smoked 5 different types of cheese. I can already anticipate your jokes about Wisconsinites and their cheese…..Then in the afternoon I taught them how to properly smoke ribs low and slow. I know you Texans would rather I had smoked a brisket instead but I’m saving that for another day.

The beginning of the week I devoted time to a local volunteer group in La Crosse called The Hunger Task Force. They are a food bank that accepts food donations from individuals and local grocery stores and distributes the donations to local organizations in need. Organizations such as the Red Cross, churches, rehab groups etc. They also have an enormous garden where they grow and harvest fresh produce for those in need. Everyone that I met there was very nice and had a positive attitude. I got to help sort all the fresh produce that gets donated from local grocery stores and how they keep everything organized. After that we sort and organize all the dry/canned goods which was also interesting but my favorite part was loading up the food truck and distributing the donations to all the needy organizations in town. Everyone we met was so kind and grateful for our efforts, it was obvious that we were making their lives better and truly making a difference in the community.

The next step in my journey is taking me back to my home town of Durand, IL to visit with family and friends then spend the weekend in Bloomington, IL (my second home town) visiting with more family and friends that I haven’t seen in months/years. I’m excited for the weekend and will keep you posted on my Journey.

Stat tuned till next time!