Author: lisa.davidson

This week we went on a family vacation.  This was really important for us as part of our sabbatical was getting closer as a family, so what better way than to drive 15 hours each way in a car together lol. Anyway, were heading to Gulf Shores Alabama.  As some of you may know Rob can never relax, so vacations are not fun for him.  On the way so Rob could enjoy some time too, he is not usually a fan of sitting on the beach.  We stopped on the way to get him a travel guitar. I think his travel life has changed for him forever. Not to mention Rylee showed real interest in learning how to play a guitar! Best hour we have ever spent! In the past we never had great times on vacation.  I think feeling like we had to pack everything in created a weird dynamic of not relaxing and always trying to make everyone else happy which made us miserable.  Anyway this trip was different.  We all decided together what we wanted to do and did a little of everything and had our best trip ever.  With Rylee getting older it is harder and harder to all be together. I will always treasure this much needed quality time that I got to spend with my family. It was a true blessing for us!!

I don’t always get to do volunteer work or service projects. Or, I should say I don’t always get to participate in them directly. It does seem like I help Rob and Rylee a lot by enabling them to do the things that they do for others. It’s sort of a behind the scenes contribution I often make. I love that I can help them do these things, but I often wish I had a more direct role.

In preparation for our week of service together, Rob had some contact with Global Samaritan and our good friend Danny Sims the Executive Director and said that they were working on some projects for us to do. When it looked like I was going to be helping Rob do some filming, I think I was almost a little disappointed. I didn’t want to just be a tag-along.

On day one, I made it clear that if there was something else that needed to be done, they should not hesitate to ask. I knew Rob could handle filming on his own. But what I did not know was what and who we were going to be filming. Among the people we interviewed last week were volunteers, donors, a former air base commander, the general manager of several local TV Stations, a city councilwoman, and 20 or so representatives from various local non-profit service organizations.

If you had asked me before to list as many of these organizations as I could, the list would’ve been pretty short.  But after hearing all of these people describe their missions, and describe their relationships to each other, to Global Samaritan, and to the Abilene community, I started becoming aware of so many things I had never seen.

Abilene is a tremendously generous place. There are so many unmet needs here, and it seems like any time someone becomes aware or uncovers one of these, brave and generous souls in our community always find a way to step in to offer assistance in whatever way they can.

So our mission project for this week was to raise awareness. We are creating short videos for Global Samaritan Resources that not only lift up the organizations they help, but also educate potential donors, volunteers, and those who could benefit from these services. I feel so overwhelmed by how many people in Abilene and all over are led to serve with tremendous giving hearts.

More stories and videos to come.

My first week of sabbatical was not what I had originally planned on. As some of you may know a lot has been going in Parkway.  Let’s just say it has been crazy busy.  However  I did not realize how much I was going and going and going… until I stood still.

The first few days I was worried the whole time that something was going to go wrong at work and I would not  be there to fix it.  So, I have to admit that relaxing was not easy for me to accomplish.  I just had to put my faith in God that everything would work itself out.

The rest of the week, I like to “call catch up on everything that I have been putting aside” week.  There were doctor visits,  bug spraying, getting Rylee a 8th grade graduation dress, dance recital, volleyball…the list goes on.  It has been a great comfort that I have been able to focus and spend real quality time with my family.  This is one area that was a main focus for my sabbatical and that has been great.

This week we have begun our service project with Global Samaritan.  More to come next time…