How to stay sane...

When your house goes from only you to 4 people overnight!

My lovely brothers and sister have come for a visit... Taylor, Rhys and Aaron are all here for the week. This is fabulous and so what I need and I like to think also what they need. The thing is, my schedule hasn't changed - it is still the middle of the summer with a full week of programming with 110 people on site ahead of me. The other things is - I'm still tired with no solid sleep time in sight. And we have a wedding this weekend in Vernon for a cousin (yay!) followed quickly by the start of our final week of programming! The season is full right now.

I'm grateful for the energy my brothers and sisters bring with them and the way they are able to be both mature and fun at the same time. We hit a few road blocks once in a while (getting up in the morning - eek!). So in preparation for their arrivial I tried as hard as I could to make sure that things were as organized as possible. Here are a few of the ways I attempted to do just that:

- We're all eating meals in the dining room on site, this is great because it means no food preparations, cooking and clean-up for me. But kids still want to eat snacks! On my counter is a container of all the "odds and ends" from my cupboard that they can enjoy at any time, including: trail mix, crackers, rice cakes, rye crackers, peanut butter, nutella, granola bars, etc... And in my fridge: pickles, pepperoni sticks, cheese sticks and sliced watermelon. And they grab something when they need it.

- A laundry basket is in a central location for all dirty clothes... once this basket is full laundry must be done ASAP!

- They are all registered in programming at Sorrento Centre. Why?! Because otherwise they'd be inside all day while I'm working and they'd end up so bored. I'm hoping for a flexible enough schedule that I'll be able to spend chunks of time with them in the afternoons. But if I can't, they are old enough to go to the beach (lifeguards on duty) and play around site without me.

- I'm aiming for a 10:30pm bedtime - earlier if possible! This means technology off, lights out and heads on pillows! The kids arrived at my house with their summer sleep schedule... stay up all night and sleep all morning/afternoon. Well, let's just say breakfast is served at 7:30am these days!!! So an early bedtime is a must! (If not for them... then for me!)

- I've entered into the week thinking about fun and flexibility. We all need to have fun but we also need to all be able to live with some flexibility. On my end (that work project CAN wait until a different time) and on their end (oh, Melissa needs to ditch basketball for a few moments and go help someone at the office).

It's already off to being a great week and we're having a great time together!

On Rest

It's hard sometimes working in this lovely fast paced world... in this lovely fast paced workplace.
It's hard sometimes to know that all I need to do is rest... to pause... to be quiet for but a moment.
And to also know that it's so hard to make sure it actually happens.
It's hard to make sure that I keep that time sacred and to ask that others be respectful of that sacred time.

I know it's not impossible to do this and have this time.

I'm grateful for the many mentors that I have to teach me how to do this by their example. It's by watching them take time to rest and pray that I am reminded of how important it is and how much my soul yearns for and needs that time. And I know that Jesus found that time, even though it was hard to come by. Hard to carve out those sacred moments of alone time.

And sometimes I'm good at trying. Sometimes I find myself on my deck with a book (which ends up not being as wonderful as I imagined it might be) and settle down in a chair and the phone rings, a guest needs help finding a camping spot. And so I go, because my time is not only my own but more importantly because I care. And I care deeply for the people who come to this place and their time here.

But then I try again... deck, chair, heavy eyes... this time with the cherry chocolate chunk Haagen-Dazs ice cream (aka: a little bit of heaven!). A bit of deliciousness to enjoy during the few moments of quiet.

In the next few weeks I hope to find more mini-moments for the restful, sacred, needed places of quiet and alone time.  And I hope to find more moments of conversation, sharing and laughter with friends. Why? Because I need to for my self-care and overall well-being and because I need to show myself that I can engage in work and ministry that calls for my time and attention minute after minute and also have the ability to pause.
To breathe.
To stop.
To rest.
To pray.
To sleep.
To be.

That I can find the balance and that the balance can be good.

(this may take a lot of cherry chocolate chunk ice cream! :) )