One of the blessings of being in ministry is how people take care of us.  I’ve noticed this since we moved to Springville, when a group from our congregation painted the inside of our house for us.  The most recent gift was from a couple that live around the corner from us.  They own a camper that is on a permanent site just outside of Westfield, a small community near Lake Erie (about an hour’s drive away).  They loaned us the use of the camper this week, which was a nice chance to get away from the office and do some planning (plus just enjoy the time outside!).  Westfield is a nice community, home to Welches juice and several wineries.  We did a lot of walking while we were there.

In addition to all of the “vacation” activities, we got a lot of planning done.  Travis worked on service themes through the end of the year, and I put together curriculum plans for Sunday school and First communion.  Plus I wrote two papers for school and finished my reading for this class.  As of next week, I will be done with school, with the exception of my final certification interview.

All of this would not have been accomplished without the generosity of this wonderful couple.  We had such a wonderful time, and came home to appreciate our house more, too (there is nothing like a camper to show you how big your house is!).  In addition, we came to the decision to shut off the cable because we spent three days without television and didn’t miss it.  It will save us money and time, and help us to spend more time focused on each other.