#SabbaticChronicles2016: It's Over

Stewart got up, read his Bible, ate breakfast, got dressed, and walked out the door.

And with that, #SabbaticChronicles2016 was over. 

Zach said, "But we'll get another sabbatical next summer!"

"No, we won't, honey. Not for another seven years," I replied.

"SEVEN YEARS?!"

Yep. That's kind of how we all feel.

You might remember that I wrote last summer of how awful the summer was (see "The Summer of My Discontent"). This summer was the exact opposite in every way. Every. Single. Way. It truly was the best summer ever! I don't think we're ever going to forget it. I don't think we'll be able to stop talking about it for a long time. I pray we can hold on to the feelings as we begin a new school year and life starts to get crazy.

We tried to come up with a "top 10" list of what we learned during the sabbatic, but we really couldn't come up with ten things. But we came up with a few:

• We really love our church. Really, really. We've visited some other churches, and we came away every time missing our own church. Absence does make the heart grow fonder!
• We need our friends. We tried to stay in touch with them as best we could, but text messages are not as good as being with the real person. In fact, I had a girls' night out last week with my girls, and it was much needed.
• You really can let go. You really, really can. And it's just fine. The church went on without us.
• Stewart is going to be fine when he retires. Just fine. He will not have to preach every week. He will be okay.
• You don't realize how much time and energy church consumes until you are totally cut off from it. Because when you're the preacher's family, you literally have nothing else to do if you're at home.
• If you go to a Waffle House in Texas on a Saturday, you will have to wait for a seat. We know this because it happened to us. Twice.
• We have the greatest kids on the planet. Hands down. They are great travelers! They relish in new experiences. They go along with their parent's crazy ideas. (Pretty much. Sometimes.) We love them so much! 

We do have another weekend before we go back to church. We are going to try and soak up Daddy as much as we can. But the sabbatical is over. We are so thankful for the time that we had and all that God allowed us to do and see. We are forever changed. Now on to 2023!