I’m on vacation. I am so glad to have a whole month of time off. Time to rest, relax, connect with friends and family. The first few days have been great.

I shared good food with good friends at lunch and at dinner on Sunday. Last night I went to the movies with a couple of girlfriends. We saw Snow White and the Huntsman. Good movie…not perfect, but good. Today, I spent the day with my three favorite children at the zoo in Peterborough. Watching them get excited by the small things in life (like a really good playground, a big slide, a small train, and a splash pad) reminded me that life is at its best when we live simply and joyfully.

I’ve been taking a bit of a break from blogging, recently. A number of people have asked why, and the reason is pretty simple. Ministry is a tough gig (a beautiful one, but very emotionally taxing). A coupe of times a year I hit a wall…I just can’t focus the way I’d like to, my energy level takes a nose dive, and I find myself going through the motions. Fortunately, this tends to happen just before I am about to take a break. And in the past couple of weeks, I’ve definitely been living in the ‘hit a wall’ zone.

When that happens, I’ve learned that the best thing I can do is continue to put one foot in front of the other and power-through until the break comes. In order to do that, I often take ‘unnecessary’ things off my plate – if it doesn’t HAVE to happen, it’s not going to happen. For the past couple of weeks, blogging fell into that category.

At the same time, I love my little blog. I love the discipline of writing regularly. I like the way it makes me reflect on what has happened in my day or week. I like the conversations I have with folks who take the time to read the blog. I like the chance to connect life events with my faith.

So I knew I would return to blogging after a bit of a break, and I decided that my next blog-project would be a travelogue or vacation-logue. Often vacation times pass too quickly, and there is little to remember them by. So this summer, I plan on taking the time to write about and reflect upon my vacation experiences as they are happening.

Today, I find I am simply thankful for time with friends. Life can get busy, but the last couple of days have been a great reminder to never be too busy for time with the precious people God has brought into my life.

Just to start things off right, here a few pics from our day at the zoo!