It's also been a long time since Rob and I have taken a break from "doing" Young Life... a really long time for Rob.
Rob became a leader for Young Life in Lubbock, TX in 1992. He has been a volunteer, on part time staff, an Area Director, and an Area Developer during that time - in Utah since 1997. I became a volunteer leader in Houston, TX in 1997 and went on full-time staff in 1999. After a little over 5 years on staff I married Rob and moved to Utah as a volunteer leader. I have been volunteering on and off since then (off due to having babies).
After 7 years of full-time staff, Young Life allows and encourages their staff to take a Sabbatical. After 8 years of full-time staff and almost half his life devoted to this ministry, Rob took his well deserved Sabbatical!
We are in our last week of his time away from ministry now and are spending our last few days in San Diego. It has been so great having dad around all the time, and we have LOVED the warm weather! All of us are feeling a little warmer, more relaxed, full (we have eaten some great food), and "full" (we have spent some great time reading books and reading God's Word), disconnected (which is good in so many ways as we have stayed away from the computer and our phones), and we are closer as a family. This has been a HUGE blessing for us!
Rob is ready to hit the ground running when we return home and ready to see what God has in store for him and this ministry in the years to come. I am ready to hit the ground running as we prepare for this sweet baby boy to arrive at the end of May or beginning of June. We have some room rearranging to do and we need to come up with a name for this sweet boy. Sawyer has some ideas - Parker, one of his best friend's names, and other suggestions that I can't pronounce, much less spell. Needless to say, we need to start thinking!
We love that Young Life is such a huge part of our lives. We are so blessed and so thankful!
Here are some photos from our time in sunny California!
