The Journey Starts

So tomorrow (August 6) at 4:00 the Sabbatical starts. I thought I would start by letting you know our plans and goals for the next five months so that when you read the rest of the entries you know how it fits in.

August - We will be enjoying the beauty of Manitoba and maybe NorthWestern Ontario through some camping and time at the cabin. We will also be getting our house ready for housesitters and visiting with family before we leave.

September 3 - Our voyage begins as we make the drive to Chicago. There we want to stop at Willowcreek Community Church (Schaumberg), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield) and the Christian Community Development Association Conference (Downtown Chicago). From here, we will go to Parkside Church in Cleveland and check out the area for a couple of days. Then it is off to Washington D.C. for a "Weekender" which is a pastor's conference and to see some of the museums and maybe the President if he has time.

After this, our schedule really opens up and we have nothing specifically booked. We will then slowly make our way across the continental US as our toddler allows us to and stop in Gilbert, Arizona which is close to Phoenix. Here we will settle in for about 3 1/2 months. We hope to make a trip to the Grand Canyon, Los Angelos & San Fransisco as money allows us to . We would also like to see World Impact and Cornerstone Church in Los Angelos. If possible, Ken may also take a course at Phoenix Seminary.

When we originally were thinking of what we are trying to accomplish with this sabbatical time, we came up with three goals:

1. Rest and play - this will hopefully allow us to connect in deeper ways in our relationships as a family.
2. Study - We want to grow in knowledge through conferences, books (that we have wanted to read for a while but haven't always found the time), meeting with people, and maybe a course.
3. Worldview - We want to be experience the broader church body and see what God is doing in other parts of the world. We want to be reminded of how small our part in this world really is and maybe experience some things that we wouldn't experience at home.

We hope for this blog to be a place where we are able to dialogue through some of the things that we are impacted by on our journey. We have felt confident in God's leading for us to do this at this time. Please pray for us on our journey.

We are very thankful for the community that we have supporting us in this journey. We recognize that many of you are carrying heavier burdens because we are not there. So to you, we are very appreciative that you are doing that so that we can have the gift of this time. We are truly blessed.

Shonet