I think I liked last year\u2019s Spring Break better.<\/p>\n
Last year the temperature was 27 Celsius, the weather was sunny, and our family had an amazing week-long trip to Palm Springs, visiting the surreal landscape of Joshua Tree National Park and sunning ourselves poolside. This year, the temperature barely broke into double digits, the weather was rainy, and our family intended to have a, \u201cstaycation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staycation? According to Merriam-Webster\u2019s online dictionary, a staycation is, \u201ca vacation spent at home or nearby.\u201d<\/em> That sounds kind of lame to me, but maybe I\u2019m old fashioned in my view of vacations.\u00a0<\/strong> Vacations to me mean getting away by flying or driving, and spending the entire time far away from home. When I hear that I have two weeks to \u201cstaycate\u201d at home, I simply can\u2019t get into a rhythm of relaxation.<\/p>\n I\u2019m the kind of guy who has a difficult time being completely relaxed during a break. I feel a need to be doing something.<\/em>\u00a0Even if I\u2019m sitting poolside in Palm Springs, my mind starts going through a checklist of all the things I could or should be doing. When I knew (a while ago), that I was not going anywhere for Spring Break, my mind went into overdrive thinking of all the possible tasks that I could accomplish over two weeks\u2014despite the fact that my family and I were to be intentional with a \u201cstaycation\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look inside my head at this year\u2019s checklist (including attempts at relaxation).<\/p>\n As you can see, the \u201cbreak\u201d experienced mild success. However, the best times during the whole break \u2013 whether I was doing a \u2018W\u2019 or an \u2018R\u2019 activity\u2014were when I remembered God\u2019s call in Psalm 46 to, \u201cBe still, and know that I am God.”\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>My perspective about making the most of our staycation by creating lovely memories for the family or by completing as much work as possible changed. Yes, work and relaxation have their place, but it\u2019s more important for me to remember to honor and worship God whatever I am doing. Was I successful with \u201cbeing still\u201d this Spring Break? No, not really. As always, it continues to be a work in progress, yet I am grateful that I can \u201cbe still\u201d in that process, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I think I liked last year\u2019s Spring Break better. Last year the temperature was 27 Celsius, the weather was sunny, and our family had an amazing week-long trip to Palm Springs, visiting the surreal landscape of Joshua Tree National Park and sunning ourselves poolside. This year, the temperature barely broke into double digits, the weather […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
\n \n TASK\/ACTIVITY (W=work, R=relax)<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n
\n COMPLETED?\u00a0 YES\/NO<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n W – Replace bathroom cabinet and counter top<\/td>\n Almost, back splash not finished<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n W – Paint for family<\/td>\n Partially, weather and equipment limitations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n R – Visit friends in Oak Harbor<\/td>\n For the most part, some friends at work<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n R – Go to a Whitecaps game<\/td>\n Yes!<\/b>\u00a0 Great family time!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n W – Update portfolio for Master\u2019s program<\/td>\n Made progress, graduation in May!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n W \u2013 Yard work<\/td>\n Not close, mowed once, didn\u2019t compost beds.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n W \u2013 Write blog, Newsletter, curriculum for school<\/td>\n Getting closer with each sentence.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n R \u2013 Read books,\u00a0on my own and with my kids<\/td>\n Barely, only read \u201cBugsy and Friends\u201d<\/em> 25 times\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n