{"id":6099,"date":"2022-03-30T12:56:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T19:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/?p=6099"},"modified":"2022-03-30T14:33:37","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:33:37","slug":"a-change-of-pace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2022\/03\/30\/a-change-of-pace\/","title":{"rendered":"A CHANGE OF PACE"},"content":{"rendered":"

The age-old question: \u201cHow was your spring break?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve decided to go with the \u201cIt was a nice change of pace\u201d<\/em>\u00a0response.<\/p>\n

Suzanne and I contemplated a trip to warmer places but decided to be responsible adults and save money. We are looking to buy a \u201cnew- to-me\u201d truck in the future. It was a sound decision at the time, but as the break went on, the weather was\u2026well\u2026moist, and the photos of friends and palm trees became a daily occurrence, it was hard to feel \u201cbreaky.\u201d<\/p>\n

We made the right (and responsible) choice to stay home this break and I thought of a quote on my whiteboard in my office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can choose my response no matter what happens.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So\u2026my response is gratitude for a change of pace.<\/p>\n

Grateful For The Little Things<\/h2>\n

Here is what I\u2019m grateful for from spring break 2022:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Granville Island<\/h2>\n

    The sun wasn\u2019t coming to Abbotsford, so we went to the sun. We took a family trip down to Granville Island, enjoyed fancy doughnuts, walking the sea wall, and riding the water taxi. I\u2019m grateful for sunshine and seeing Vancouver through the eyes of my daughters.<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Out for Breakfast<\/h2>\n

    My in-laws took my two youngest for a sleepover which left Suzanne and I with our eldest daughter Alexis. This May marks two years since we moved to Abbotsford, and they hadn\u2019t been to the famous Anne Marie\u2019s yet. It was a wonderful time to spend together, and I\u2019m committed to working my way through the 8 different eggs Bennie they have. I\u2019m grateful for breakfast out (probably my favorite meal to eat out).<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Games<\/h2>\n

    I\u2019m a gamer, both board games and video games. It was great to play games with my daughters. The hit list at the Riezebos house was Settlers, Forbidden Island, and Villainous. I\u2019m grateful for fun, competition, and quality time.<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Cookies<\/h2>\n

    My daughter loves to bake. Great for me, but bad for the waistline\u2026. I spent a good portion of an afternoon making five dozen cookies with her. I\u2019m grateful for the memories and delicious cookies.<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Clay Cottage<\/h2>\n

    Suzanne took the three girls to the Clay Cottage here in Abbotsford. The girls loved it and we got some amazing pieces of pottery back. It was great to see the girls out together and the few hours of solitude was nice too \ud83d\ude09. I\u2019m grateful for the special outing and the keepsake they have from spring break 2022.<\/li>\n

  6. \n

    Movie Night<\/h2>\n

    One night where my oldest and I were home alone so we had a movie night, including a trip to Save-on-Foods for a basket of movie snacks and drinks. We watched Rescued by Ruby. I highly recommend it if you\u2019re into a based on true events feel-good movie. The snacks and movie were great but I\u2019m grateful for quality time with my oldest daughter.<\/li>\n

  7. \n

    Boys Night Out<\/h2>\n

    I have a dear friend in town from up north. His wife is unwell and is spending several weeks in Vancouver receiving medical care. I spent an evening out with him reconnecting. It was great to stay out late, eat good food and drink, and catch up on life together. I\u2019m grateful for meaningful friendships.<\/li>\n

  8. \n

    Breakfast with Friends<\/h2>\n

    We invited some dear friends and their family over for breakfast. It\u2019s always fun to host, eat greasy food, and drink a lot of coffee. I\u2019m grateful for families who welcomed us to Abbotsford.<\/li>\n

  9. \n

    Camping<\/h2>\n

    We tackled the dreaded Discover BC camping site on opening day. The queue was a \u201cpleasant\u201d surprise. The campers out there know what I\u2019m talking about\u2026. I\u2019m grateful we got a spot for the May long weekend!<\/li>\n

  10. \n

    Work<\/h2>\n

    It seems strange to be grateful for work during a break. We interviewed potential candidates for job openings and I\u2019m grateful for my colleagues (Mike and Teresa) who are as committed to ACS as anyone I can think of. I\u2019m grateful for the amazing people we met along the way during this \u201chiring season.\u201d It\u2019s not fun going into work on the break, but I\u2019m grateful for the people here, and the people that will join us next year.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I\u2019ll admit I\u2019m not an overly optimistic person.<\/p>\n

    But being optimistic or pessimistic is a choice I can make too. Making the choice to reflect on a break filled with clouds, rain, and cold weather showed me that I have a lot to be grateful for. It was a nice change of pace.<\/p>\n

    What are you grateful for as you look back at spring break?<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The age-old question: \u201cHow was your spring break?\u201d I\u2019ve decided to go with the \u201cIt was a nice change of pace\u201d\u00a0response. Suzanne and I contemplated a trip to warmer places but decided to be responsible adults and save money. We are looking to buy a \u201cnew- to-me\u201d truck in the future. It was a sound […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":6104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-secondary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099","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\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6099"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=6099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}