The Sabbath Experiment -- week five

Some of our daughters and our grandbabies

It is a rainy Monday morning in Pittsburgh. I expected to be a bit more tired today than I actually am. Yesterday was a busy day.

It started off in line with my goals for a Sabbath day. I taught Sunday school to the adult class (I Peter 4:12-19 -- good stuff) and then sang with the worship band. Ours is a smallish urban church that is faced with the issues in the beginning of James chapter 2 on a fairly regular basis. I doubt there's a rich mega-church in our future, which is perfectly alright with me.

We skipped going out to lunch with the family because most everyone was gathering at the house later in the afternoon for dinner to celebrate our daughter's birthday. On the way home from church, I had to stop at the grocery store for some things I neglected to get on Saturday. That the first strike against my Sabbath day goal.

Since we had our granddaughter with us, we had to feed her when we got home. Then it was diaper-changing time, followed by a story and nap...or so I hoped. Checking in on her about 15 minutes after laying her down, I discovered the need to change yet another diaper...a poopy one. Okay, on the second try she fell asleep and slept for two hours. Good girl.

That is when I had to run downstairs and get dinner on. My husband kindly had cleaned up the kitchen while I was upstairs with Laura, and then started cutting up the potatoes while I went to work on the smoked sausage, onions and carrots. For some reason, Melinda loves my sausage stew and requests it every year for her birthday meal. Usually I like to simmer it slowly for 5 hours or so, but Sunday's schedule certainly didn't allow for that...so I browned the meat, added the veggies and other ingredients and then hiked up the heat and let it boil for awhile.

Next it was time to open up the dining room table to add a leaf to accommodate 8. Laura is still in a high chair and Lincoln is either dining from the breast or sitting in his car seat. Clean tablecloth. Check. Remove dead flowers from the centerpiece and add fresh ones. Check. Clean up the family room. Check. Wrap the presents. Check. Set the table. Check.....Check. Check. Check. Whew. Something about all of this does not seem to mimic the initial plans I laid out when I started the Sabbath Experiment!

The family descended on us and I continued in my busyness for another 4 hours. By the time everyone left, Bill and I were beat. One load ran through the dishwasher, but other than putting the food away, that was all I was doing. Bill gathered the trash and recycling and put it at the end of the driveway and then we basically crashed for the last 2 hours of the Sabbath. At least we got 2 hours of rest in!

So...as far as week five of the experiment goes...I have to say it was a fail. HOWEVER, as far as family time goes...it was any but that. After all, there is nothing better than surrounding yourself with the ones you love, even if it means exhaustion at the end of the day. That's how nearly every day is for you moms out there who are taking care of precious little ones, right? And you wouldn't change it for the world.

Am I glad for the fail yesterday? You bet. Celebrating Melinda's birthday was so worth it. And oddly enough, I feel quite rested today. Rested and content.

In honor of Melinda, I thought I would share my recipes with you. The sausage stew is a really wonderful thing to serve on chilly fall days, by the way. So check back tomorrow for that recipe, as well as the one for my balsamic vinagrette dressing.

Keeping the Sabbath...one way or another,

Hana



Next it was time