Family

One of the reasons we chose to take a sabbatical right now is because Hannah is thirteen. Thirteen seems to be the time where you start establishing what kind of character you will have. There are several adolescents who show up in scripture around this age:
Jesus in the temple at age twelve
Mary the mother of Jesus would most likely have been early teens
Salome who asks for John's head on a silver platter was a young teen
and the girl whom Jesus raises from the dead was twelve

We know how some of these stories turn out and some we can only guess, but they are pivotal years for all.

I just finished Nadia Bolz-Weber's Pastrix and was struck by several insights into our conversation about welcoming, but one quote spoke to these years, "Everyone has their own middle school horror story. It's a trial by fire, and the person we will become can usually be traced back to seventh grade."

The fact that Hannah can start driving the end of this school year is also a huge reality check.

All of the kids are much more confident than when we arrived. They order strange foods from the stalls and pay for them, they can haggle with the best of them (Elijah has actually perfected this fine art), and they are willing to start conversations with strangers. This openness to conversation has been one of my favorite developments to watch. They were playing with a native Malay boy, a girl from India, and a Moroccan Muslim girl in the pool tonight.

In the beginning of our time, they wouldn't have ventured to meet new kids, but now we know how fascinating and fun people can be. It is scary to step out and start conversation, but that openness to relationship and possibility makes life way more interesting.

I feel better going into these years after our little family huddle. We've also started working on defining some of our family values. This is such an important process for churches that it makes sense for families too. Some of the values that we've started to outline:

Being healthy: eating food, drinking water, working out, swimming, playing, sports, sleeping; faith & spirituality, laughter, playing together
Doing our best
Having adventures: going places, trying new things, not being too cautious
No whining  (I didn't even put this - it was the girls)
Caring for community: helping others, inviting and friendly, generous, service & citizenship
Healthy relationships: take responsibility & ask for forgiveness, talk to each other, non-judgmental, don't grab, be a team & work together, tone down reactions, supportive & encouraging, truthful, sharing.

What a blessing and a gift to have this time together.