Links:

Link to Day 1, Link to Last Post

For those who followed my previous crazy journey’s, here’s the post the Friday before I started this one, which puts it in the context of this blog as a whole: Christian Influence Peddling.

Welcome Back

Welcome to Wednesday. I just got back from a the coast with my family. We really needed that recharge. My daughter mentioned that EVERYONE else in her class is going somewhere on Spring break and both my wife and I have been to the coast on retreats with friends…and the idea of the family trip was in our heads. There was nothing to do but go. I’m so glad we did.

Miraculously, we had a small break in our schedules both at the day jobs and the remodel. So we ended up at Long Beach. I’ve been there before and so has Kristin, but I don’t think we’ve been there as a family. It was my Mom’s first time at the coast since my father passed, 17.5 years ago, and she got to set her feet in the sand and watch the surf from my van. We got recharged and had fun–some really good restaurants out there. We had kitchen in the hotel room and Kristin packed food, but we ate out a couple times and it felt like old times, you know, Pre-Covid.

Last Wednesday I started the Grief Recovery Class. I’m finding it challenging. I’ll try to update on that as I process it. My wife and most of my friends have been through it, so I know a lot of what to expect, but it’s still very odd to do it myself. We shall see how it goes.

Here are some photos of our time at the coast.

Quick Recap of this Blog Series

I’m a writer (fiction/non-fiction/copy) who’s turning 50 in June. When I have a season of big changes to adapt to and big projects to take on, I like to combine it all into a plan I call a journey. I’m calling this journey Spring 2021: Cleric Journey – (It includes such things as turning 50, remodeling a house, expanding my writing business to include entrepreneur & life purpose coaching). I typically journal me progress, big wins/big flops, but this time I’m blogging it so I can…

• Inspire or help some folks facing similar life situations.
• Share tips I’ve learned or that people suggest to me that I decided to try out.
• Stay committed to progress by stating to all my readers what I’m doing and if it’s working or not.
• Eventually turn it into a written resource for the Creative Christian Entrepreneurs I coach.

Note: The thinking behind journeys is this. When facing busy seasons in life, we need to impose some routine on life, and be flexible other places. We need to decide what our life is about, that authentic to us, and not lose site of that while taking on those big projects of crazy seasons that happen to all of us in life.

Goal Recap

My goals/priorities this season–addressed in one project (One Big Thing), include
– Losing weight & getting younger, (soon auditioning new diet/exercise plans).
– Bed by 9:30 PM & getting up at 5 AM every weekday and spending time with God
– Revive my blog and start blogging one to two times a week.
– Launching the coaching arm of my writing/coaching business, and faithfully stewarding opportunities with my church.
– Remodeling a new home so that we can start living multi-generational with my mom.

House Update

I continue to hover between 299 lbs and 296 lbs and I continue to “over-sleep” until 6 AM.

We got a lot done, including the texture on the drywall. Now we’re waiting for the flooring for upstairs to come in (the installers are lined up). I’m still demoing some of the wood floor upstairs and I need to buy another sheet of plywood for the closet in the new laundry room so the flooring guy can help me get the smooth surface prepped for vinyl.

Kristin has been painting like crazy trying to get areas done before the floor goes in. There are still many spots to paint after those are done, but they are what’s urgent–including a banister which is super hard to paint. But I feel like we’ll be ready. I also need to design my work space in the storage shed so I know how much of the old counter top to move there. Then I need to lug out the counter top from the office so it can be painted. I’ve got blinds coming down before painting and blinds going up after painting and the list goes on and on.

We are not alone though. I give mad props to my friends and their wives who have come to help us paint and repair time and again. Also, God has showed up in timing so much. We’ve had so many times when one thing had to be done before someone could move ahead on their next thing (subcontractors) and it’s all jut worked out. God is so good and deserves all the glory.

Here are some pictures which may or may not show the tremendous progress we’re making.

Today…as soon as I finish up writing a LinkedIn profile for a client, I’m heading over to start work on the house. I need to grab supplies from storage and from the store, then get back to removing the floor upstairs. Then prep for more painting by getting the counter out of one room and window treatments out of the other. It sounds nuts to say it, and it probably is.

More tomorrow…