Week 12 - Christmas with the Haddad’s

One thing I did not expect when we climbed on the bus was the change of pace we would see during the holidays. During thanksgiving week we anticipated ample opportunities to serve in food related ministries but as we tried scheduling time to serve we found that most organizations already had plenty of volunteers to meet their holiday needs. The increased supply of volunteers makes sense, it is the season of giving after all. Lots of families serve together as part of their family tradition during the holidays and schedule it out months in advance whereas we on the LOST Bus usually figure out our service arrangements a week out at best. The end result was thanksgiving week we spent less time serving than normal and enjoyed more time with Josh’s extended family in Corpus Christi.

Initially the roadblocks we hit leading up to Thanksgiving week were frustrating because I felt we were not fulfilling what we had set out to do, but as the week passed by I realized that the change up was a net positive. Putting yourself in a posture of service brings out the best of people, forges the strongest relationships, and shakes the normal stresses of life away as you refocus on what really matters - loving your neighbors well. On the LOST Bus we are lucky enough to be in the posture of service full time. We are literally professional volunteers right now, but most folks don’t have this type of freedom and the holidays may be the one time a year they can step away from their hectic routine and reposition themselves on a posture of service. If ever there is a surplus of volunteers by all means let us be the first to step aside - it would be selfish of us to take the place of someone who doesnt have the freedom to volunteer as routinely as we can.

On the flip side one thing we lack by “Lending Our Services Traveling” is roots. We are a tumble weed moving along wherever the wind may blow us. We go lots of interesting places and meet all sorts of amazing people, but before long the wind blows and we are off again. We don’t have the same family to come home to every night and share a meal and a laugh with. We lack the routine and tradition built in to most people’s lives. As we approached Christmas, taking what we learned from Thanksgiving, we focused less on finding service opportunities and more on capitalizing on quality time with the Haddad’s. We indulged in the comfort of family (Davis and Cain adopted in of course), in the routine of sharing a meal at the same table, and in the Christmas time traditions. We listened and laughed to old stories, looked after baby nieces, watched old family videos, participated in Christmas Olympics, assisted in projects around the house, and skied with the siblings. The winds will continue to blow, but for a moment this tumbleweed of a bus was able to be hung up against a familiar tree with deep roots - what a blessing.

As we enter the New Year there are some resolutions we felt we needed to share with our readers:

Josh: Better posture and less epic fails (going for only 6)

Davis: Expanding his plant Identification knowledge and stretching

Cain: Astronamy and get a perm

Enjoy some photos from the week!