The end of this leg of the journey (sabbatical) and the start of thenext...

We've reached the end of this part of the journey -- today is the final day of the sabbatical, and there's one word to sum up our feelings:  gratitude!  We're grateful to God for God's many gifts, especially our relationships with God, family, the Peace congregation, and the larger community!  We're grateful for this three month time to experience the three R's of sabbatical:  rest, relationships, and renewal.  We're grateful for Peace Lutheran Church for making this possible!  Leigh and I (John) are excited to return to Tacoma, to the Hilltop neighborhood, and to life and ministry at Peace Lutheran Church.  As we return, we're reflecting on many questions, and I especially invite the people of Peace, who have been on a parallel sabbatical journey, to ask these questions, too:

• What have we learned about the sabbatical theme, "Walking Together in the City:  Growing Healthy Relationships with God, Family, and Community"?  How have we grown?
• What have been the joys and struggles, the highs and lows, of this sabbatical experience?
• How has God strengthened our understanding of our identity as God's children and our calling to use our gifts to serve God in the world?
• What does God hold for us in the future?

Leigh and I look forward to conversations about these and other points of reflection.

Here are some pictures from the last week of our sabbatical:

Here we are in Seattle last weekend with friends Stacy and Diakonda.  What incredible weather!  Leigh and I attended a two-day workshop of the Gottman Institute called "The Art and Science of Love."  It was at the Seattle Center (in the background here).  After one year of marriage, we were strengthened as we talked with each other about principles that undergird strong marriages, grounded in clinical research.  Plus, the workshop was a kind of continuing education for me in my role at the church in premarital counseling and pastoral caring conversations with individuals and couples about relationships and marriage.  It was fun and challenging, and now we have more tools to help our relationship in the future!  I recommend the workshop.  Ask me about it.

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After Seattle, Leigh and I headed to Pacific Beach on the Washington Coast to enjoy the final days of sabbatical reading (for me, about Christian community development), running and walking on the beach, hiking in the Olympics, cooking, and relaxing together.  We stayed in a cabin built by some good friends.  We ended the sabbatical as we started it -- in the beauty of God's creation outside the city.  We started in the mountains at Holden Village.  We ended by the beach.

Lovely Vancouver

The following are pictures from our almost week-long stay in Vancouver, Canada with the family and friends that I (Leigh) lived with for so long!  We ate wonderful food, visited with good friends, and got to enjoy playing, hiking, and running. This was also around the time of our wedding anniversary the time of my move to Tacoma last year, so it was personally meaningful that we are back here again with good friends.  It was a blessing!

Trying to get out the door...

Gilbert at my feet!

Keziah loves John and especially loves to squeeze a good and strong hug!

Here we are eating Korean food with the family I used to live with (l to r: Tim, Keziah, Rosemary, Gil, me, and John).

Smiley faces in the car.

John at the top of Mount Seymour (Vancouver, Burnaby, the Fraser Valley down below).

John with the Burrard Inlet in the background.

Tim, my former housemate, is well known around Vancouver for his awesome salmon dishes!  Pysannky eggs (Ukranian style) that we have dyed over the years are hanging above for the Easter season.

Hanging out at Gil's baseball game at Trout Lake near the house

We took a quick hike to Deep Cove's lookout by way of the Baden Powell Trail.  What a beautiful day!

My former housemate, Johannah and I standing at the top!

Here we are!

All of us!

We are grateful for this long visit and look forward to another.  We also head to Seattle after this and get closer and closer to Tacoma!

Madrid!

Here we are at the end of our Spain trip!  On our anniversary we were taking a fast train (150 mph!) to Madrid in the middle of the country.

The family we stayed with, Veronica and her son Mario, are good friends of my sister-in-law, Jenn.  She stayed with Veronica's family when she was in college.  Here we are having tea, coffee and the famous Santiago Torte, an almond cake named after St. James.  From the left:  Antonio (Veronica's dad), Veronica, me, Pilar (her mom), and Macarena (her sister).  Almost all of them speak English!  Veronica got them all together to provide amazing hospitality to us while she was away working everyday.  Macarena drove us around the city and took us for breakfast, her mom gave us a great tour of the old part of town, and both her parents had us over for the well-loved "Cocido Madrileno," a many-course lunch of soup, bread, wine, appetizers, a selection of cooked meats, and plate of vegetables.  So good, so good!  Veronica and a friend took us out to a late night dinner (eating time is traditionally 9 or 10 PM)!  Veronica and her son Mario were great hosts to us.  Such a loving family, so trusting of us, and very fun!

These pictures were taken at Plaza Mayor, a well known part of the old city of Madrid filled with cafes and street artists.  So beautiful!

As an anniversary gift to ourselves, we bought tickets to an evening of flamenco dancing -- the dancers showed so much skill, passion, and intensity!

 

Here we are with Pilar and Antonio having Cocido Madrileno.  What hospitality the whole family showered upon us!  Spending time with Veronica and her family was a great way to end our time in Spain.  What great memories we will always have.

John and Mario asleep in the car!

Valeria (Macarena's daughter), Veronica, me, Mario, and John

We arrived safely back in Tacoma after 40 days out of the country!  Next it was on to Vancouver, Canada, to visit some good friends.

The end of the Camino - We made it to Santiago (Praise God!)

What a journey! We made it! We're here in Santiago resting after 22 days of walking and 317 miles! We experienced very few setbacks and limitations, thank God! Leigh's viral sinus infection, John's shin splints, and a few muscle aches were all. Thank you for all your prayers! We have heard from others that some had not made it here, some wept as they entered the city in pain and joy, barely making it, and some came in taxis and buses no longer being able to walk the full distance. But all have incredible stories of their journey. God is good, and we are blessed to be in Santiago, the destination for countless pilgrims since the 9th century -- pilgrims seeking God, overcoming limitations, finding community along the way, knowing pain and joy, receiving hospitality, and experiencing God in the beauty of God's creation in the Spanish countryside and villages, through the encounter with God's people of different languages, cultures, and backgrounds; in worship and solitude and personal reflection and more.

All have come for various reasons: Some for personal, for health, for religious and spiritual reasons. Some to walk the long Camino, some to bike it, and many have come doing bus tours. Pilgrims of the past came to see the remains of St. James (called Santiago, brother of John and disciple of Jesus), on which the whole Cathedral of St. James is built, and to attend the mass. What a beautiful end point for our long journey.

Leigh and I are celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary today, grateful for all of you who are so important to us, for your love and support and companionship along the journey of our lives. We are all walking a Camino together in daily life, and we walk together with one another and with God. The priest at the pilgrim worship service in the Santiago Cathedral encouraged us pilgrims coming to the end of our Camino journey to ask, What is next? What will we do now? How will we live as we continue the journey of our lives? What will we carry with us from this experience? How have we been changed? We're reflecting on that in these next weeks and months.

Here are some pictures from the last part of our journey. The church behind us is the Santiago Cathedral the day we arrived. The certificates we're holding are our "Compostelas," certifying that we have officially completed the pilgrimage. The pilgrim worship service in the Santiago Cathedral features the huge silver incense burner swung back and forth high to the ceiling at the end of worship, done for years to symbolize our prayers ascending to heaven and to sweeten the air from the stench of road-weary smelly pilgrims after hundreds of miles. (You're welcome for that image!) Finally, we took a bus to Finisterre, which for centuries was known as the end of the world because it was the furthest point west you could travel in Spain. Pilgrims on the Camino often walk from Santiago onward to the ocean at Finisterre to truly end their journey having walked as far as they could possibly go.

One week left!

We just entered the region of Galicia, where Santiago, the end point of our walking journey, is located. We're almost down to 100 km left to walk... the end is in sight! We climbed to the highest point of the trip (5000 ft). We walked to the Iron Cross near the highest point where pilgrims have for years placed a stone carried from their home-we placed our stones from 922 South Cushman, Tacoma, there with a prayer of laying down burdens and receiving God's freedom and guidance for the future for us, our family, our church and community (see pictures). We descended the mountain, then climbed up again to the village of O'Cebreiro where we attended a pilgrim worship service at the oldest pilgrim church on the Camino (9th century), receiving a blessing for the rest of our journey.

The Galician area is so green. There are vestiges of Celtic culture here in the language, people, music, and green landscape with old stone walls.

Here are a few pictures from our walk these past days.

In Leon!

Here are our past days...

Day 7 - Viana
We stayed in an albergue (dormitory) in a very old section of town (beautiful) with an incredible view from the porch over the old city wall miles into the distance. We ran into our friend the ER doctor from Canada over dinner and he gave me (Leigh) a prescription for my cough. How cool is that!

Day 8 - Navarrete
This day we were asked to join two Brazilian guys for dinner. It was a nice evening of laughs and translations. These 26 year olds quit their jobs as businessman and journalist to take two months to walk the Camino. Paulo Coehlo's books (The Alchemist, The Pilgrimage) influenced them heavily. This town is a potter's dream! Clay is made here in this red earth region, and there are many potters here.

Day 9 - Azofra
We had a wonderful quiet walk and saw only two pilgrims on the way! We revised our plans this day and decided to take less rest days and walk more to experience more of the Camino! We will need to take the bus for part of our route because we didn't plan enough days to walk the whole 500-mile Camino.

Day 10 - Santo Domingo then to Burgos by bus
In Santo Domingo we toured a church with a rooster and hen in a cage inside (these remind and recall the miracle of Santo Domingo). The rooster crowed alot while we were there. Wonder what that worship exerience is like. Though I was sad to not be walking the whole Camino, I felt privileged to be walking as much as we can walk. Walking just does something to your body, mind and spirit. I am grateful to have this meditative time, this time with John and to be able to experience this goodness done to my body. We stayed at an amazing albergue in Burgos that is run by a Catholic church. Here we attended evening worship, received a pilgrim blessing, shared a community meal with 4 other pilgrims, and participated in a closing reflection time and prayer led by the hospitalero (hostess). Each person shared an important insight they received so far walking the Camino. Wow!

Day 11 - Leon by bus. We arrived in Leon in early morning and toured the amazing cathedral, ate tapas and drank sangria, walked the medieval streets, and toured a basilica with museum. We ended the day eating the pilgrim's menu (discounted for people walking the Camino) at a really cool restaurant.

Day 12 - walk to Hospital de Orbigo
What a nice walk... Again with only two other pilgrims on the road. Today we walked the furthest we've walked - over 22 miles! Our feet are tired, but it's a good tired. We crossed a bridge before arriving today - one of the longest and best preserved medieval bridges in Spain dating back to the 13th century, built over a much older Roman bridge! A famous jousting tournament took place on this bridge in 1434! Old in Spain is really old!

Pics: John after lunch on the road, eating tapas, Leigh admiring a potter's work in Navarrete, John buying olives for lunch at the Najera open-air market, John above the clouds.

Los Arcos - Day 6 on the Camino

We have had full days on the Camino, with a full range of weather as well (snow, rain, sun, and overcast). Here are our days so far:

Day one: Roncesvalles to Akerreta
We walked from near the border of France to a beautiful 300 year old Basque house (it was in the movie "The Way"). What a treat to be there and talk to the owner about the renovation. We also had a pilgrim meal with others and met a 73 year-old English man walking it for the second time for charity.

Day two: Akerreta to Pamplona
A shorter walk through forests to the site of the Running of the Bulls. Pamplona is the most populous of the cities on the Camino. We loved the Maundy Thursday Misa here and saw a grand Holy Week procession in the streets.

Day three: Pamplona to Puente la Reina
This day was a walk over a great pass called Alto del Perdon. At the top we saw Pamplona and the other side of the hill to our next town. Supposedly if you walk to the top your sins are forgiven.

Day four: Puente la Reina to Estella
We had been talking to a man from Madrid here and there but this day we were with him more. It was a rich time hearing about his life, his openness spiritually and his knowledge about Spain. This was his last day. As a chemical engineer managing a paper company, he has only Semana Santa to give to the Camino. We said good-bye to this fellow companion.

Day five: rest day in Estella and Easter! Christ is risen! Alleluia! We worshiped at an ancient Roman Catholic church in the center of town.

Day six: Estella to Los Arcos
We walked through beautiful countryside with rolling hills, vineyards, and goats! We walked with a friend we had met the first day, a doctor from Cleveland, Ohio.


Pictures: procession float for Semana Santa (Holy Week), Maundy Thursday service in Pamplona, Leigh on the Camino, walking a Roman road, the Camino waymarkers, John receiving the grace of a monastery winery's free wine fountain!