Christmas Card Greetings from Shafferland!

Before I tell you about our anniversary trip, I wanted to "send" you our Christmas card and letter. Hope you enjoy! :)

First...the card.

And the letter!

2017 Report Card for Shafferland

Merry Christmas! We just finished gallivanting around the southeastern portion of the United States, celebrating our FIFTH wedding anniversary! The past five years have flown way beyond any respectable speed limit, but we are grateful for every part of these 60 months and the big living we have done throughout them all!

Five years is the age when most kids head to Kindergarten, and since we're mostly overgrown Kindergartners, we thought we'd share some highlights from our year in report card format.

Health: We started the year with a failing grade in this one. After two ER visits (One/Two), an ultrasound, and a HIDA scan, we found out Ryan's gallbladder had elected to stop participating. On January 16th, almost two years to the day after Bekah's gallbladder surgery, Ryan had surgery of his own and a weeklong gallcation to recover. We improved our health grade to an A after that, but Bekah's mom had a hip replacement and a double knee replacement this year, so we've certainly spent our fair share of time learning all things health-related!

Interpersonal Relationships: We continued our "Tuesdays at the Table" tradition, inviting friends over for dinner and fellowship, and we also did a fun project of our own: alphabetical dates! Throughout the year, we went on dates inspired by each letter of the alphabet, which let us try all sorts of new and fun things! (And we continued observing our monthiversaries, of course!)

Speech: Bekah received a number of speaking invitations this year for churches, women's groups, and more. She also taught an online workshop about public speaking! This summer, she attended a writing and speaking conference in Michigan, where she learned many good and helpful things! Bekah is also still doing a couple of interview-based podcasts each month (called The Conversation Café) and we are still doing our weekly Spill the Beans podcast together. (We just recorded our 100th episode!)

Child Development: We tried to potty-train Braeya. (Yeah, she's the cat. The ten year old cat.) We failed that pretty quickly. Back to litter boxes. And though she's not ours full time, we continued enjoying "partial custody" of Miss Phoebe, our friends' miniature goldendoodle. She even spent a whole month with us while her people were out of the country, and we loved having her! That's about all we can offer you in this subject...sorry!

Geography: We marked a few more counties off our county list tour this year: Boone, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Lake, Porter, and LaPorte. 71 to go to see them all! We also took a long weekend trip to Saugatuck, Michigan, where we stayed at a boat and breakfast (yes, you read that right) and saw the sights not only there, but in South Haven as well!

Industrial Arts:  We overhauled our kitchen. Again. Twice. Ryan refinished all the cabinets, upgrading them from oak to espresso (anyone shocked by that color choice?), and then a few weeks later, we upgraded all our appliances to stainless steel. The finished product deserves an A, but the process of appliance installation nearly earned us a failing mid-term grade. Ryan also put in a ew downspout/drain system in the yard, installed a classy new mailbox, and revamped our rotting front porch beams - a project that became much more time and financially intensive than we originally planned. Bekah pretty much just took pictures. And cried.

Bible: We led two Bible studies this year: we started the year meeting together with Ryan's co-workers and their spouses, completing a study on the book of Acts. This fall, we led a small group affiliated with our church. OH! And speaking of churches, we now have a permanent church home! After some frustrating months of pulling away from the church we thought was home and searching for a new one, we are grateful to have found our place. 

Music: We took in a few concerts this year! Ryan planned a surprise outing to a Gaither Vocal Band concert (one of the last ones with David Phelps before he left the group!), and we also went to hear Mark Lowry and our friend Brent Vernon! (Not together.)

Physical Education: We spent a month this summer taking 5:30 a.m. modified CrossFit classes. The cost of the gym membership + the early morning hour + an HOUR of intense working out didn't fit our schedule, so we ended up moving our workouts back to our own place, but we continued the CrossFit style! We also conquered the 3 Dune Challenge at the Indiana Dunes this fall. (Ryan ran part of the way. Bekah survived. Both were accomplishments!)

Community Service: Ryan continued his perpetual service of helping out all his friends who needed assistance with little projects at home. And Bekah picked up a volunteer job at a school, helping out in the office a couple of days each week.

Writing: Bekah spent the year doing a variety of writing projects, including contributing monthly to the Annesley website (ministry of the Wesleyan Church), blogging every day, writing two weeks' worth of devotional readings for Light from the Word (ministry of the Wesleyan Church) and picking up some new opportunities, too!

Science/Math: Don't ask. Much like our actual years in school. Our bills are paid and nothing blew up. So we must at least be passing.

Party Time: It should be a school subject, even though it's not! This year we celebrated many things, including a handful of weddings! Ryan's sister, Bre, got married this summer, and Ryan was a groomsman in her wedding to Andrew. (Bekah helped out with photos.) This year also marked Ryan's 20th year out of high school, and we had fun meeting up with his friends at a football game and then dinner!

So there you have it! Our report card for the last year! We are excited to head into our sixth year of marriage and this beautiful Christmas season! We hope you have a Christ-filled Christmas, and we appreciate you being our "classmates" in this life!

Overall Grade for 2017: A!

More fun Christmas cards to see here!

And linking up with Tamar here!