Things I Learned in January 2019

I must say...after the temps of this week, I'm not sad to see January go away. I am ready to see spring arrive. (Probably too much for me to hope for that to take place in February, huh?) You've seen the meme that says January has 973 days? It sure has felt that way to us! But I guess 973 days gave me plenty of time to learn. And here are some of the things I learned this fine month!

1. Finish lines sometimes become starting lines.

I hadn't planned to weigh in on January 1. I paid very little attention to my meal planning in December, I celebrated heartily, and I didn't feel guilty about it. But I woke up on the first day of the year feeling a bit brave - possibly due to the whole courage word-of-the-year thing. So I weighed in and learned two things. First, I only gained 1.2 pounds in December, which was shocking and amazing all in one. Secondly, my starting weight for 2019 is only four pounds higher than my finish line weight three years ago when I completed six months of Beachbody workouts. So I started the year with the encouraging news that I'm still 23 pounds lighter than I was at the start of it all! That makes it a bit more palatable to pick up and work harder to continue becoming stronger and healthier. Ryan wants to be in the best shape of his life when he turns 40. No reason why I can't be in the best shape of mine for his milestone too, right?

2. Visible Bible verses help memorization efforts.

I have purposed to be more intentional about memorizing Scripture. Memorization is not a natural gift for me, so I really have to work at it. I've decided to choose a new verse every week and not just try to memorize it, but really study it, too. Part of my memorizing involves writing it out every single day, but I also decided to write it on an index card and post it on a little clipboard in our kitchen. I see it multiple times a day as I cook and clean up, and each time I do, I read through it out loud. While I don't think I'm going to sail into becoming a memorization guru, this definitely helps my ability to learn!

3. I love my little recipe binder.

For the past several years, I've cooked almost exclusively from the internet. I find recipes on Pinterest, Dashing Dish, and blogs, and then when I love something and adapt it to our tastes, I put it on my own blog so I can find it later. And while I'm not a person who lives in the constant fear of internet failure, I have realized it might be a good idea to have hard copy versions of some of our tried-and-true favorites. (This is especially true for recipes I find on other blogs. If a blogger takes down her site, I lose her recipes!) So this month, as I make our meals each day, I decide whether or not they were worth keeping. If they are, I update a file in my computer with the recipes I love, and then I print them out and add them to my new kitchen recipe binder. (Seriously just a 3 ring binder I took from my office stash.) All my favorites will soon be at my fingertips. If the internet is out or a site disappears, I still have my recipes!

4. White noise apps are THE BEST.

Random fact about Bekah: I'm not really an app girl. I don't love them. I don't have many. I think it comes from so many years of limited phone memory. I needed that space for pictures, so I never got into apps. But when I started spending so many days out at Ryan's mom's house this month, I found I needed a white noise app, because I can't handle quiet. I downloaded one that had "airplane cabin" as a noise option. Yes please. That sounds heavenly. It saves carting the white noise machine around!!

5. I love my dusting spray.

I stopped using all dust sprays years ago, when everyone began to warn of the dangers of home toxins. I figured buying the dollar store version of furniture polish was probably not helping my cause, so I just gave it up completely. I dry dusted for years - if I dusted at all. Dusting is such maddening work. You wipe it away only to watch it fall straight back down from the air onto your furniture. BLAH. But earlier this month I happened upon a concoction (Pinterest, of course) for a DIY furniture polish. I purchased a set of spray bottles/roller bottles from Amazon and reserved one of them for my spray. I've noticed that it works splendidly. I mean, our house isn't VOID of dust when it comes time to clean, but it sure isn't anything like it used to be. And I feel better in knowing I'm not inhaling all the extra junk.

6. I cannot make pretty beach waves with my flat iron.

After my hair overhaul earlier this month, the stylist flipped her flat iron through my hair and gave me the cutest (and fastest!) little beach waves. I tried it the next day. Let's just say I looked a bit more like Monica Gellar in the Bahamas. Perhaps with practice. But I'm not sure I have that much patience.

7. One task per day helps me find success in the housecleaning efforts.

Because my mom worked full time when I was growing up, Saturdays were usually cleaning days at our house. We did it all in one day. The dusting, vacuuming, bathrooms...all of it. I don't like cleaning and never have. (Ryan LOVES to clean. I don't.) I determined this year, as part of trying to become a better wife, I was going to try to do better with cleaning. For one thing, he has enough on his plate right now; he doesn't need to make up for my deficiencies. For another thing, part of the privilege of staying home to work and be a wife means I need to find time to FULLY take care of our home - not just the parts I find fun. I started using Clean Mama's cleaning plan, which means I do one chore per day. I clean bathrooms on Mondays, dust on Tuesdays, vacuum on Wednesdays, mop floors on Thursdays, vacuum again on Fridays, and wash sheets on Saturdays. In between all that, I keep up with the laundry and kitchen chores, and it's not so bad! I still hate cleaning, but this bite-sized approach makes it doable for me! (And Ryan really really appreciates the newly-improving Bekah.)

8. The 9/11 Museum Memorial recognizes the birthdays of every victim.

We've never been to New York City, and it is on our list of places we'd love to go someday. If and when we get to do that, I absolutely want to see the 9/11 memorial. Natasha went to see it recently and mentioned in her post that the staff recognizes the birthdays of each victim by placing a white rose on their names on their birthdays. I had never heard that before, and I think it's a beautiful tribute. (She offered this link to learn more.)

9. Our microwave senses potato size. 

I don't actually cook potatoes anymore, but now and then we do use a sweet potato. I purchased one this week that was HUGE, and I wasn't sure how long it would take to cook. Rather than punching in a time, I just hit the potato button on the microwave, expecting it to prompt me to enter the number of potatoes I wanted to cook. But it didn't. It "'sensed" its way to a perfectly cooked enormous sweet potato. Who knew?

10. The get-back coach is a thing.

(Cassie, if you happen to be reading, just stop now.) So here's the thing: I'm not really enthralled by Sunday's big game. The two teams I wanted to see are the two teams NOT playing, so I lost interest in a fat hurry. (It's also really disheartening to hear about all the things that SHOULD have happened in playoff games that DIDN'T happen. I'm a rules girl. Please play AND officiate by them.) Since the commercials the last couple of years have also been major let-downs, I planned to show up mostly for the food this year. But then I learned about the get-back coach, and now I just want to know if there's going to be a whole camera and/or channel for this. Because I'd watch 3-4 hours of THAT. Have you heard about him? Apparently the position is not an uncommon one. The get-back coaches make sure the main coaches (and players) stay back, off the field, out of the way of play and officiating. But the get-back coach for the Rams is a whole extra level. He literally follows the coach around and picks him up and moves him out of the way. He's basically an adult helper. And it. is. absolutely. hilariously. fascinating. (Here's an article and video if you haven't seen.)

So what about you? Learn anything fun in January? Anything at all in 973 days?

A Day in the Life: January 2019

I fully intended to do a Day-in-the-Life post this month, and then I forgot. And now the month ends tomorrow. I squeaked it in, though!! I just wanted to do this to try to remember the chaos of our lives right now!

I am doing the format a little differently this time, and I started my time-clock at midnight, rather than when the alarm went off. You'll soon see why.

Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Ryan: 39 years old. Bekah: 40 years old. Braeya: 12 years old.
Weather: Sunny, but extremely cold with high winds.

Midnight-2:00 a.m.

When the day officially began, we were actually still at Ryan's mom's house, taking care of her. Bad weather had settled into central Indiana after we arrived the evening before, so her husband's commute home was extended just a bit. Nita had been in bed, but she'd gotten up to have a literal midnight snack, and Ryan and I were packing up the car in hopes that Allen would make it home soon. He arrived safely, and we picked our own way home very carefully. The issue wasn't snow, but ice; we were thankful that the roads somehow seemed better than we had heard they'd been earlier in the evening, despite continually falling temps. When we got home, Ryan set the coffee pot for morning, I filled the diffuser with Thieves, and we crawled into bed to get a few hours of sleep. (The "Mississippi-lessly" episode of Friends happened to be on as we fell asleep.)

2:00-5:00 a.m.

Sweet sleep.

5:00-7:00 a.m.

Sweet OVERsleeping. We tried to be irritated with ourselves, but it was so hard to care.

7:00-8:00 a.m.

Ryan got up and ready (quickly!) for work, and I got up and busy with blog and social media stuff, since I was already late in posting. I got my morning water and Ryan brought me my coffee (as he always does). We had prayer together, and then he bundled up to head to work. I checked the weather, and indeed it promised to be a colllllllllld day, but not as cold as it will be later this week! 

8:00-10:00 a.m. 

Braeya had settled in with me on the couch when I sat down to have more coffee, but I made us both get up so I could shower and start getting ready for the day. I called my Mom to let her know we'd gotten home safely and walked the house while we talked so I could get steps at the same time. I dried my hair, did my skin care routine, brushed my teeth, and made a Dashing Dish Orange Julius Smoothie for breakfast. (The Ninja started smoking while I made it. I'm not sure if it was working too hard on all the ice and frozen strawberries or if we're about to have a disaster on our hands.) I decided to go ahead and straighten my hair and put on a little makeup so I could declare myself ready. (Long-sleeved tee and yoga pants for the win on cold-day-clothing.) While still finishing my smoothie, I threw a huge load of towels and blankets in the washer - leftovers from our week with Deuce - and got some ground turkey out of the freezer to start thawing for dinner. Oh! And I checked my email - cleared out the junk and answered a couple of messages. 

10:00 a.m. - noon.

I finally moved into the office so I could begin the work part of my day. I actually needed to begin with my quiet time/devotions/prayer, since my oversleeping made me miss it at its regularly scheduled time. I warmed up my coffee and laid out all my books, binders, and Bibles so I could settle in and study at length. (Charged my Fitbit while I sat.) Once I was done with my devos, I filled up my diffuser with a new blend I wanted to try: 2 drops each of rosemary, peppermint, and grapefruit. I'd read that's an energy-inducing blend. 2 a.m. bedtimes call for energy-inducing blends. I moved the clothes to the dryer, poured another cup of coffee, and settled in to read some blogs, write an encouragement card to some hurting friends, and work on the Saturday Six post. My goal was to get to 5000 steps by lunchtime, so in the last few minutes of the morning, I power-walked the house to make the goal! It was leftover day for lunch: Dashing Dish Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps that I'd made the night before, so I warmed everything up and set the table so lunch would be ready when Ryan arrived!

Noon-2 p.m.
Ryan got home right on time, and we talked while we ate our lunch and had Dashing Dish Strawberry Coffee Cake and coffee for dessert. The coffee cake was a leftover from yesterday too. He didn't have to eat and run, so we even got to take a quick nap before he went back to work! (We set an alarm so we didn't repeat our morning mishap. Also: ten minute naps refresh him like two hour naps refresh me. I needed another hour and fifty minutes!) After Ryan went back to work, I cleaned up the kitchen from lunch, put the dishes in the dishwasher, assembled our dinner in the slow cooker, washed the skillet, and refilled the seasoned salt. (I make my own in a big batch and keep it in the freezer. It was time to refill the container in the cabinet.) The towels and blankets had finished drying, so I folded and put them away. I'd just hunkered down with another cup off coffee to go through more emails and online work when I noticed our yard sign had come loose. It was a gift and I didn't want it to get broken or blow away in the crazy winds, so I suited up to scurry out and take it down all the way. THEN I sat down at the computer and I guess Braeya was in a cuddling mood, because she showed up to join me.

2:00-4:00 p.m.
I spent almost two solid hours doing the behind-the-scenes grunt work of being a speaker and writer. I updated my planner with some new speaking engagements and other commitments I'd not yet written down. I also needed to fill out paperwork for some speaking dates coming up. (I keep files for every engagement so I can keep track of the details.) I updated income and expenses, inventory and receipts, logs and lists, and sent and organized some emails. It's not hard work, but sometimes it piles up, and it certainly had throughout January. Everything looked much prettier when I was done with it! I worked so hard and fast that I forgot my 2:30 snack. (This never happens.) By 3:45 I was famished and had to get some almonds for a snack. I also ate them so fast I didn't take a picture. Filled up water tumbler #3 (30 ounces per tumbler) and started guzzling. In the last few minutes of office time, I needed a brain break (too much math) and decided to check out realtor.com. We're not buying a house, but I have a fascination with what's on the market in our county and hadn't had time to see what new treasures might have appeared during the day! (The answer? NOTHING.)

4:00-6:00 p.m.
Ryan came home from work and braved the cold to sweep out the driveway from snow that had blown in throughout the day. He also got the mail, which contained his new ski goggles. He was pretty excited about them, don't you think? We changed our clothes and went to the gym to work out. I had planned to run on the treadmill but Ryan invited me to join him in his workout. AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, we were done. (If anyone needs me for the next week, I'll be on the couch, unable to move anything other than my eyebrows.) I wasn't sure I would make it through, but I did, and he was proud of me. (I was proud of me!)

6:00-8:00 p.m.
We came home from the gym, ate our cooked-to-perfection-in-the-slow-cooker dinner. (It was the Dashing Dish 6 Ingredient Italian Zucchini Casserole.) Delicious! We almost always eat dinner in the living room while we watch Family Feud, and this night was no exception! Ryan had a craving for a Blizzard, and who am I to discourage him from his dreams? So he made a fresh pot of coffee and headed to Dairy Queen to pick up our desserts. I rested my sore little legs. We enjoyed our Blizzards while we watched Monday's DVR'd episode of Manifest, and then we decided we better get up and do a little more work before we called it a night.

8:00-10:00 p.m.
I'm supposed to clean the bathrooms on Monday, but I had run out of time before we had to go to Nita's, so I caught up on that chore and dusted the house, which is my Tuesday house chore. Ryan cleaned up the kitchen from dinner - and even mopped the floor! (I took a picture in case you've never seen a guy mopping before. I've been told it's rare.) Even though I'd just gotten an email to say the ladies' Bible study for this week is canceled because of cold temps, I hunkered down to finish the last of my homework for the week's study. No need to get behind just because I have a week off! When I finished that, I ordered a couple of skin care products we have just about run out of, and then I got sidetracked by a new music video. (We've gotten to know some of the Shiny Penny Band members, because they go to church with us, and I saw that they had a new video out, so I watched it.) With all my chores officially done for the day, I poured another cup of coffee and curled up with my novel for this week. I thought maybe reading about vacation spots might take my mind off the frigid temps outside. Ryan decided to take a shower and call it a day.

10:00 p.m.-Midnight
By about 10:00, I'd lost interest in the day, even though I'm a night owl, and these final hours are usually my finest. I wrote in my journal, scrolled through Facebook, and watched House Hunters with Ryan. We finally threw in the towel about 11:00 and headed to bed. Long, full day.

Deuce-less

We just returned Deuce to his  home, and while we're not complaining about losing early morning potty walks, we do miss the guy. He's such a snuggler.

And our week with him made for some great stories, as did our date day on Saturday and my ridiculously embarrassing moment. Why I felt compelled to share it out loud, I do not know. But enjoy.

Listen here!

I know I did a post about Deuce last week, but he's just so stinkin' cute that I couldn't help but do a second one - for posterity, you know.

He ended up staying a day or so longer than planned, but we didn't complain about that. (Perhaps HE was complaining on the inside, but we were happy to have him.)

I think it was good for Braeya Jo to have a dog in the house. (And especially one that didn't bark at her every time she peered out from under the bed.) She got braver as the week went along.

As you can see, his interest in her knew no bounds. Ha.

This is what happens when I take too long in the shower. I come out to find someone in our bed.

Some of you might have seen this saga on Facebook, but I felt a little bad for him, because we didn't have any toys for him to play with. I remembered that when we purchased a stuffed/squeaky bear for Phoebe back before Christmas, the box was a two-pack. Bear and moose. I thought Deucey might like the moosey, so I got it out for him.

I didn't know he was secretly a surgeon.

Poor Moosey.

This cracked me up! We went to take care of Ryan's mom one night last week, and we planned to take Deuce with us, since it was going to be such a long evening. We also took dinner to her, and I had my bag of work to take along, so it was a whole car-packing adventure. As I began to load it up, Deuce ran out and got in the back seat. I told him we weren't leaving for a little while, but he was NOT getting out of that car. He didn't even care. He just wanted to make sure he didn't miss the adventure. I bet he sat out there ten minutes while we ran back and forth, packing up and getting ready to go. Never whined. Never jumped around. Just held his seat.

He was a crowd favorite at Nita's.

He's a Ryan's boy through and through. I took this one morning before work. He just didn't want him to go. (And boy, I get that.)

And when Ryan came home from work and took a nap, Deuce was right there to help.

Sweet boy. We miss him already!

** Opinions stated above do not necessarily reflect the feline of the house.**

Dating with Purpose

If you've ever heard us speak on the topic of marriage, you've probably heard us say that while most people will tell you marriage is hard, we disagree. We think life can be hard, but if you're determined to live well and in an attitude of love, marriage doesn't have to be hard. (I wrote more about that here if you want to read further thoughts on it.) The bottom line is that we think too many people confuse what's difficult. They blame the wrong thing.

Having said that, our life has been hard lately. It's been demanding of our time, it's changed our priorities, and it has exhausted us. And by the end of last week, we had reached the point where the thing we both needed the most was uninterrupted time with each other. Time where we were both awake and not distracted by everything else.

It would have been such fun to go on a county tour date. We haven't been able to go on one for months. But alas, we had Deuce, and we couldn't leave him behind for that many hours. And since it was so cold, we couldn't plan a tour around outside activities, because it wouldn't be safe for him to be outside that long.

But it's true that you don't have to have an amazing date planned to have an amazing date. It's not about what you do - and if it is, you probably need to assess a few things. It's about being together and investing in each other.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized we had some key pieces of the day that made it perfect and heart-healing for us both, even though we didn't do anything spectacular or extravagant.

D = Desire

More than anything, we both wanted this day together. When it came down to it, we didn't care what we did or where we went (or didn't go) as long as we had time together. I know that some couples even struggle to desire spending time together, so I am always comforted when I realize that in the middle of living in that critical seventh year, we still desire to spend time together. He could have wished for a work day instead, to make some extra money. I could have wished for a day alone to scrapbook. But what we really wanted was quality time together.

A = Affection

I think most people think of affection in terms of touching, and it absolutely can be about that, but I think there's a lot more to it. Ryan shows affection to me through taking care of me well. He dropped me off at the door of the restaurant when we went out for breakfast, so I didn't have to skate through a slick parking lot. He got up early to take Deuce out so I could sleep in, because he knows it's one of my favorite things. And because he knows I carry 100% of my tension in my back and shoulders, he gave me a massage to try to relieve my aches. I washed the sheets because clean sheet day is his favorite. I cleaned up the kitchen while he rested so he didn't have to look at piles of dishes later. And I took extra time to get ready and put on FULL makeup, since the last week of cold temperatures and dog duty found me mostly in yoga pants and messy hair.

T = Talking

I know I've really missed our long conversations over the past few weeks. We're really good at long talks, but we just haven't had time. Our free time has been geared toward caring for Ryan's mom or sleeping off our exhaustion, so we haven't been able to enjoy deep conversations. (We've even missed a few necessary ones!) This day was all about talking for us. We don't have rules about putting away phones at the table, but other than taking pictures, we did put them aside while we ate our brunch, so we could talk instead. We talked our way through the stores where we shopped, talked our way through the neighborhood while we walked Deuce, and talked our way through the evening (and the nail-biter movie we watched). We were back. The talking us. I missed us.

E = Exclusive

Divide and conquer seems to have been the theme for us in the last few weeks. We have more to do than time to do I, so we have to make it work. We know it's just the need of the season and we aren't upset about it, but it sure was lovely to have a day exclusively devoted to each other. No working. No side stops to do favors for others. No phone calls and texts (for the most part). No projects that separated us for hours. Just the two of us exclusively focusing on each other, sharing conversation, compliments, and much-needed comfort.

This is what matters in dating. Yes, there will be a scrapbook page. No, it won't show the coolest far-away places we've ever visited. But it will show that we desired this day together, we showed affection for each other, we had meaningful talks, and we focused exclusively on each other. Our love tanks are filled back up again, and hopefully we'll be able to enjoy more days like this sooner, rather than later.

Want to see some glimpses of the day?

Brunch at Cracker Barrel. (Thanks, Wayne and Shari!!)

Grocery shopping!

Finding his and hers bikes at Sam's Club. Bet you can't guess which is mine!

(No bikes were ACTUALLY purchased, FYI.)

Trying out furniture, because that's just fun:

We also shoe-shopped. Do NOT ask me about the misfortune I nearly caused the poor salesman. Also do not ask me how unhappy he was with us when we chose not to purchase.

Found a great mug:

(It says Grammar Police: To Serve and Correct)

Took Deuce on a walk:

And baked a razzleberry pie:

A beautifully purposeful day. Just the date we needed.

The Shafferland Shuffle

Last week we were limping. This week we're back to shuffling, but it's the kind of shuffle where you try not to fall on the snow and ice. My main goal is to NOT become Ryan's patient. :) So if you're snow-shuffling where you live, be safe!

* Our church (and many others around here) canceled services last Sunday because of snow and ice. It really wasn't too bad on the main roads in town, but a lot of subdivisions and of course the country roads were a mess, so it was good to have people safe inside. Ryan and I thoroughly enjoyed our actual morning of rest at home, hanging out, taking it easy, resting, etc. Mid-afternoon, we packed up Deuce and headed for Ryan's mom's, so we could stay with her while Allen cleared out their lane. That's a multi-hour project. Nita was having a good day, and we enjoyed talking to her!

* Ryan sent me this picture on Monday - they had homemade pineapple cake at work. He was so excited!! Know who wasn't excited on Monday? Deuce. He mourned every single time Ryan left the house this week. Poor guy. He did help me with Monday chores, though, including making the little chocolate/bubble wrap presents for Ryan's co-workers.

* I spent most of Tuesday cooking and cleaning, so we could be ready to host small group that night! It was so good to see all our friends and share together. We learned so much from them and had a much-needed boost to our spirits. Deuce slept through the whole thing. He was just happy to have Ryan home. Nothing else mattered.

* You know, if Deuce hadn't been here this week, I fear we wouldn't have had any pictures at all. Nothing else photo-worthy happened on Wednesday. I found him sacked out on our bed when I got out of the shower, I dug up a spare Phoebe toy for him when he looked bored, and he slept in his favorite modest position for most of the day. It was collllllllllllllllllld that day, so we were glad to have a night at home!

* I ventured forth to women's Bible study on Thursday and enjoyed hearing from the ladies about what they'd learned. Deuce did some sort of highly invasive surgery on the stuffed moose that afternoon, and that night, Ryan and I went to stay with his mom. She had some visitors while we were there and seemed to really enjoy her evening!

* Friday was a beautiful, sunny day, even if it was still crazy cold. I just appreciated the sunshine! I knocked out another cleaning and organizing project: swapped out the hangers in my closet for the new ones my parents gave me for Christmas! And we elected to stay home all night and rest. Ryan was so wiped out from a long week.

* And yesterday was my favorite. He didn't have to work, and we didn't have any caretaking responsibilities, so we had a whole day to ourselves. We'd wanted to do a county tour, but we couldn't leave Deuce for the whole day, and it was too cold to hike parks or anything (with him) so we just had a lovely low-key date day. Sleeping in, breakfast out together, some shopping, some resting, some razzleberry pie, some projects at home...lovely.

The Saturday Six

One.

This video gave me goose bumps. It's from Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Full choir and orchestra (which, of course, won me over right there) singing The Revelation Song, but they also have soloists in nine different languages. So beautiful.

Two.

I don't know what it's like where you live, but our city has been filled with delays and snow days in the last couple of weeks. So much snow, and so many slick country roads! If that's happening at your house too, and you're running out of ideas to keep your kids occupied (and from shouting I'm borrrrrrrrrrred), take a look at these 3D snowflakes. Not your average snowflake, and if you go the extra step to marble the paper, it could make a great winter decoration!

Three.

I don't know if you're a fan of the conversation heart candy for Valentine's Day, but if you are, you need to read this article - and keep a brown paper bag handy! (I'm only a fan of the SweetTart version of them, so I'm okay!)

Four.

Okay, first of all, if there's ever an elaborate coffee taste test adventure like this one again, someone please tell me how to sign up for it!! I happened upon this article this week to learn some of the best tasting/priced coffee options. Interesting to read, if you like coffee, but also interesting to find out our all-time favorite didn't even make the list. And also, as a side note, we did try Death Wish a couple of years ago. Loved the taste, but for my body, it really was a death wish. I can't ask that of my vital organs ever again. So that one is out for me. (Only time in the history of my coffee-drinking life that I thought coffee might actually kill me. I was so scared, I cried.)

Five.

Ryan and I love to pray together and do it often, but I really like this idea of a prayer date. Never heard of such a thing before!

Six.

Several months ago, I happened upon the book Nearing Home by Billy Graham. I don't even remember now where I found it. I'd never read anything by him before, but since he recently passed away, I think I was curious to read his thoughts on the end of life. (I just looked and discovered he died almost a year ago. Why does it seem so much more recent than that?)

Anyway! Since last week was a busy week and this book looked like it would be a fairly easy one to read, I chose it for my book of the week.

I'll begin with the assumption that I don't have to introduce you to Billy Graham. :) He published Nearing Home back in 2011, which means he probably wrote it a year or two before that, and throughout the book, he mentions he's probably in the last season of his life. Obviously the Lord had a few more years in store for him, but at the time he wrote the book, he was ready and waiting to go to Heaven. (His wife, Ruth, died in 2007, and he mentioned how eager he was to be reunited with her.)

I confess I had to giggle a few times as I read, because when Ryan and I were at a Mark Lowry concert a couple of years ago, he talked about what it was like to meet and hang out with Billy and Ruth Graham. (Because, you know, don't we all!) Mark said Billy was a hypochondriac, and as I read along, that's all I could hear in my head whenever he mentioned his various ailments and how he didn't think he'd live much longer. I have no doubt Mark knew what he was talking about!

Having said all that, I don't think I've ever seen a book quite like this one before. He had retired from traveling and speaking when he wrote this book, so part of his intent in writing was to share the gospel in a way that he still could. The plan of salvation is very clearly outlined in it, and it's a very important component to include when you're writing for people who may be older or ill and know they don't have much time left. But it's not just an evangelism book.

He talks about the importance of thinking about your own mortality and making plans and decisions while you still have your thoughts and wits about you, so your loved ones don't have to make those decisions later. (And that's an important thing to think about even if you're young and healthy while you're reading, because the truth is - you never know!)

But the part I loved most was his reminder (probably to himself as much as to his readers) that just because you're older or fighting an illness or disease, it doesn't mean you have lost your purpose. Every day that you wake up on this earth is a day that God has a plan for you, and you should be excited to embrace whatever He has.

It's also a great admonition for all of us who would consider ourselves young and healthy to remember that those who are older have so much to offer us. They've lived through so much and have great advice and wisdom. We'd do well to ask for it and live by it - not push them away as an inconvenience.

The book is written in a very speaker-esque style. It's simple, easy to understand, and full of stories and illustrations. (Word illustrations. Not pictures.)

I feel a little guilty saying a book by Billy Graham wasn't my favorite read of the entire year, but while it wasn't perhaps the most captivating book I've ever read, it did have a lot of really helpful information tucked inside. I learned things that will help me as interact with and encourage those in my life who are older or approaching the end of life. And I'm reminded to live with purpose, because if God does allow me to live a long and full life, I want to do well with it. I want to leave something of value for those who come behind me.

Who should read this book? If you're older or facing terminal illness, this would be a great read for you, not only from a practical side, but from a faith-perspective. If you're walking alongside anyone older or facing illness, this could be a good guide for allowing you to better understand how they may be feeling. If you feel you don't have a proper appreciation for the older people in your life, this might help you understand why they are so valuable and why you should soak up their wisdom. If you prefer simple explanations, this is a great resource. It's not academic or written above the understanding of the average reader.

Even if it doesn't go on my top 50 must-read list, I still appreciate what I learned!