The Shafferland Shuffle

This has certainly been the kind of week we did not expect. Ryan's mom is still hospitalized after a setback early in the week. She's counting on prayers, and our hearts wouldn't turn them away either.


* Last Sunday was ugly Christmas sweater day at our church. Ryan and I are far too hot-blooded to wear sweaters, but we did show up in Christmas shirts! We had a blissssssssssssssssssful afternoon at home: our first Sunday at home with no plans in many many weeks. We did all our favorite nothingness things. Naps and football and Pinteresting. (I'm sure you can tell which was his, hers, and ours.) But the best part was that evening we wrapped up our read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year project we worked on so hard throughout 2018. What a celebration!

* Even though Monday was the last day of the year, we began ramping up the clean eating again. Hello, cauliflower rice and turkey meatballs!! How have you been? As you already saw earlier this week, we spent that evening with our Sunday School class, ringing in the new year with them. We played games, ate great food, and enjoyed very pleasant conversation. (And of course: the midnight kiss.)

* Ryan was off work Tuesday and we spent the entire day together. It was a practically perfect day, as Mary Poppins might say, and we had no idea how much we needed that to carry us through the rest of the week! A little shopping, a little Bible study, a little 5K, a little latte-making....it was the best possible way to bring in 2019.

* And then Wednesday came. Ryan went back to work and our niece job-shadowed him. We planned to celebrate our 73rd monthiversary in a low-key, blissfully ordinary sort of way, when we got the phone call that Ryan's mom had been taken back to the hospital after suffering a setback. When Ryan got off work, we made our way back to Indianapolis to be with her and the family. It was a hard, hard night. (P.S. I'm vehemently opposed to vague social media posts, and that is not my intent here. I'm merely trying to respect the privacy wishes of the immediate family.)

* We tried to go through our normal routine on Thursday. Ryan went to work and I went to the podiatrist. Oh yes. We're back to that. We had plans for the weekend, so we decided we would go back to Indianapolis that night to see his mom again. We arrived right when the floor closed for shift change. (Why don't they tell us about these things!?) So we went to the chapel for about an hour to sit quietly and pray. Then we went back to see Nita, and Ryan's brother and his wife were there too. Though I wanted to be respectful and chose not to take pictures, I did make a lot of mental memories that night with the five of us there together.

* I spent Friday trying to catch up on items from my to-do list that had to be skipped over because of all the unexpected hospital visits. I made homemade cleaners and oil rollers, caught up on some emails, did some menu planning, and a handful of other chores. And that evening, Ryan and I went on our first official date of 2019. We scoped out First Friday in downtown Kokomo. (I'll tell you more about that next week.)

* Ryan had to work yesterday, so we didn't travel to the hospital. We were trying to give other family members a chance to spend time with his mom.  He worked most of the day and then we hunkered down to watch the Colts in the playoffs! We decided to make a fun meal while we were at it: Ryan grilled wings and I made a healthy version of onion petals in the air fryer. The meal was ridiculously delicious, and the Colts won, so it was a good night. 

Thanks for reading through our week and if you happen to think of us today and in the days to come, we would dearly welcome your prayers.