The Shafferland Shuffle

I did it! I made it through the next wave of a crazy schedule! I have a few days marked out this week for photo editing, scrapbooking and serious Hallmark movie-ing!

Here's a peek at our rather unusual week!

* We totally enjoyed our extra hour of sleep last Sunday...in Bowling Green, Kentucky! That was our stopping point on our trip home from Atlanta. After a good night of sleep and a fabulous hotel breakfast, we resumed travel and got home (with Zaxby's salads in tow) in the afternoon. Spent the rest of the day resting and enjoying football before gearing up for a new week!

* Monday morning began with a beautiful sunrise, and after Ryan went to work, I kicked it into high gear with an all day game of catch-up-from-being-gone and prepare-to-be-gone-again. I was pretty successful, too! We went out for groceries after Ryan got home from work. He found he gift he'd like for Christmas, and he also found a fun spare hand at the coffee shop that made for endless photo opps whilst waiting for lattes.

* Tuesday was SUCH FUN!!! I worked in the morning and then guess who came to see me in the afternoon? LYNNE FORD!!!!!! Oh my. I haven't seen her in probably two years, and it made my heart so full to get to spend an entire afternoon with her. We talked (without taking a breath) for three solid hours and then went to see Ryan at work before she went home. It was like no time had ever passed since I last saw her, and we loved every bit of our conversations. We had just enough time to squeeze in a trip to the polls between Ryan getting off work and small group people arriving.

* And then came the tough day: Wednesday. Months ago, I committed to going to a leadership conference with a group of women from our church. Though I love things like this and was excited to go learn, I had been dreading the separation from Ryan with everything in my being. I hate being apart from him. But I tried to be a brave soldier and spent the morning packing light and prepping to head south once again - to Nashville, Tennessee. A dozen of us from church headed out around noon and arrived safely in Tennessee that evening - ready to make new friends and learn new things!

* Thursday was such a full day! We arrived at the conference about 8:30 in the morning and got back to our rooms about 9:30 that night. We laughed and cried and prayed and sang and ate (a lot!!) and took in way more information than I've had time to process just yet. My favorite part of the day? Sitting in on a session taught by Lisa Harper. That was kind of a bucket list moment for me, and I was so happy!! Ryan held down the fort at home and sent me selfies so I wouldn't feel so lonely.

* Friday was another 12 hour day of conferencing and learning. There were about 1600 women at this conference, so that was a LOT of people in one place, but I was able to balance people time and quiet time between sessions. The very last session made me laugh until my sides hurt, and the prayer at the end made me cry off all my mascara. Ryan survived his Friday night without me (ha!) and was so kind to send more pictures for me. (I love his attention to photo detail.)

* The conference wrapped up Saturday morning, and we spent the rest of the day traveling home. Ryan, meanwhile, worked all day and went to a birthday party for our nephews. For any of you wondering, yes, I nearly knocked Ryan over in the parking lot when I got back to the church. Didn't even care how ridiculous we may have looked! I really did love the chance to learn at this conference. It was a privilege! But I'm so glad to be home once again. :)