The Shafferland Shuffle

If you're a Midwesterner, then stay warm and safe today! I'm in full denial that all the precipitation promised will show up...but it probably will. Regardless of what happens today, last week began with much beauty, and here's a rundown of what we did over the past few days.

* Stunning sunrise last Sunday! I sure loved seeing it before I got ready for church! Last Sunday evening was the final performance of our church Christmas program. My mom came to see us for the second time, and some friends came to support us as well! We appreciated all of them! We had a couple little technical difficulties, but we powered through! We loved being part of the program, but it was good to have our evenings back, too!

* Monday was a super questionable hair day for me, but I reported for duty for another day of training at the church. I was so glad our secretary hadn't gone into labor over the weekend so I could have more training. (Of course she still hasn't delivered, and now she's sooooo ready.) I loved the little sign on her desk, reminding me to do the best I can where I'm planted, even if I still have much to learn! We cleared our calendar that night to have our first night at home in almost two full weeks. Couch = delight.

* I had another day of training on Tuesday and then Ryan met me at the church so we could re-record part of the audio from our Christmas program narrations. They were actually professionally video recording our program Sunday night, so when the mics malfunctioned, part of our narration didn't get recorded. So we did those lines over in hopes that they can add them. Then a little over half our small group gathered to wrap gifts for the local Rescue Mission. Gift wrapping is not my gift (Ha! See what I did there?) but the crew at large in attendance that night wrapped everything they had left to wrap!

* Wednesday brought another beautiful sunrise that I was able to fully enjoy because my training had come to an end and I was home all day! I had so much to catch up on, so I appreciated that break! Ryan went out to lunch with all his work people - to an Indian restaurant! He sent me pictures of his food so I could check out what he got to try! And his early Christmas gift arrived that night: a new pillow! His old pillow had really far extended its life, and he was having neck pain, so he ordered a new one!

* Thursday evening we had a meeting at church about the new small groups we're helping to form, and then we cashed in on a Starbucks BOGO night and went grocery shopping! We actually got done in record time and were able to come home and rest a bit by the lights on the tree. (Our favorite.)

* Friday night was date night! We went through the lights in the park, and there is this really beautiful old character-laden neighborhood I wanted to drive through to enjoy their lights as well. We happened to go past the Seiberling Mansion (which I've blogged about before) and discovered it was one of the free nights there! (It's open throughout December, but occasionally a business will sponsor a night and you don't have to pay admission to get in.) So we made an impromptu stop there, too! Fun date night!

* Ryan didn't work yesterday, so in the morning we went to church to take the membership class. They only offer it every now and then, and we had felt that the time was right to become official church members. They served a full breakfast and everything! In the afternoon, we went to the memorial service hosted by the funeral home that did Ryan's mom's funeral. Every year they do a big service for all families who lost a loved one in the past year. They honor them and have Christmas ornaments for them. And then we came home for an evening/sleepover with Pheebs!