The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy Sunday - and happy last day of May, my friends! While I look forward to what June brings, let's take a look at the last few days of May around here! :)

* Our church opened for corporate worship last Sunday, but Ryan and I couldn't go because of his work exposure. (That was a request of the church that we were respecting.) So we watched online again - but this time we could see people in the seats! They didn't have a very big crowd, but a few did venture forth! We enjoyed our day in the way we have come to enjoy our restful Sundays - including a neighborhood walk in the afternoon.

* Monday was Memorial Day! I made a Dashing Dish trifle and that evening we had deconstructed kabobs (aka a sheet pan dinner). Both were so good! Monday's sad news? Our air conditioner stopped working. We had to go for a walk just to cool down, because it was about 80 degrees in our house! That's about 15 degrees warmer than I prefer! :)

* I went back to work on Tuesday - and my face here reflects the return of the suuuuuuuuper early morning alarm. When I worked from home, I worked in a much more casual fashion. :) Hair, makeup, and real clothes required extra time! But it was worth it because we got a new printer/copier at work, and the company delivered cupcakes to us! Not too shabby!! Ryan called the air conditioning guy but he couldn't come on Tuesday, so we sat on the porch to keep cool. (It was quite pleasant out there.)

* OH my word. The story I have for you about our Wednesday is TOO GOOD TO SPOIL, so come back tomorrow to read it. Here I am with my tank top and pony tail at my desk at work - it was all I could muster in the heat. And here's Ryan in his new prescription sunglasses! He's so excited! AND!!! Our roses got their first blooms. They're so pretty!

* Thursday brought us some adventure! We headed out on our annual birthday trip, which we have had planned since January. I cannot wait to tell you all about it! Pretty much nothing about this trip went according to schedule, but we had the best time on the road and LOOK AT OUR CUTE AS A LITTLE BUTTON GENUINE TINY CABIN!!!! It was so absolutely perfect in every corner of its 224 square feet. And no, it did not have bunk beds. And yes, it did have indoor plumbing.

* We had hoped to hike all day on Friday, but the forecast showed rain throughout the afternoon - and we saw red on the radar, so we didn't want to risk being deep in a park when a bad storm hit. So instead, we decided to look around and find the fun we could find. As would be the case, the rain held off until almost dinner time, so we probably could have made a day of it, but we still had fun doing what we did. And what we did also included our first coffee shop (we think) since February. (At least as far as going in and sitting down is concerned.)

* Though none of the plans we had for this trip have worked out the way we intended, aside from lodging, we ended up having a great day hiking yesterday. We spent two hours in a nature preserve and then several more hours in a state park. We hiked a total of 11.5 miles, and after 27,000 steps, my FitBit had the audacity to suggest I get moving. WHAT?!?!? When we didn't have any more steps left in us, we came back to our cabin, took a nap, and then enjoyed a fire, hot dogs, and s'mores!

It's been a wonderful weekend! Can't wait to tell you about it!

The Saturday Six

One.

My sister sent me this link to a handful of Andy Griffith quizzes. Any Andy fans out there? You should try these! They were a little more difficult than we expected. :)

Two.

Source

I have mentioned a time or two on here before about The Daily Grace Company, which is a fairly recent discovery for me. (Within the last year, I would say.) I love following them on Instagram, but I have also been enjoying their publications in recent weeks. I just finished reading my first Bible study of theirs, and I wanted to tell you about ! (They have many studies, but this was the first one I had completed.)

It's called Amen: The Story of Scripture from Eden to Eternity and it's written by Kristin Schmucker, who is the founder of the Daily Grace Company. This particular study is an overview of the whole Bible and takes particular care to show the thread of God's covenant and fulfilled promises from Genesis to Revelation.

I'll tell you immediately that in all my years of teaching Bible studies, one of the most difficult obstacles I've always found has been finding books that are meaty enough for seasoned Christians while simultaneously being basic enough for new believers. Most general study groups have a mix of "faith ages" inside them, and it's so easy to lose one end or the other. I feel like Amen does a great job of appealing to both sides. I've been a Christian since I was six, and I drank up every page of this study. I found new-to-me themes and threads inside its pages, and I loved returning to the basics of the Bible for a little bit. But as I studied, I could also think of friends of mine who are new to all this, and I was certain they could just as easily follow the thread.

This study is written to cover five weeks, with five days of study per week. (I read it every single day straight through, so I finished it faster, but that's how it's designed.) The front of the book includes colorful graphics to explain some basic Bible facts, like how many books are in the Bible, the 3 original languages, the number of years it took to write, the number of earthly writers, Testaments, books, divisions, and chapters. It also provides a timeline of Scripture from Eden to the destruction of the second temple.

The first week of study is an overview of why the Bible is important, why studying it matters, what the Gospel means, and a quick glance at both the Old and New Testaments. From there, the remaining four weeks travel from Genesis to Revelation and show how God was (and is!) present in the world and with His people.

Each day offers a manageable piece of Scripture to read, a one-page explanation of that day's study, and three reflection questions that can be answered in as few or many words as you would like. The conclusion of each week offers six more questions over the week as a whole, and those questions are consistent throughout the book. Twice in this book, there's a chance to write out a summary of what you've learned so far, if you wish to do so.

The entire study is bathed in Scripture references and points entirely to the Word, and not just to the writer's opinion.

And because things like this usually matter to girls, the book itself is BEAUTIFUL. Many full color pictures that make it an absolute delight to walk through from beginning to end. If you want to do this study together with your husband or in a mixed group setting, there is also a men's version of the book, which I believe is the same in content, but a little more masculine in presentation.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of depth of understanding of Scripture. And I'm excited to dive into the next study. (I already ordered it so I wouldn't even have a day's lapse in study.)

* I have no affiliation with the company and I purchased the book with my own money, so this just really is me telling you about something I love! I will add that they do often run sales, so even though I absolutely find this book worthy of the $20.00 price tag, if you need something more affordable, check back often and you'll probably find a sale!

Three.

Our pastor shared this rendition of Softly and Tenderly in our staff meeting this week, and I thought it was so beautiful.

Four.

I'm pretty sure a lot of you who read here also read Kelly's Korner (in fact, it's how I met some of you!) but if you don't or you missed this post, check it out! For those of you who aren't familiar with Kelly, her daughter (Harper) has hearing loss, so mask-life makes it even harder for her to understand what people say to her. Kelly posted about these smile masks that have a clear area around the mouth!

Five.

I know this unique prayer idea is geared for teaching kids (in a group) to pray, but I happen to think some of the ideas here might work equally well on adults! Creative!

Six.

If you're following the Gospel reading plan I used last year, here's the list for the month of June! It will get you almost to the end of Mark!

What I Learned (and Accomplished) in May 2020

Yes, I know. There are still two more days in May. But we'll be busy with the Saturday Six and Shafferland Shuffle, so today I will share some fun things I learned this past month and look back over my goals for May to see how I did!

First...what I learned.

1. We should not be trusted to pick out gray paint. Ever. 

People. It shouldn't be hard. It just shouldn't. It's gray paint. GRAY PAINT!!! How can this be impossible? And yet it was. Whether or not blame should be placed here, I choose to place blame on selecting paint during a quarantine. Ryan and I got online and looked at paint chips, which were nowhere NEAR the colors on our screens when brushed on our walls. Ryan FaceTimed me from the store to show me paper paint chips which also were nowhere NEAR the color that appeared on our wall. Over the course of three rooms, we had perfect grays turn the following colors: green, blue, perwinkle, purple, and almost navy. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. So we have the "ambidextrous" color in the guest room that was supposed to be gray but looks more like a cross between a robin egg and sage, and we have the gray in our living room that is most decidedly a baby blue. That led to repainting our kitchen a gray that is most decidedly a darker blue. If you need gray, don't call us. We will fail you thoroughly.

2. People were not as eager to reenter society as I expected.

This one really surprised me. As everything began to lock down in March, I read so many posts of people who ranged from sad to flat out angry about the restrictions. They just wanted to get out! They wanted to shop and get a haircut and go to church. And yet as things opened up here in Indiana throughout May, I started hearing some of those same people say they weren't ready to try society just yet. They decided to stick with online church, and another few centimeters of gray roots wouldn't kill them. I have no judgment either way, but I was surprised that so many who had been so vocal about getting out ended up staying in!

3. You can juice a lemon by poking a hole in the end of it.

Ryan learned this one on Tik Tok, which may be THE strangest sentence I have ever typed in my life. He is not a social media guy at all, but he does like watching the funny videos on there. Anyway! He found this hack (which we may be the last people on earth to learn) for juicing a lemon without cutting it. Did you know you could do this?

4. Ryan never ceases to amaze me with his party planning skills - even in a pandemic. 

I didn't think he could top my 40th birthday, but he sure did a great job with his pandemic birthday party! If you're new here and don't know, Ryan threw me a surprise party when I turned 40 - and about 100 people came! It was a Beauty and the Beast themed party, complete with Belle and a photographer and lots of cake AND forty roses. (And much more.) I loved it so much! This year he sent me lunch delivery (since he had to work and restaurants weren't open for dine-in) and then cooked FROM SCRATCH an entire dinner, complete with chocolate cake to match my Anne of Green Gables themed birthday party. He decorated our guest room for the party and watched the entire 3 hour movie with me - and liked it! It was so much fun!

5. It takes an extraordinary amount of work for a large church to reopen according to regulations.

Pandemics really throw life for a loop; I think we can all agree on that. But I had an amazing appreciation for the amount of time that goes into figuring out all the many, many pieces and parts of trying to safely reopen a large church. We spent over five hours in a staff meeting talking through all the details of how and where to seat people, how to clean effectively, and how to keep everyone as safe as we could. It was exhausting, and I was just taking notes! I wasn't the brains behind the operation! I am sure there are similar conversations at every single type of establishment. You all are amazing for thinking through everything from so many angles!

6. The really cool panels on the back of our church platform stage are really just styrofoam. 

I went back to work in the office this week, and one day I had to walk across our sanctuary platform. I passed by the large panels I see behind the singers and pastor every week. I was positive they were some sort of fabric screen...until I saw them up close. Nope! Giant pieces of styrofoam. BLEW MY MIND. I mentioned it to one of the staff pastors, and he sent me this article to explain how it works. (This article isn't about our church.) Wow! Who knew???

7. Kind makes mini bars!

When I worked at WBCL, Lynne introduced me to Kind Bars. They were one of her favorite snacks, and she got me so hooked on them! I discovered in the break room at work this week that Kind makes MINI bars! Kind of like a fun size candy bar. I had no idea! Super cute!


So that's what I learned in May! Now...how did I do on my goals?

1. Finish our next round of home improvement projects.

Almost. We did fully finish the guest room, and I love how it looks. (We even had a staycation in there a couple of nights during May!) We also finished the board and batten project in the entry - and it looks amazing. It was always meant to be that way, I'm pretty sure. We painted the living room (and then the kitchen, thanks to the aforementioned issues with gray paint) but we didn't get the one living room wall done. The supplies weren't available, so we were stuck.

2. Plant flowers outside.

DONE!!!! Our trip to Lowe's to purchase them was my first trip to a store after quarantine. We had to let them hang out in the garage for a few days, thanks to a quick reprise of winter, but we finally were able to plant them the week of my birthday! They are starting to fill out and bloom and look so lovely. It makes me so happy to come home from our evening walks and see all the pretty blooms! Bonus: I planted my first tomato plants of life, too! Two of them!

3. Soldier on with the blog archiving.
I indeed soldiered...and even better than the finished product reflects, because due to a computer crash, I lost two and a half months of what I'd saved and had to redo them. I was still able to meet my goal of archiving a full year, but it would been an additional two and a half months if I hadn't had that setback!

4. Plan (with hope) details for a tiny getaway.
Well, we have decided to be very unShafferlike about this getaway. The area we're visiting has different restrictions from where we live, and we're finding them to be less predictable and far less planned-out-in-advance than we're used to living in. The getaway itself is on, but the planning is off. It will surprise us all what we're able to accomplish! We will just see what's open and participate where we can.

5. Prep a talk for Mother's Day.

Done! It was so much fun! I was able to share with one of the churches I used to attend - via Zoom! I wrote about it here, if you want to read more, but I really enjoyed the chance to do this! Creative and fun on the part of the church, I thought.

6. Write something suitable for submission.

Done! I haven't submitted it yet, but I did enjoy a little proper writing! I had Bibles stacked up for study and everything! I also shared a couple of written pieces with my parents' church. (They're not set up for online church so they're "meeting" each week by mailing out the materials for church and then everyone reads them at church time. Mom asked if I could share some of my writing for it, and I did!)

So how about you? Did you learn or accomplish anything exciting in May?

Dreams and Goals for June 2020

Wow. If I thought it was difficult to make month-ahead goals for days of quarantine with little freedom, I have to say it's even harder to make goals for the unpredictable days of reopening! I think I know what we we might be allowed to aim for, but I hate to plan too specifically, because it could all change, couldn't it?

Well, I'll do my best with what I know at this time and make adjustments as necessary.

1. Archive another full year of old blog posts.

If I'm able to achieve this, it will bring me up to July of 2016, which will mean I have almost my first full decade of blogging archived. And I'll be well over halfway done with the project! It has been surprisingly delightful to do this project!

2. Keep up on scrapbooking and begin a vacation album.

I have successfully kept up with my present day, chronological albums, and I'd like to continue to do that! I also hope to at least start (if not mostly finish) a vacation book that isn't done.

3. Keep our tomato plants alive...maybe even see them thrive? Is that too much to ask?

A few days after my birthday, I picked up a couple of tomato plants from a friend who had extras, and they've been growing like crazy in their little porch planters. I cannot...cannot...tell said friend that I have accidentally killed the plants he donated to my trial gardening cause, so they must live. They must!!!!

4. Finish the living room project.

During quarantine, we painted our living room. And then we accidentally painted the kitchen because the living room color didn't turn out the way we planned, and the two rooms meet up in the middle. (Long story.) We have a plan in place for one of the walls in the living room, but the virus apparently put some of our supplies on backorder. It would be splendid to be able to finish that project! And maybe even hang up the rest of the wall art we haven't put back since painting. I think we're starting to become simultaneously annoyed by/oblivious to the piles of supplies in our bedroom.

5. Get our air conditioning fixed.

How was this not item #1?!?!!? We turned on our air conditioning over the weekend and though it did groan to life, it did not emit nearly the freezing cold air it should have. So we turned it back off and "called the man" (in the words of that one Andy Griffith show line). Naturally he can't come until next week, so we've been sitting in 80 degree living room weather, and it's been a marvelous opportunity to find joy while melting.

6. Exercise. Again. 

This one makes the list a lot, doesn't it? We've been doing some new workouts lately - and were doing fairly well before the air conditioning went on vacation. I could not do a cardio workout in an 80 degree house without A/C. I just couldn't do it. So we'll move this one to June and power through! We really like the workouts we've tried!

I feel like this is a manageable list in a very unpredictable season! Do you have any goals for June? Any of you have to cancel anything that has made you sad? Any of you restarting any part of life this month ?

Documentation: To Rewrite History or Not?

A couple of days ago, I wrote about my discovery of a family vacation scrapbook from 1986 - and my heavily misspelled journal entries. I wrote mostly about the weather and the specific times we entered states or left our hotel rooms, so it may not land in history as my finest work, but it does land as my earliest work.

Scrapbooking has actually come in quite handy for me this week. Not the act of constructing the books, but the benefit of having the books.

* A friend of mine asked my thoughts on putting together a baby book, and since I've made one for someone else before, I had all kinds of ideas to share!

* Another friend is planning her daughter's graduation open house and wants to have ice cream sundaes. She remembered that we had those for our wedding reception, so I looked up the details in the scrapbook and let her know the specifics.

* I needed a specific date from something that happened back in 2000...and sure enough! The scrapbook had the date!

Three of the many dozens of reasons I love our books and the memories they hold for us.

But scrapbooks bring up an interesting question that really becomes a matter of opinion: should you (or do you) "rewrite history" by taking or leaving things out of books or journals?

What do you think?

One of my friends redid a photo album once to remove photos of a relationship that had ended. She said she didn't want anything to remind her of that season of her life, including a record of the dates they'd been on together.

After my breakup with Isaac, I stared at the printed pictures (clearly a while ago) from our last dates and weighed whether or not I would include them in my album. He had so deeply hurt me that I wasn't sure I could even bring myself to document the happiness I'd felt on those last adventures. In the end, I decided that even though it hurt, our relationship had been part of my life story, and it certainly forever marked the woman I became. I couldn't ignore it just because it had ended. So I included the pictures and the story of our relationship's end.

For me, scrapbooking is not only a fun way to look back on memories, but it's another form of journaling. Some pages are overwhelming to create, because they bring up deep emotions. (I've been known to put book projects on hold because I have to wait for my heart to be ready.)

I choose to make our books in a way that captures all of life. Most of our days really are fun to remember. But every now and then, there's a difficult (or ridiculous) story.

* Like the last night we cared for Ryan's mom before she died.

* Like the day I submitted my resignation to WBCL.

* Like the time we had to have our entire yard dug up to replace every stitch of plumbing from our house to the street.

* Like the time I accidentally dyed my hair neon orange a week before a class reunion.

Certainly those stories don't hold equal comparison to one another, but they all represent days that might not be our finest or our favorite. But they represent our story in full. They represent things I don't want us to forget as time passes and memories fade. For as much as I want to erase some of those things, I also want to remember how they made me stronger or braver or more grateful or more aware of my own crazy stories.

So I write the stories, even if it takes me a while to be able to do it. That's my choice. It's okay if it doesn't match yours. But what would your choice be? (You're allowed to answer even if you're not a scrapbooker...)

Going Back

I know that some of you who read here each day don't live in Indiana, and I know different states are in different phases of opening right now, so here's a quick look at where we've landed for the time being. Last Friday, we entered Stage 3 of our state's "Back on Track" plan, which will carry us through June 13.

* We are no longer under any travel restrictions.
* We can have social gatherings of up to 100 people.
* Face masks are recommended.
* Remote work is encouraged.

And with that, today I'll be heading back to full-time work at the church. I've been working from home, but since our church reopened for worship on Sunday, they wanted to reopen the church offices. I have my own office space, so I'll be able to work a good and safe distance away from others, but it's going to be quite an adjustment to being away from home after two months! My shoes and real clothes aren't going to know what hit them.

Because this change effectively ends my quarantine season, I've been feeling pretty reflective on these last eight or so weeks. I've been thinking back over the things I/we did that I'm grateful for and the things I/we didn't do that I wish we would have.

It's always strange to enter a season that you know will mark you forever, but not know how long you'll be in that season. I remember feeling similarly when Ryan's mom was sick. We knew our time with her was limited, but we didn't know how limited. We wanted to make the most of the time, but we didn't know how hard to push, because we didn't know how long our energy needed to last.

I'm pretty sure none of us imagined, when we came home from our respective last days of work, that we would still be this secluded at this point in the year. I know I didn't.

I think if I had known, I would have been much more purposeful from the start about making a firm schedule and sticking to it. I did a lot of resting at the start - partly because my heart was exhausted from the fear of the unknown - and I couldn't pull myself into motion. I worried about Ryan getting sick. I worried about either one of us making someone else sick, even if we didn't show symptoms. I worried about running out of food (and toilet paper). Those things paralyzed me for a while.

Then I started to find my faith footing and pressed forward with trying to live a full life here with Ryan.

* We celebrated three birthdays in quarantine and had so much fun with each of them. The days will be memorable, not because we took masked photos, but because we genuinely had fun at home together, enjoying the things we love.

* We had our first Easter on our own and it was saturated in rest and worship. Easter is always a galloping holiday - galloping from one gathering to the next, and this time it was a reflective day.

* I caught up on almost every single scrapbook project in my queue. I only have one that didn't get finished. I don't know that I've ever gotten and stayed this caught up for this long.

* We knocked out several projects around the house. They weren't major home improvement projects, but they were little time-consuming things that we finally had time to complete.

* We worked out together, because Ryan's gym closed. We ate at home more than ever. Ryan perfected his breakfast skills, he used the grill often, and I tried my hand at new things - like homemade bread.

* We had long conversations - sometimes while we painted, sometimes on neighborhood walks, and sometimes on our sun porch, which was the biggest life saver of all in this season.

* I had time for extra Bible study and prayer, both of which I sorely needed.

Of course there are things I wish I would have done differently. But I am grateful for the things I did well - the things we did well. This season was life-changing for us. It taught us so much about our hearts, our dreams, and our faith. I am so grateful for it. And even though I know it will be nice to see friends again, I'm going to miss this season of slowness.

Vacation Documentation: The Early Years

It should be no surprise to you that I'm a giant advocate of documenting life. I've posted often over the years about my passion for it - through journaling, photos, and scrapbooking.

Today I want to show you one of my early works of documentation and why I love it so.

Back in 1986, in between my second and third grade years of school, my parents planned a huge (for us) family vacation. I don't think it was our first trip since I'd been born, but it was the first regular vacation I remember taking. Mom, Dad, my older sister (Julie) and I packed ourselves in the family station wagon and drove from Indiana all the way out to Washington DC for an extended vacation to see all the parts of the the city.

Julie was living on her own by that point, so it was an extra fun adventure to have her along. My parents bought one of those hard plastic luggage carriers that strapped on top of a vehicle, so we could put all our suitcases on top of the car and have more room inside for...well...us. This was before the days of seatbelt laws, so I rode all the way out and back in the way-back of the station wagon. I made a little bed for myself back there and had the merriest time watching the scenery fly by the window - in between books, of course. My sister had the entire back seat to herself, and my parents rode up front, Dad doing the driving and Mom navigating with the atlas and the AAA maps.

Mom gave me a job for the trip - and I had no idea it would set the tone for my entire life where trips were concerned. I was the official documenter of our vacation. She handed me a notebook and let me keep whatever record I chose.

I giggled all the way through that written record when I read it this past week. My spelling was questionable, but I was only eight, you know. Here's a sample:

"I opened my first preasent." Mom had gotten me some little dollar gifts (before dollar stores were even a thing) and wrapped them up. Every few hours, I could open a new one. Apparently the first one was due at 7:30 (a.m.).

"I went through Cloumbus, Ohio." You've been there, right? And then at 3:25 p.m., we came to West Virgina. Wow. That was awkward.

"We saw trucks come off the Interstate and go to a big parking lot to eat or to stay at a Motel." I'm surprised I didn't count them!!!

Every single day of our trip has a questionably spelled journal entry, complete with reports on times and weather.

 Good old "Mount Vernen" and the "basment" and the "deks" on the boat.

Ahhh that boat. It was a ferry of sorts, and as I stood in line between the ticket counter and the boat itself, my ticket fell into the water. I sobbed. I thought they were going to let my entire family on the boat and make me stay on the dock until they got back. Alas, they took pity on me and let me go:

I love all the pictures Mom took in and around our hotels. It's fascinating to me to see how they have changed in presentation since 1986. This is one reason I always take pictures of every single hotel room we stay in now. I want to compare in 30 more years!

Mom also kept every single receipt from the hotels on this trip, and the prices are fascinating!! The average cost for 4 people to stay in a room throughout this trip was about $50.00.

I also loved all the pictures she took at major places. If Ryan and I ever get to tour Washington D.C. ourselves, it would be so much fun to recreate some of these photos!

My Dad, who was still a high school teacher at that time, was in charge of the senior trip each year. They always went to Washington D.C. for the day, so Dad always had a contact with our congressmen. When we made our plan to visit as a family, Dad reached out to him and he met us for lunch and helped us arrange some tours. We even got an official photo!

The whole scrapbook is filled with ticket stubs, postcards, brochures, menus, and more. It was very thorough, especially for 1986 standards, and I loved looking through it. It brought me so much joy and reminded me that this is why I put so much time and effort into documenting the trips we take. I want to preserve the days - and thankfully I've advanced beyond a record of times and weather reports.

And this is where I got my documentation start!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy Memorial Day weekend to you! Have any of the rest of you forgotten that it's a holiday weekend? I sure have! I think it's partly because there is still one more Sunday in the month of May, so it doesn't feel like it should be Memorial Day yet. And then, of course, there's the whole thing where I have no idea what day it is in general! Our weeks are about to return to a bit more of a normal-looking schedule, so perhaps that will help. Meanwhile, here's a look at our last official quarantine schedule week!

* Last Sunday was our church's last Sunday to have only an online service. We have so enjoyed these last few weeks of slow, truly restful Sundays, and we enjoyed this one just as much! I had to crack up at this picture of Ryan, too. He stretched out on the couch, and I asked if he was going to take a nap. He said no. He wasn't sleepy. ;) We did take a walk that afternoon and the rain that was about five hours out on the radar made a surprise early appearance! (No photos of that.)

* Monday was a productive office day for me, including some writing that led to double-stacked Bibles. Study is getting serious! One of our neighbors was gone for several days while his wife was hospitalized out of town, so that evening, Ryan mowed his yard as well as ours. Meanwhile, I had an evening of Facebook Live and Zoom meetings for the big Fresh Grounded Faith conference coming to our church this fall.

* We had so much hard rain over the weekend that we'd pulled our freshly planted tomatoes back inside so they wouldn't drown. Braeya deemed herself their guard and sat between them every chance she got. When I closed up the sun room to go to work at the church that day, she sat at the window, still watching. I spent some time at the church for staff meeting that day - which included Jimmy Johns for lunch! After a full day of work, Ryan  treated me to a dinner of fabulous grilled chicken!

* I wasn't able to go along, but Ryan spent a little bit of time at my parents' house on Wednesday, beginning a painting project for them. They wanted their living room and hallway repainted. He documented his time well. :) Also on Wednesday? The last of my birthday cake. A sad day, indeed.

* Thursday night I went with Ryan to my parents, and we knocked out the bulk of the painting. It looks so fresh and nice in there! Mom and Dad got carry out from their favorite little local restaurant, and we had dinner with them, too!

* After work on Friday, we went to Lowe's to help Mom and Dad pick out new blinds for their living room, and then we went grocery shopping. My first time in a grocery store in over two months. It was not that crowded, and we found every single thing on our list. That may be a record! We went for a sunset walk when we got home, and then we camped out on our sun porch! The weather was perfect for it!

* Waking up to a beautiful sunrise was so much fun! Ryan had his breakfast on the porch before work, and Braeya tried to help with quality control. She regularly shows up when food is involved! Last night we went back to my parents' house to put their living room back together for them. I thought it turned out so nice!

The Saturday Six

One.

Though I knew he was very ill and this news was likely to appear soon, it was still sad to read of the death of Ravi Zacharias. If you're not familiar with him, he was a well-known preacher and apologist. He'd gone in for back surgery late last year and in the process of that surgery, they found he had cancer. He went through treatment for a time, but they recently stopped it and said there was nothing more they could do. Here is his obituary, which tells the tremendous story of his accomplishments, but more importantly, it tells the tremendous story of his faith.

Two.

Those of you who are local probably saw this, but for any of you who did not, this is a really great interview with a local teacher who survived a nearly-fatal battle with the virus. He is not that much older than we are, and though I think he's generally healthy, he'd had pneumonia right before the virus hit our area, and that compromised him. He was in the hospital for over a month and on a ventilator much of that time. There were two or three days when they said he wouldn't live, but he did, and his story is pretty incredible. It's a half hour interview, but it's worth the time!

Three.

A picnic in a jar. HOW CUTE IS THIS????

Four.

You know I'm a big fan of preserving story - and for recognizing how each part of our life story matters for the parts yet to come. I love the thought behind this bookmark thank-you gift. To think of the people who have been part of our stories and to thank them for it...yes.

Five.

I've posted freezer meal links here before - but I think it often feels more like a fall or winter activity. Here's a list of summery freezer meals - for the slow cooker, grill, and more! Enjoy!

Six.

I haven't tried these recipes, but I confess they intrigue me! Homemade frozen yogurt, with four different flavor options. Have any of you ever tried anything like this?