Updates on Dreams and Goals for January 2024

 

            I loved our January. In many, many ways, this month did not go at all as I had planned or imagined, but that didn’t make it a bad month. We weren’t able to go out and do some of the things we had hoped, thanks to classic Indiana winter weather, but even with those adjustments, we had a lovely month. We were warm and safe in our home, which is a luxury not all enjoy, and I don’t want to lose sight of the blessing it is. We were able to serve in our own church and other places. We hosted friends in our home. We rested, read, napped, talked, worked out, ate good food, and enjoyed time together, which is ultimately our favorite thing, regardless of where we are. We bid this month goodbye, grateful for all we accomplished and the bonus blessings that came along unexpectedly.

            As the month began, I shared with you some of the goals we made, and here are the updates on how they went!

ONE.   Go to the gym twice a week. 

I’m glad I didn’t make this a more ambitious goal than I did! We actually didn’t even get to do this the first week of January. We only had one free night that we could have gone when the gym was open, and it ended up being such a nice weather night that we chose to take Lexi for a walk instead. (We look forward to the days when gym hours and daylight hours are not in the same short timeframe!) But we kept to this goal the remaining weeks, and we have enjoyed getting to work out together. Bless Ryan for taking things at a slower pace than he would have to so he can work with me and make sure I’m doing the exercises correctly! We plan to continue this in February, but we aren’t increasing it yet. For now, this is the most we are able to do, and we respect that limit.

TWO. Prepare for upcoming speaking events.

I prepared for – and delivered – two messages at churches this month. I also worked ahead for the two events I have coming up in the month of February and did some brainstorming for March and April! Much preparation goes into speaking – probably more than most know – and I am adamant about doing that part of it thoroughly. I also took some time to work on new planning pages so I can keep track of notes as I work ahead in months to come. My previous planning methods needed tweaking.

THREE. Host our friends for their annual visit to our home. 

It was so much fun to have Frog and Jenna visit us. I took pictures of them to celebrate their upcoming 20^th anniversary, we had some delicious meals, and we swapped stories! I particularly enjoyed preparing their room for them and cooking fun foods. It was like a mini bed and breakfast experience, but then you already know that, because I wrote about it last week!

FOUR. Pick out my plants for my new little greenhouse. This proved to be more challenging than I anticipated! I thought I could just run to Walmart and buy plants. WRONG! None of the stores around us sell herbs in the produce section, and none of them have any part of their garden centers open right now. I tried a farm store, even, and they only had seeds. The night that Ryan and I went to the winter festival, we drove by a Meijer, so we stopped at that. I was able to find two plants for the greenhouse. The rest were dead. Apparently starting a greenhouse in Indiana in the winter is not common. But at least I got to mark this off the list in part! (Photo to come when I have the whole thing assembled.)

FIVE. Continue my garden planning for this summer. I started fulfilling this goal by attending a webinar from a gardener I follow on Instagram. I’ve done some of her free virtual teachings before and have learned quite a lot from her. This was no exception and helped me think about my garden space differently! I also read this post to learn about wins and losses from a writer who is also continuing to learn the basics of gardening. Sometimes it’s just good to hear someone else’s story and feel the camaraderie across the internet! During a drive to the grocery store, Ryan and I talked about what we liked growing last year, what we could skip next year, and the things we might want to add in for fun!

SIX. Use my capsule wardrobe elements each day.

 This post from the Clothed in Grace blog served as my inspiration as I built my capsule. I wore a different combination every day and had so much being creative! It’s been fun to document it and learn about what is working and what isn’t working. I’ll continue the capsule into February and see how many more combinations I can come up with along the way!

SEVEN. Find a fresh routine for my time with the Lord. 

Kind of on a whim, I decided to try to get up at least a half hour, if not 45 minutes, earlier each day to study my Bible and pray in the mornings. I don’t love mornings and that is still true, but I have really enjoyed the tone this new practice has been setting for my day! I’m reading the passages our Sunday School class has committed to studying each day, and Ryan and I talk about them at night, which I love. I also have been reading a new daily reading book that my parents gave me for Christmas, and I prayed specific prayers for Ryan each day! This has been a worthwhile rhythm change, and I will keep doing it next month.

A few additional things I worked into the month…

·         I wrote and mailed our thank you notes for Christmas gifts, and while I was at it, I updated my address book. How do you all keep track of addresses? I moved mine out of a physical book and into a Word document several years ago. It’s easy for me to update addresses and edit names to keep up with births and deaths. I try, after every Christmas, to update it with the new addresses of those who have moved in that last year!

·         I went through my phone and deleted text messages that were not worth keeping – and added in names of contacts that had just been numbers sitting in the phone. It was a little thing and didn’t take long, but it made me feel MUCH more organized.

·         I also went through my phone and deleted pictures. I am usually pretty good about keeping up with that, but I got behind last year. I still have a handful of other cleanouts to do, but it’s a fine start.

·         We took a meal to a family from our church, and I enjoyed putting that together. It’s been a while since we’ve had the time to do something like that, and it reminded me how much I enjoy it!

·         I started gathering supplies for the wall in our living room I’d like to spruce up with additional pictures. I found a couple of nearly new items at the Goodwill that I think will fit perfectly there, and now I just need to complete the idea!

·         I finished three books, which I also told you about. I don’t have a monthly goal for reading but I do want to be careful to carve out time to read each month. It’s good rest for my brain!

So how about you? How did your January goals go?

Fun Finds from January

 

            This month has been rich in many things, and today I want to tell you about some of the finds I encountered here and there throughout the month. There is no particular rhyme or reason to this list. It’s simply a list of things I want to share in case you want to try something new, too!

            Are you familiar with Keith and Kristyn Getty? For many years, they’ve had a music ministry and are well known as modern hymn writers. If you know the song In Christ Alone, then you know their music! Somewhere along the way, I landed on their mailing list, and as January began, they sent out a list of seven hymns for a new year. Now, if you’re a hymn-lover like I am, I do want you to know that these are not songs you’ll find in hymnals of old. These are their newer songs. But I downloaded the sheet music and listened to the playlist throughout January, and it brought such joy to my heart to hear and begin to learn these new songs. They’re upbeat with a message of truth, and if you’re looking to learn some new worship music with some depth and meat to it – I recommend these songs!

            If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know I’m enamored by this Ultimate World Cruise sailing right now. I follow some Instagram accounts of people on the ship, but this month I found this YouTube channel done by a couple of retirees who now travel the world. Their videos are almost exclusively of the ports they visit, and not as much about life on the ship, and though the videos are edited and well-done, there isn’t anything flashy about their style. But I am thoroughly enjoying my chance to watch along and feel like I’m visiting all these places in the world – for free! Their videos average about 15-25 minutes per video, so you could watch these while you cook or get ready. It’s so fun! BZ Travel is the name of the channel, and though they have lots of videos from their travel to other places, here is the link to the World Cruise playlist specifically. The video from Antarctica is my favorite so far.

            I know a lot of my friends really love using the Bible Recap yearly Bible-reading plan. I have heard such great things about the plan and the commentary that goes along with it. But I saw on Facebook this year a recommendation to follow Kenoe Gibson, a Bible student who does a podcast (audio and video versions available) to read through the Bible in a year. She follows the same reading plan as the Bible Recap, but she also shares her study notes (you can download them) and reads each day’s passage aloud and shares her thoughts and findings. I have not had time to watch her full videos, but I am absolutely downloading her notes each day to have as a resource, and I find her both easy to listen to and teachable. (I have heard her correct things that she felt she misspoke on, and I appreciate that.) So if you’re looking for someone to study with and don’t have a person who has time for it, study along with Kenoe! She has a Facebook group and some other platforms, but here is the link to her YouTube channel. (She did this last year as well, so there’s already a complete set of 365 study videos out there. She’s starting over this year.)

            When Ryan worked in therapy, he used Palmer’s Cocoa Butter when he treated patients with manual therapy. He always smelled like the beach when he came home from work! We have always kept some at home, too, but recently he found that you can also purchase a cocoa butter STICK! It’s like a glue stick (bigger than lip balm), but it’s cocoa butter. He bought some for us, and I’ve actually been using it as lip balm this winter to help with my winter-dry-lips. But you could apply it anywhere you have dry skin. (And I like it better in the stick format because then it doesn’t get all over my hands.) Since the season of winter-skin is upon us for a while, I thought I’d share this!

            Do you like saltines? I don’t. They feel like sick-food for me, because growing up, they were one of the “test the food waters” foods I would eat after being sick. Now if you turn saltines into this toffee cracker recipe, I can get on board with it. But just eating saltines? No thanks. But Ryan loves them, and he recently found these whole grain saltines at Walmart. We always have these in the house now so he can snack on them when he needs something quick in between meals! He likes the flavor better than the regular ones, he says. So even though saltines are not my love, I’m passing this along in case you want to try!

            I do not own this, but I sure think it’s pretty! Earlier this month, while at the gym, I was talking to one of the other girls about how cold it is, and we got on the topics of blankets at our work desks. I ended up pulling out my electric throw blanket that Ryan’s mom gave me for Christmas one of the first years we were married. (I LOVE THAT THING!) But I stumbled on this regular fleece/sherpa throw blanket when visiting a blog this month, and I think it looks so cozy. Sometimes good, thick warm blankets can be awfully pricey, and this one seems like a good value for its thickness and warmth. So if you’re looking for something to keep you warm in the remainder of winter, check it out. Even comes in different sizes! Meanwhile, I’ll be under my beautiful electric blanket.

            This past weekend, Ryan and I went to the Meltdown Winter Ice Festival in Richmond, and I can’t wait to tell you more about the fun we had (and the ridiculousness of the weather). I had mentioned a few posts ago that we hadn’t really explored festivals since moving to this area, and after I wrote about that, I made a point to find one! I thought I remembered finding a website that showed all the festivals in the state, and I found it again! (Even if you don’t live in Indiana, this site has links to similar sites in other states.) Check it out! You never know when you might find something new to try!

Bekah's Bookshelf: My 2024 Reads So Far

 

            You might remember that in 2023, I started a reading challenge I found online. The challenge was 52 books long, obviously averaging a book a week. By the end of the year, I’d read 21 books, which is nowhere near the challenge goal, but it was about 20 books more than I managed to read the year before, so I was proud of the accomplishment. (Take into consideration that I learned two separate new jobs, packed up a house, moved, and unpacked in another house throughout that year, so I am really proud of what I accomplished in the world of reading.)

            My first book completed in 2024 is part of that unfinished challenge, and I did actually start reading it in 2023, but I didn’t get it done before the end of the year. It filled the category “A Book that Makes You Happy,” and I feel like it’s a lot to ask of a book before you read it. What if it doesn’t make you happy? I chose I’ll Be There For You: The One About Friends by Kelsey Miller for this category.

            I am a behind-the-scenes information junkie. I love reading books and posts and even trivia tidbits that pull back the curtain about all kinds of things in life. Reading behind the scenes of a television show sounded fascinating to me, so I put this book on my wish list.

            Years ago – back in high school, even – I read a similar book about I Love Lucy, and what I learned from that book was that if you’re going to read behind the scenes, you have to be willing for some of the mystery and magic of your subject to disappear. In the case of the I Love Lucy book, I learned that the four main cast members were nowhere near as good of friends in real life as they were on the show. That was disappointing to learn and did shape how I watched the show going forward. It didn’t ruin it for me. But it distorted it.

            I’ve read enough articles about Friends that the book didn’t ruin anything or even surprise me in a really big way, but I did learn new bits and pieces throughout the book. For example, I learned how audience-driven this show was. I knew they filmed in front of a live audience, but I didn’t know that in a handful of circumstances, a poor reaction to a scene or storyline actually sent the writers back to the table to start over, and then they stayed to reshoot the scenes, sometimes filming until 1 a.m. The producers wanted happy viewers – and if it meant rewriting, they would do it. I did not know that.

            The book was, admittedly, more intense than I was expecting. I figured a book about a sitcom would be as fun and easygoing as the show itself. But the book was intense and dove into deep issues about the topics they covered, the relationships of the actors, and the culture of entertainment through the decade the show aired. Because of that, it wasn’t as carefree and easy of a read as I expected, but I still enjoyed it. (Except the last chapter, that is. It covered post-show life, and I didn’t connect with it at all.)

            I think my favorite part of the book came in the footnotes sprinkled throughout, providing extra trivia that was just fun to read. The footnotes were more representative of what I expected in the book overall.

            I think I’ll pass this one along to a friend who is a big fan of the show rather than keeping it for my permanent library, but I enjoyed the fun and new bits of information I learned along the way. If I redid my reading challenge, I might not list this one in the category of a book that makes me happy (because it wasn’t as carefree as I expected) but I am glad I read it!

***

            Though I want to continue chipping away at that reading challenge from last year, I also want to read some books I have here in the house awaiting my attention. In particular, I’d love to make my way through (back through, in some cases) some series I own.

            I decided to start by reading all The Chronicles of Narnia. Years ago, when I was in elementary school, an IWU college student who taught midweek Bible club classes at our church, read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to our class. As I look back now, I see that she didn’t have enough curriculum to fill the time when church ran over, as it almost always did. I don’t think she knew what to do with us, so she brought the book and would read it, one chapter at a time. I loved it, and my parents bought me the whole series. I was so happy to have it, but I never finished it. How embarrassing is that? I think I read maybe the first two books, but nothing more. And I read those so many years ago that I barely remember them.

            I pulled the series off the shelf and put it in our little coffee table vignette in the living room, and this month I ran right through the first book.

            Anymore, this kind of literature is not what I’m naturally drawn to, but I found myself as captivated by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as I was the first time I heard it in church. This time I was able to make the connections between the fantasy/fiction world of Narnia and the corresponding threads of Scripture, and that made it all the more beautiful to me as I read. When I heard it as a child, it was simply a fascinating story. I wasn’t mature enough for connections back then.

            Since this is such a familiar book to so many, I won’t recap it in the way I normally do, but I will say that if you haven’t read this book in many years, give it another read. If you’ve never read it, try it. You just might find yourself captivated and grateful for the TRUE account in the Bible. C.S. Lewis has a (rightful) reputation for deep and profound thoughts, and while there certainly are profound statements woven throughout this book, it really was written for children, so you’ll be able to understand it!

            I’ll be diving into the second book – Prince Caspian – next!

NOTE: I shared on Instagram that I had read this book and one of my friends said that he recently read the series in its chronological order rather than its written order. He prefers the written order. That is the order I’m reading for this round. But I do believe if you purchase the whole series today, it is renumbered, so books one and two are not the same as these two I’ve mentioned.

**

            The last book I finished this month is really an ongoing book for me. It’s called Vantage Point by Brenda Jank, and it is a very short read, but it requires time and thought, so I’ve been working on it since December. The book is created workbook-style with wide margins for notes and journaling. It can be done independently or as part of a group study. I would love to do it as a study sometime, but for this read, I did it on my own.

            Brenda lives here in Indiana and is the founder of an organization called Run Hard, Rest Well. I have shared some of her blog posts on Saturdays, and I really appreciate her desire to teach people to rest intentionally so they can fulfill the work they are called to do. Rest is a topic that has become dear to my own heart over the years. I resisted it for far too long, and now I champion it.

            Rest can be viewed as laziness, but when done properly, it’s not lazy at all. It’s restorative. It’s necessary. It’s ordained by God.

            I loved Brenda’s book, and even though rest is something I feel I engage in well (regularly), I still found myself challenged to do a better job of it. It has pushed me to reevaluate the rhythms of my own life right now and is shaping how I frame the future.

            Ryan and I know what it means to be burned out, and we have seen the toll it has taken on us. It has affected us in different ways. It probably hit me harder than it did him, but it took us both out more than we realized in the moment. Learning how to rest according to God’s design has been (truly!) life-changing for me!

            When I finished reading, I felt that gentle nudge from God, urging me not to put it on the library shelf, but to keep it at hand and to slowly walk through it again, learning more from a second read. I’m all too happy to do so.

Sunday Sentiments: Preparing a Place

 

            Earlier this week, I watched the most beautiful little Beth Moore video. This wasn’t one of her professionally taped teaching sessions. This was just Beth capturing a live video at 6:30 in the morning in her house. You never even saw her on the video. She just told a story about the tea corner in her house, but it made such a profound impact on me. Let me tell you about it.

            She was up early, awaiting the arrival of her firstborn daughter, who was on a plane at that very moment, headed her way. In preparation for Amanda’s arrival, Beth had gotten out the tea kettle, several kinds of tea, honey, sugar, and all the little cups that make tea time grand. She had a fire in the fireplace and blankets beside the big cozy chair. She told the story of the little blue dish that held the teabags – a gift from a former pastor’s wife who loved that little dish, but she loved Beth more, so she gave it to her.

            As she talked, Beth made the analogy (while acknowledging that in the big picture, it falls short) of how Jesus has promised to prepare a place for us and that He must prepare for us with the same excitement and tenderness that Beth prepared for Amanda.

            It caught my attention especially because I had just prepared our home for Frog and Jenna to visit. I knew how much I had loved setting up their room, writing their names on my message board, pulling out the cameras to do their requested photo shoot, and cooking all the extra special dishes we would not ordinarily have had, but we wanted to make everything sweet for them.

            I thought about how I kept checking my phone to see progress reports on their journey and how excited I was to know their car had pulled safely in the drive. (And my excitement was nothing compared to Lexi’s mind-and-ear-blowing full body joy at seeing them.)

            Maybe you are better at this than I am, but sometimes I forget just how overjoyed Jesus is to prepare that  place for me, and how much tender care He puts into it.

            That little video from Beth Moore’s kitchen and living room reminded me of the sweet love of my Jesus for me, and He loves you that much, too. Maybe you need that reminder today?

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

            Good foggy morning, friends! This week has been the fullest moon of all full moon weeks, and I am grateful to see a weekend arrive. If that's true for you, too, I hope you find something here to let your mind relax a little! Happy weekend!

ONE. 

I know that many of you who read here each day are people of prayer…but are you praying regularly for your church? I happened upon this convicting article this week about the power of praying for your church regularly. Ryan and I have had the privilege of being part of some really wonderful churches throughout our marriage, and we are so thankful for the one we are part of now! We are also grateful for the church we’re helping to serve throughout this year. What if we all made a point of praying often for our churches?

TWO. 

My friend Julie shared this word of encouragement with me this week, and now I want to share it with you! These words were penned by the talented Tsh Oxenreider. If you are going through something difficult right now, would you read this? Be encouraged that God can use the hard things to shape you for HIS glory – if you’ll let Him!

THREE. 

Valentine’s Day is less than a month away now, and I know it can be a polarizing holiday. I hated it for so many years, since it merely reminded me of my longing for the husband I did not have. But I had good friends who sustained me in those hard years, including our friends who just came to visit (and ended up getting married ON Valentine’s Day). If you are someone who embraces the joy of Valentines Day, check out these ideas. (I love the one about the one-word conversation starters!) And if you’re a person who endures the day until it passes, check out these ideas for hanging out with friends. I did a handful of these before Ryan and I were married, and they are indeed fun! Fondue night was one of my favorites.  BONUS: If you have kids, here are some creative ideas for celebrating together as a family.

FOUR. 

Writing about winter’s snow and ice this week made me think back to the year (early on in our marriage) when Ryan and I took a week of staycation in the winter. We needed a life break, but it was so cold that year, so we just stayed home and had all kinds of fun. We had an IHOP date, went to a concert, had a movie marathon, camped out on the living room floor, and thoroughly enjoyed a mix of fun and down-time. It’s a fabulous idea for the freezing months. Here are some ideas of how to spend a winter staycation, if you need to brainstorm. (We should do this again sometime!) BONUS: And if staying home is just most definitely not your style, here’s a whole list of places to go in the winter (that are snow-covered) and what you might want to do while you’re there. Despite my love of warm-weather travel, I confess several of these are very tempting.

FIVE: 

I went down a rabbit hole of looking at favorite toys from different decades. I found it interesting from this list of popular toys in the 1960s that some of these are popular again today – and some NEVER lost popularity – like the Etch-a-Sketch. I played with that when I was a kiddo. Any of you 60s kids remember these toys? And for you 70s kids, here’s a different list. The Nerf balls and Magna-Doodles were still a thing when I was little! This is the 80s list. I was a girl who loved the Cabbage Patch dolls and the Pound Puppies! Though I wasn’t little in the 90s, I babysat, and I remember some of these toys, including Beanie Babies! BONUS: And lest any of you from the 50s feel left out, I found a list for you, too!

SIX. 

Our Valentine’s Day décor is pretty minimal. I have a little tub of items that I add in to what I already have for winter. I try to go easy on the pink, too, out of respect for Ryan. He never complains, but I’m sure an overly glittery pink house isn’t exactly what he’s hoping for. I found this post with some great ideas for non-trendy, non-expensive Valentine décor, and it has inspired me for my home additions here in a few days. (I usually wait until around the first of February to add in the Valentines.)

BONUS:

Here are my capsule wardrobe outfits from this week. I think even Ryan is starting to have fun watching these come together every day. Major props to him for serving as my photographer daily!

Saturday, January 20, 2024:

Sunday, January 21, 2024:

Monday, January 22, 2024:
            

Tuesday, January 23, 2024:

Wednesday, January 24, 2024:

Thursday, January 25, 2024:

Friday, January 26, 2024:

(I was tired and d.o.n.e. with the week for that last picture. It shows. Not my best arrangement of a cardigan...so sorry! I should have worked a little harder on that one.) 

Flashback Friday - Writing Your Story One Week at a Time

 

I’ve had fun reminiscing about life as I share these write your story prompts with you each week. Don’t forget how important it is to make some sort of notes about these stories in your life, because if you don’t, the generations that come behind you will be missing personal family history notes that are so fascinating! I know I wish I would have asked my grandparents about the question I’m posing today. I would have loved hearing the answer!

            Today’s prompt is to write about your favorite toy(s) or game(s) from your childhood.

·         What toys or games did you play with most often, and what was it about them that made those items your go-to choice?

·         Did you play alone or with siblings? Friends?

·         Was there some toy you JUST had to have and you finally got it? What was that like?

·         Was there a toy you always wanted and never got?

·         Were your toys new or hand-me-downs from older siblings or cousins?

·         Do you still have these toys? Did you keep them for your children and grandchildren?

I had many beloved toys as a child, but the one that popped into my mind first? Barbies. Most of my Barbies had belonged to my older sisters, and they became mine by default when I was old enough to play with them. I remember one in particular that had short, bobbed hair and a much more realistic figure than most Barbies. I don’t know if she was a different brand or if Barbies changed from back in the day, but that one always fascinated me because it was so different.

My mom had also made clothing for my sisters’ Barbies, so I had a whole doll-closet full of one-of-a-kind clothing. (I have a much greater appreciation for that now that I realize how intricate that work would have been! I can’t sew. It’s impressive when people can!

When I was little, my parents had a black leather couch in the basement that had a full-length ottoman. I’ve never seen anything like it since. The ottoman was crafted like a bench – fully open underneath its top. In the summertime, when it was so hot outside, I would set up my Barbie compound in the basement, turning that ottoman into a giant house. The first floor of the house was the floor of the basement, and the second floor was the top of the ottoman. As I began to collect accessories, I would set them up around the “house” and spend hours creating stories for them and making those stories come to life.

I did have the hot pink car and a couple of full furniture sets. I had the Barbie 6:00 news set, which was pretty cool, and I had the pool set. The pool was a little sad because the sides always collapsed in and wouldn’t hold over about an inch of water.

Source

Source

Source

Though they were not in the Barbie family, I did have the Heart Family – Mom, Dad, and twins. Did any of you have those? When Mom gave me all my old toys, I think the Heart Family was the only nod to my Barbie love that I kept.

Source

I know the whole Barbie world can be controversial, but I will say that I spent hundreds of hours lost in imaginative play with those dolls, so they were good investments in our family.

How about you? Favorite toy?

Snow and Ice...Kind of Nice??

 

            January has brought us a taste of winter in earnest, and I have mostly been grateful that the challenging day haven’t fallen on days I’ve had to travel for work! Oh, how I do not miss those harrowing commutes I used to make back in the radio days!

            We haven’t had too much snow (yet, anyway) but we’ve had enough that the scenes have been just lovely out the window. Even when the lake is covered in snow, it’s still absolutely beautiful, day and night. I find myself eager for the day to brighten quickly in the mornings so I can see how pretty that view is, in all its frigid glory. And even though the evenings are hanging on a bit longer, the darkness falls over the view all too soon for me.

            For a few days, the lake was frozen thick, and we even saw someone ice fishing across the way one day. Ryan and Lexi have been brave enough to walk out on the lake – and our friends who stayed last week went out on the ice for some of the pictures.

            I’ve stayed on solid ground. Call me a chicken if you want. I really don’t mind.

            Ryan has suited up in his snow gear to shovel snow a few times. Lexi never knows what to think of him when he’s all hidden beneath everything. She recognizes his voice but can’t figure out why she can’t see him. It’s pretty cute to watch.

            He took her sledding last week, and they were so adorable out there, tearing down the hill. She wouldn’t sit in his lap and ride, but she was most eager to run beside him and bury her face in the snow. The Bernese in her LOVES snow and if we’d let her, she would stay out in it all day. (She doesn’t understand that eventually it would just be far too cold for her little paws.) She stayed as long as she could stand it after the sledding, and then she let Ryan carry her home.

            I’m sure we’re not done with snow, even if I’m done with snow. 😊 But it sure has been pretty to see, especially on the sunny days!

Bed and Breakfast Dreams

 

Not long after Ryan’s mom passed away, we explored the idea of embarking upon a career as innkeepers at a bed and breakfast. Assistant innkeepers, actually. I found a listing for a newer, multi-room cabin in Tennessee, near Gatlinburg, that was looking for live-in assistant innkeepers to help with tasks around the property and some of the cooking in the kitchen. Everything about it seemed a perfect fit for us, and we inquired. Alas, they had just hired someone, but they invited us to submit our resume in case the one they hired didn’t end up being a fit. We didn’t feel right about that, so we never applied, and about a year later we ended up with a different kind of B&B job: managing WillowBridge. (Other than cooking and cleaning, there wasn’t much about those two that were the same.)

            But the idea of running a B&B has always lingered in the back of my mind. It will probably never be a reality for us. If we end up doing it, we’ll have to be willing to give up our own travel plans, because obviously we can’t travel the country and host people in our home at the same time. Isn’t it a good life when you have too many good dreams? What a gift!

            So even though we are unlikely to become innkeepers, we do have the privilege of welcoming friends into our home, and last week was such a week.

            I’ve written about Frog and Jenna before, because they stay with us every winter when they head to a marriage retreat in Ohio. We are a midway point for them, so they stop for a night on their way to and from the retreat, and we have a good time catching up, eating good food, and learning what they learned at the conference!

            This year we threw in an extra bit of fun: a photo shoot!

            Next month – Valentine’s Day, to be exact – marks their 20^th wedding anniversary. I was at their wedding, in my pre-Ryan days. Here is a photo of the three of us on that day, actually!

            Jenna asked if I would be willing to do a photo shoot for them. She brought her wedding dress and bouquet and Frog brought a suit similar to his tux from his wedding day, and they braved the FREEZING temps to pose on snow and ice for new wedding pictures. Jenna has only shared one of them on social media, so I will share the same one, but here is a picture Ryan took of me, all bundled up, photographing them. Poor Jenna was on the other side of my camera lens in a strapless dress. Such a trooper.

            We had to work quickly, because it gets dark here around 6 p.m. right now. So the moment they arrived, they threw on the wedding garb and we rushed out for pictures. Then we had time to eat dinner.

            Sometimes we take them out to eat, but we stayed in this year. That first night, Ryan grilled burgers and we made tater tots in the air fryer. I sauteed some mushrooms and brought out all the toppings I could think of for extra gourmet burgers, and we had homemade hamburger buns, too! I made cinnamon cookie bars with cream cheese frosting for dessert, and it was a good night.

            We transformed our overflow office into a guest room for the night, and I thought it turned out pretty cozy!

            When they came back the second time, we had pulled pork for dinner, and Ryan got to use the shredding claws I gave him for our anniversary. Game changer on shredding meat, by the way! We had homemade macaroni and cheese, steamed broccoli, and Oreo Milkshake Cookies for dessert.

            After dinner, we settled in on the couch to watch the playoffs and we all laughed at how we worked on our laptops while we watched. (Picture fun for Jenna and me. I’m not sure what the guys were working on.)

            They left Sunday morning when we left for church, and we will look forward to their stay again next year! Always good to have them here in our little mini B&B. It may not have mountain views, but even a frozen and snow-covered lake isn’t too shabby!

Oh! And Jenna gifted us some of her gorgeous homemade hot cocoa bombs and salted caramels. She's amazing.