Wanna Play a Game?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a bunch of our reception pictures on Facebook, and my friend Jenna had a blast going through all the "crazy Bekah face" pictures and captioning them with what she thought I might be saying in them. I cracked up. She was so funny!!

I was going to tell you what she said so you could laugh too...but then I thought...nah...let them have a chance too!! So...below here you'll find the pictures, and I've numbered them. Wanna play? Tell me what you think I'm saying in these. Seriously - I need a good laugh today! {And chances are, you do too!!}

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 I actually do know what I was saying in this one so I can tell you if you're right! :)


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Hit me! Give me your best Bekah captions! :)

Just Some Random Quality Time

Last week was a good week...but there were a lot of hard moments in it too, for Ryan and me individually. Too many days, we came home from work utterly depleted in heart and mind...and on those days, I was particularly grateful that we enjoy leaning on one another after a hard day. There were so many days in my life I came home drained and sat staring at a TV for the rest of the night...feeling sorry for myself. I'm thankful for Ryan's presence on those days now. I'm also thankful that even if we're BOTH drained, we can still be a support to each other and find joy together.

So all that said, here are some moments from Easter weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) where we got to enjoy time spent together.

Thursday evening, we went to the hot dog stand for the first time this season. Ahhh, windows down, root beer in hand, listening to BLT...it was a good little unexpected dinner date. 

 Corn dogs for everyone! Celebrating national food on a stick day.

 And on the way home, he surprised me with a Starbucks treat!!

 After we got home, Ryan pulled our new hammock out of the box and assembled it in our dining room. We love love love our hammock! So comfy. So looking forward to weather being warm enough to take it outside!

 Friday night was date night. Ryan had to work all day, and I worked from home, so I spent extra time getting ready before he came home. I chose my new shirt he picked for me when we went Easter dress shopping. He loved it!

 We went to Ivanhoe's for dinner and to enjoy the inaugural strawberry shortcake of the year. Can you tell I was one happy girl to have this back on the menu??

 Ryan's first shortcake from there - ever. He loved it! {And for the record, we shared one. We didn't eat dinner AND both pig out on a shortcake!}

 Saturday was SO BEAUTIFUL so after we got home from work and errands, we went on a walk down on the IWU campus. It was lovely to be out in just our hoodies. No hats, and coats and gloves and...and...

 And then we grilled! Ryan is a good cook no matter where he's cooking, but he is REALLY good at grilling. He made us pork chops and veggies and they were so good.

 And that night...I made a little Pinterest inspired cheeseball for the family get together. :) It turned out really yummy!!

Ryan, thank you so much for living this life with me. Even on the hard days, my life is beautiful because I know I get to come home and spend time with you. You bring me so much joy! I love you.

A Peek into Our First Easter

Before I launch into today's blog post, I must pause to wish my husband a happy four month anniversary! I love you so much, Ryan, and you have made every day these past four months just an absolute joy! Thank you for loving me and spending each day investing in us!

Okay, blog post. I know, I know. You came here yesterday to see the Easter dress...and I was busy memorizing verses! But never fear...I shall not ask you to wait any longer! I'll jump right in with the official Easter photos and then let you peek into the rest of the day, too!

Well...y'all voted on the dress, and when I went to the store, they had ZERO of the options on the rack. So I went to Kohl's, and this was what we came up with after quite a bit of time of searching through the store. BLUE!!!

 With, I might add, clearance silver sandals. :)

And doesn't that husband of mine look awfully handsome himself?

He loves blue, and I love wearing my wedding jewelry, so this was the best choice for Easter 2013!

We got up early on Easter morning and got all ready {I banned him from seeing me until I was fully assembled} and then we exchanged Easter baskets. I had SO MUCH FUN putting together his basket and spoiling him with things he loves.

I also hid some chocolate filled football eggs around for him to find throughout the day. That was fun, too! :)

And he gave me an Easter basket, which I LOVED. Loved it so much. Got the cutest little beach cover up as part of my present. I can't wait to wear it!

We went to church {as always} - and after church, we headed to Ryan's side of the family for Easter lunch. There was SO. MUCH. FOOD. Oh it was good. I had little samplings of everything and was stuffed by the end of the day. But it was so good. And his family is so good to me. I was still meeting some for the first time but they were much fun!

Here's how we look when we're really full. I sort of glaze over.

After lunch, the grown-ups had an Easter egg hunt for the two kiddos in attendance. I was amused by the adults chasing around after the kids...with their cameras...

I was unaware of the pending hunt and obviously soft ground and those silver heels were not a good combo. So Ryan's aunt was nice enough to loan me some Crocs. Shoot - shoulda worn those all day! They were so comfy!

After the kids hunted...it was the adults' turn! This was a hard core Easter egg hunt. People on a dead run all throughout the yard. I found 7 eggs and felt that was a great accomplishment. {There were 91 in the whole yard.} When I gave up knowing the good hiding places, I just switched into photographer mode, with my favorite subject, of course:

After the day of celebrating, we went home and tried to sneak in a tiny bit of rest. We also watched the last installment of The Bible on TV and also watched the Marion Easter Pageant, because for me, it's not Easter until I've seen it!

SSMT: Verse 7

I remember the day I had my interview at WBCL. I remember driving through the unfamiliar streets of Fort Wayne, one eye on my newly acquired GPS, Calvin, one hand gripping a Starbucks frappuccino and the other hand gripping the phone. {I'm known to drive with my knees when I run out of hands.} Sunglasses in place, black ruffly dress and red peep toe shoes {and I don't even like peep toe shoes}...I felt like such a grown up. And somewhere, in the deep recesses of my heart, I had a feeling life was about to change.

And change, it did. And change it has...daily, it seems, since that first day of feeling all grown up in my red heels and black ruffly dress.

It has changed in ways I never imagined...and not changed in ways I thought it would.

I sat in church yesterday staring at my newly-cleaned-and-sparkling wedding ring and thought back to last Easter, which felt very hopeless at times. I never dreamed this Easter I'd be going to lunch with my husband's family.

Before we went to church yesterday morning, I sat in bed, journaling and reading my Bible...reading about the resurrection from the book of Matthew. And I found this verse:

...he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.

~ Matthew 28:7

Those words leapt to me. He is going before you. Regardless of the changes before me...and they are many...and they are largely unknown...He is going before me. He will go. I will see Him.

There is so much comfort in knowing He goes ahead. He went ahead that day in Fort Wayne. He prepared a job...and a whole new life for a girl like me. 

And He will go ahead now - into the mystery ahead - and I will see Him.

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, we were hit with a spring snowstorm, despite my insistent denial that it was not coming. I was supposed to go to a bridal shower that day but was worried the snow would fall hard and fast {like it did that morning while we were at church} while I was gone, so I stayed home and rested instead. I really needed that rest, though. It had been a crazy weekend! That evening, Ryan and I watched a movie and worked on putting our house back together {still}.

 * Monday...the snow accumulated to 10 1/2 inches, rendering me homebound for the day. Ryan took the 4 wheel drive vehicle and braved his way to work...said he never would have made it in my car. You KNOW that means I never would have made it! I worked from home - even called in my portion of the Kitchen Caboodle show. And because I was feeling like an extra good wife...I made peanut butter cookies to surprise Ryan when he got home!

* Tuesday afternoon I had to go to the clinic to get some meds...nothing major wrong with me, but major enough that I had to pay the good doctor a visit. Those of you who know how MUCH I loathe going to the doctor better have been sitting down to read that news!!  :) I went to pick up my prescription that night and they ended up only giving me half of it...but I didn't know that until I got home!! I almost cried when I realized I had to go back. All I wanted was bed!

* Wednesday I felt MUCH better. SO much better. Amazing what a little medicine can do! That night, Ryan and I resumed work on our house - which is still in a state of, well, being a mess. :) He unearthed my first ever Mid-Morning interview...like back when I was a guest on the Author! Author! show. We listened to that together...so funny! And we ran to the store that night and saw this gorgeous moon on the way home. Picture doesn't do a thing for it.

* Thursday, Ryan and I both had particularly lousy days, so we decided to try to shake off the yuck by having a fun impromptu date evening. His mom told us it was National Food on a Stick Day, so we celebrated that and the apparent arrival of spring by visiting our hot dog stand for corn dogs! :)

Then we came home and Ryan worked to put together our new hammock. In the dining room. Do you not have a hammock in your dining room?

* Friday was Good Friday, so I worked from home in the morning and enjoyed the afternoon off. That night, when Ryan got home from work, we went on our weekly date - to Ivanhoe's in Upland for the inaugural strawberry shortcake of the season! It was Ryan's first ever shortcake from there! He loved it!! Then we came home and watched a movie. Perfect low key night!

* Saturday, Ryan had to work in the morning, so I used that time to run all kinds of errands, and then we went to get me a new phone! {Mine died a tragic death at the hand of some bad advice on how to fix it...advice given to us BY the cell phone store, mind you.} Then when we came home...Ryan broke out the grill for the first grilling of the spring!! OH my goodness - it was SO GOOD!

And yes. We do more than eat. :)

A Pinteresting March

Easter Printable
 

Source: antsi-pants.blogspot.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Since Easter fell in March this year, I didn't worry about finding a "March" printable for our living room, but I went with the Easter theme instead. The colors worked so well with our living room and I loved, loved, loved the Christian theme behind it!

Coffee Bar Signs
 

Source: stylemepretty.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

This pin gave me the inspiration to have little signs for everything on our coffee and ice cream bars at our reception. I loved the decorative factor! I asked my friend Angi to make cutouts for me on her Cricut, and then I wrote the details on them at the reception!

Coffee Bar Flavorings
 

Source: beautyandbedlam.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

This pin gave me the idea to have different flavoring bottles and whipped cream as part of our coffee bar at the reception. We ended up having hazelnut, caramel, and vanilla flavorings for people to add to their coffee concoction!

Hot Chocolate on the Coffee Bar
 

Source: blog.hwtm.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I've HEARD...there are people who don't like coffee???? :) So this pin inspired me to add hot chocolate to the coffee bar for those who prefer that. And there may have been some who preferred a little of both! And that's okay too!

Ice Cream Toppings
 

Source: creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I needed some inspiration for how to display the toppings for the ice cream bar...and this did the trick! I borrowed a bunch of small bowls from a lady we interviewed on Mid-Morning last year and had a blast putting together the topping combos!

Blog Planning Pages
 

Source: meandmarielearning.blogspot.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I'm finding there is no perfect prefab day planner, so I tried my hand at combining my own pieces. Found this free printable to plan blogs. Obviously I'm very constant in blogging (doing it daily) but this will help me be more planned in it. {I've found that since getting married, it's hard to find chunks of time to sit and blog without taking time away from Ryan. He's so understanding about my blog and doesn't mind when I need to take some time to do it - but I still think this will help.}

Meal Planning Pages
 

Source: eatathomecooks.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Also in my new binder, I wanted something to help us plan meals, as that has been a challenge since we got married. This helps me keep track of who might be eating out which meal of which day {thus showing who actually needs food from home} and gives me an idea of what's on the menu at home each week. I love the shopping list on the side, and the fact that I can just pull this page out of the day planner and take it into the store with me!

Daily Planner Page
 

Source: thehouseholdplanner.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I wanted to try a daily planner page to see if that would help me NOT forget things throughout the day. I love the customized daily planner page from this link - gives me a chance to see my meal plan at a glance, financial tasks, household tasks, personal tasks, work projects, phone calls and emails that need to be made and a morning/afternoon/evening plan - with room leftover for notes!! :)

Weekly Planner Page

Source: alovelyarray.blogspot.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I wanted a weekly planner page to sort of see everything at a glance - for Ryan, for me, for both of us - and this lets me do that! I love its boldness and the two big boxes on the right for notes!! I color coded this in red, blue, and black to see what is mine, his, and ours as far as appointments go.

Monthly Planner Page
 

Source: thetomkatstudio.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I always want a monthly planner page to keep track of what's what at a month-glance. I found this very cute and colorful monthly planner, so I printed it for my binder too!

Mason Jar Picture Frames
 

Source: stylemepretty.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I loosely used this idea for our reception. I saw pins that said to use water and some said to use olive oil. I didn't want to mess with laminating or ruining pictures - or buying lids for borrowed jars, for that matter - so I just put sand in the bottom of the jars to secure the photos {and create a beach look} and put two pictures back to back inside. The jars became frames and we put them down the center of the tables at our reception! Here is an example of ours:

St. Patty's Day Love Notes
 

Source: thedatingdivas.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Y'all, I love the Dating Divas website. Lynne and I interviewed a couple of the divas a while back on Mid-Morning and I love what they stand for. They have a passion to keep romance in marriage, and they make it easy by offering great ideas...and this is one of them. Six love notes - free to print. While I'm not really a St. Patrick's day girl {I wear green to avoid getting pinched and that's about it} I figured any excuse to spoil Ryan was worth it! So I took the 30 seconds to print this sheet and cut them apart - and then I hid them around here and there...in his bathroom, his car, etc. Fun way to remind him I love him!

More St. Patty's Day Love
 

Source: thedatingdivas.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Another quick thing I did for Ryan on St. Patty's day - printed out this free printable that gave me 10 blanks to list reasons why I love him. NOT HARD to figure out! I filled it in, hid it in his Bible, and loved seeing his face as he read the things I love!

Another Easter Printable
 

Source: incourage.me via Rebekah on Pinterest

Although I had the other printable up in the living room the whole month, I found this one online and wanted to use it on Easter weekend. Love the words and the layout of it.

Vacation Planning Pages
 

Source: 174.120.80.130 via Rebekah on Pinterest

I wanted to find some pages to help me for future vacation planning prep, so I found these! The only thing I don't like about them is that they're personalized to the family of the lady who made them! But I can scratch those names out and use ours instead. I like it that the planner has a way to keep track of hotel and flight reservations, confirmations for activities, notes, packing lists, and checklists.

The Day His Best Friend Died

Today is Good Friday, and I want to post something I wrote back in 2005....because I ran across it this week and the memory of it touched me. This was written after the church I attended showed the video presentation of the Gospel of John over a series of Sunday evenings. The production pulled only what the book of John says. All the dialogue and narration came straight from John. And you know – not every event is told the same way or in its entirety in each of the four gospels. Until watching the video, I’d never paid much attention to what any particular gospel did or did not say. And I’d never realized how much of my Bible knowledge is comprised of a mix of all four books. 

After we finished watching the crucifixion scene, a woman in the church piped up loudly, "Well THAT'S not how the crucifixion happened!" Her comment offended me...I wanted to ask if she was there...but I bit my lip. But as many offensive comments tend to do...I started thinking and digging through John to see for myself. And it is true that John tells the story with much less detail than the other gospel writers put in. 

It’s no secret that John and Jesus were close. Throughout the book, John refers to himself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” Anytime in any of the gospels, when you see Jesus taking what we have come to call “the inner circle,” on a little field trip apart from the rest of the disciples, John was in that group. John was the only disciple (I learned Sunday night in the discussion) who didn’t die some sort of horrific death. So I guess you could say that John and Jesus were best friends of sorts.

And on this day, John’s Best Friend died. I’ve lost a lot of people in my life who are dear to me. I’ve not lost my best friend – and I hope I never do. I hope I go first. Because I can’t imagine that pain. To lose from my life someone who has known me and loved me despite my quirks and flaws – I don’t want to know that kind of a void in my life.

But I do remember when my nephew died. That was the first time I lost someone close to my heart. I remember a lot of things about his death – from hearing others talk about it, from pictures, from journaling. But you know what I remember by heart? I remember that I couldn’t start crying when I heard that he was gone – and then I couldn’t stop. I remember that when I saw the nurse carrying his little body into my sister’s hospital room, she carried him like a football and I thought that was uncaring. I remember that he was heavy when I held him – and babies aren’t supposed to be heavy. I remember that he looked like a doll in his casket and some people thought he was a doll. I remember singing “Near to the Heart of God” in the funeral service. I remember the funeral director telling me to leave my mom alone at the cemetery because she was praying and I was trying to talk to her. That’s all I remember. The rest that I only know because others told me. I only remember what mattered to me on those days.

And I would imagine the same was true of John as he wrote of his Best Friend’s death. Why would he notice that Jesus restored the ear of Malchus after Peter sliced it off in a moment of impulse Jesus-defense? All he heard were Jesus’ words to Peter – “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” And in that moment, John knew this really was the end. His Friend was going to die.

Why would he retain that Simon of Cyrene was recruited to help Jesus carry the cross? All he could see was that his Best Friend, exhausted and beaten, had to carry his own cross for a bit – and that’s all he could replay in his mind.

And right before Jesus died, He said these words that only John records: “When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’” With that exchange, John took quite seriously his role as the caretaker of his Best Friend’s mother. And only he could understand what a treasure and responsibility that was, because only he would have known how much Jesus loved His mother.

John didn’t mention the crowd spitting on and mocking Jesus’ body as He hung on the cross. He didn’t tell about Jesus forgiving the thief who repented as he died. He skipped the telling of the earthquake, the curtain splitting in two, the graves opening, the storm, the darkness…none of that mattered to him. His world had become just two people – a broken mother weeping in his arms and a Best Friend gasping for His last breaths just steps away. Why would anything else matter to him? He had a new mother to comfort. He had grief beyond what any other man there could know. And later, as he wrote – the other things were not important. Other people could tell those parts of the story. He told what he remembered by heart.

It’s just a theory of course. I wasn’t there any more than the person who said it’s not how the crucifixion went. But it is how it went. In the mind of one man, these were the details that mattered. And though I don’t know exactly why he chose to omit some of the more dramatic parts that come to our minds when we think of this story – I can imagine it was because those things just were insignificant in light of his grief and responsibility. And it just makes sense to me. So that’s my theory. Maybe one day when I get to Heaven, I can ask John for myself.