We Interrupt These Health Reports for Some Fun News

Yesterday I said I wanted to blog about something OTHER than doctor appointments, and I will! I promise! But since I asked you to pray for Ryan's gallbladder ultrasound yesterday, I wanted to let you know that it showed absolutely NO stones. Not even a tiny one hiding in a corner. That's good news (because who really wants gallstones?) and bad news (because we STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG)!

The ultrasound tech also said he had an extremely nice liver. Well, thank you for that. We do work hard on our livers around here.

Soooooooooooooooo the next step is another test on Monday to see if maybe the gallbladder itself is just on strike. It will be a long test and has the potential to kick him back into some pretty high-level pain, so if you'd like to pray with us that day, we'd be grateful.

Yes, it's true we've done way more medical stuff this week than, well, probably the rest of our lives combined, but we do have actual fun stuff happening on the side! And since every Friday needs a good dose of celebration, I thought maybe we could do just that today!

For several months now, I've had "create a website" on my to-do list. I was in a bit of a conundrum, because I love this blog. I have been here for ten years, I've met all of you (okay, some of you), I've established a routine, and I didn't want to interrupt that. But I'd come to the place where I needed a landing page to offer to people who asked questions about my writing and speaking. If possible, I really didn't want to mix the living room feel of this blog with the office feel of a more professional website.

Oh. And did I mention I'm 100000000% technologically challenged? Yeah. There's that little detail.

That's why the "create a website" line stayed on my to-do list for so many months. It absolutely terrified me. I didn't know where to start, what to do, how to make it look like something better than a first grader's attempt. (Truth? A first grader could have done a better job than I felt capable of doing.)

So I researched. I watched YouTube videos. I took pages of handwritten notes. I pep-talked myself. And last November, Ryan and I took a deep breath and purchased a domain name. A few days later, I took an even bigger breath, poured an extra big cup of coffee, and sat down to build a website.

Eight hours later, I'm pretty sure thousands of new hairs had sprouted pure white roots, no amount of coffee in the world could calm my soul, and my lovely ministry website had a huge header that said CALL ME, MAYBE?

Um. Not exactly the message I was trying to convey.

I tried to find customer service through the program I was using. And all the help in my world could be mine for 30 bucks a month. No. Just no.

I Googled. I messaged friends who seemed much smarter than I. I even broke down and emailed the IT guy where I used to work. No one knew. No one had a clue how to remove CALL ME, MAYBE? from the top of my pretty site.

Right about then, I emailed some friends who serve as my prayer partners and asked for their prayers as I sought to find answers for this whole website debacle. Almost immediately, one reached back and said she knew a thing or two about websites. Would I like some help?

OH YES, PLEASE!!!

That's why, a couple of weeks ago, I packed up my car and drove a couple of hours to her house to become a student for the day. She's an amazing teacher (for real! It's her degree!) and between a handful of Christmas cookies and a few cups of coffee, she showed me, step by step, how to set up my site in a completely different program. One made for normal, semi-not-computer-smart human beings like this girl.

She sent me home with a renewed sense of confidence in this possibility, in myself, and in my abilities. And I was determined to sit right back down to finish it.

But then, you know: kidney stones, ulcers, and gallbladders. (OH MY!)

My "right back down" came yesterday, and my dear friends? I finished polishing the site!

I. Am. So. Excited!!!!!

So today I'd like to share it with you. Again, it won't change anything about life here in Shafferland. This page will look the same as it always does, I'll still be here to tell stories recap doctor visits every day, and we'll keep chatting back and forth in the comments like we have been!

But this new site will be something I can share with those who might need a speaker for their event or more information about my books. (And if you know anyone in that boat, please feel ever so free to pass along the info!)

I'm so grateful for Julie's help with the site, and I am beyond pleased with how it looks. (It's even better than a first grade job, I think!)

And so I present to you: my new website.

Hope you like it! :) 

More Changes than Indiana Weather

People. People, people, people.

I'm not sure at what point our lives became an ongoing chronicle of doctor's appointments, but it seems we've entered our geriatric late thirties, and we're just grateful you show up each day to hear about our latest ailments.

As you may remember from, you know, every other post this week, we've been eagerly awaiting the birth of little Myrtle Stone Shaffer, the promised kidney stone of 2017. No one has been waiting more eagerly than Ryan, believe me.

So many people have been kind to check in on us this week, to ask if he's home resting, and that would be a no. He's been working, because health care marches on, Myrtle or no Myrtle. Other things that march on, Myrtle or no Myrtle, would be Tuesdays at the Table.

We had our first gathering of 2017 scheduled for this past Tuesday night, featuring our friends John and Sandee, who were SUCH a help to us in our move last year. Sandee helped me with painting and cleaning {and marking boxes off my master list as they came off the truck}, and both of them helped us move the garage stuff. We so appreciated all they did and wanted to host them as a thank-you. They offered to reschedule, but Ryan insisted we go forward with our plans. So all Tuesday afternoon, I worked hard on dinner and baked cookies for dessert.

Ryan broke out Daryl the Drone and gave him a test run, even though he's been too sick to play with him lately, and we all gathered around to eat together.

I could see it in Ryan's face not long after dinner was over. He was hurting again. I asked several times if he was okay, and he braved forward, but finally he admitted he needed to go lay down. We hurried and took our group picture, and before they were even gone, he was changing into sweats and curling up in a little ball.

And about twenty minutes later, we were in the car, headed for here. Again. For the second time in two days.

 I just sat and cried in the waiting room, watching him all bent over and trying to breathe through the pain, waiting longer and longer, because people kept coming in with chest pains and seizures and all manner of things that bumped us farther down the list. It was horrible. I knew the kind of pain he was having, and I hated every single second of it for him.

We finally got a room, and I took out my novel to keep reading about life in The Secret Garden, and Ryan was taken in and out as they ran a whole new battery of tests on him. Once again, the staff was kind and attentive, and I appreciated their attempts to figure out what in the world was going on.

About three hours later, with pain greatly subsided again, we were sent on our merry way with the following news: Myrtle is probably gone. Or maybe she never was. We don't know. But at any rate, she doesn't seem to be around for now. What the doctor thought was the culprit was an ulcer.

I could see that. After all, with all my gallbladder issues from years gone by, my diagnosis was almost always an ulcer, so I know the symptoms are very similar. But seriously? An ulcer? In Ryan? It seemed unlikely. But you know, it was almost midnight, and we had no better alternative, so we took the news and went home.

Yesterday, Ryan went to work and began to talk it over with all his co-workers, and one of them recommended that he check with the doctor that actually diagnosed my gallbladder issues. One conversation and that doctor wasn't buying the ulcer diagnosis. Not for a minute. Gallbladder, he said.

But we had a scan! It said the gallbladder was okay!

He said the scans don't always show gallbladder stones. Ultrasounds do, so Ryan will have one today to see if it turns up any fun new surprises.

We're exhausted. Ryan's exhausted from the pain, and I'm exhausted from chasing the ever changing diagnosis down the road. It's a kidney stone! It's an ulcer! It's your gallbladder! AAAHHHHHH!!!!!

So we're doing our best to hang tight and be faithful and wait {gulp} patiently. And for the past several hours, Ryan's actually felt pretty well. But we'll continue to gratefully accept your prayers for answers. Real answers. Answers that lead to a treatment that heals.

Whew!

 Tomorrow's blog goals: to write about normal thirty-something happenings.

49 Months

One reason Ryan and I count monthiversaries is because we got married "so late" in life that we figured we might not live to see some of the high number anniversaries we wish for, and if we do live that long, we might not be in our right minds to know it. Monthiversaries allow us to achieve high numbers while still being young enough to appreciate them!

Having said that, we read an obituary this week for a woman in her 90's who had been married for 55 years. {Her first husband died and she remarried later.} That gave us hope that maybe 50-some years could actually happen for us, too!

Our 49th monthiversary was an exercise in living out the "in sickness" part of our vows. No fancy dress or sunny beach for us this week. But we actually got to spend the day together, because Ryan's department was closed on January 2nd to observe New Year's Day. So that was a treat! Here are a few highlights from the day, with some alliteration for your reading pleasure:

Prayer.

All the sickness we've had, with the respiratory debacle of late last year, followed by Myrtle-the-kidney-stone-who-refuses-to-be-born of early 2017, has taken a toll on us. We approach sickness differently {I want you to pat my head and Ryan wants to be left alone}, and the attempt to NOT keep regifting the respiratory germs had led to a severe slow-down of fun stuff, like kissing and cuddling. You know what? After a while, that drives an invisible wedge and we. have. had. enough. So we spent part of our monthiversary praying together, for physical healing, for Myrtle's birth, for protection against whatever wedge Satan would so dearly love to drive between us. It was good and needed and healing.

Pinterest Fails.

 We've come through the holidays and have returned to a cleaner menu plan. Sometimes I feel like we keep eating the same five things on rotation, so I spent a LONG time in December, trying to conjure up new recipes from Pinterest. Chicken tacos with clean chipotle sauce sounded delicious, and indeed they were, but my WORD. That sauce was a fail fail fail. I mean unless you enjoy having to use a fire extinguisher on your tongue. I went ahead and dumped the rest down the garbage disposal. Not worth it. But at least we had a healthy lunch.

Pictures.

 We are marching forward with our tradition of taking a picture on every monthiversary. I thought this was an appropriate location for our photo, since we spent most of the day here. Bless Ryan's heart, he tried so hard to smile for this, but he was feeling so lousy, that this is really the more accurate representation of our day:

Podcasting.

We didn't take a picture of it, but Ryan rallied enough to record Spill the Beans for the week, and I thought he turned out pretty energetic-sounding, given that he felt like the picture above.

Percolating.

He's being careful on his coffee intake because it's said that caffeine can aggravate the Myrtles of the world. But you gotta have some caffeine, or then you have kidney stone pain on top of a raging headache. So we pulled our our wedding mugs and had a cup of coffee to celebrate our day.

Pie.

Poor Ryan. He's existed for a week on mostly chicken noodle soup and crackers. He just wanted some pie for our monthiversary. I have finally learned to confidently wave the white flag and admit I am not a pie baker and probably never will be. But my good friend Marie Callender bakes a mean razzleberry pie that is both cost-effective and delicious. And Ryan selected her to prepare our monthiversary dessert. Thanks, Marie.

So there it was: perhaps pathetic but pleasant at the same time. {See what I did there with the P words?}

Happy 49th monthiversary, Ryan! I p'love you!

Linking up with Tamar!

Taking New Year's to the Extreme

Last week on the podcast, we talked about having goals for the new year, and Ryan confessed he's not really a big goal-maker. Well, in today's podcast {and the post below} you'll see why maybe flying by the seat of your pants in trying new experiences is NOT the way to go.

Enjoy the first Spill the Beans of 2017!

Listen right here!

And now, some photos for your day.

On Christmas Eve, Ryan had to work, and he didn't feel too great while he was there. He didn't think much of it, because the yuck feeling went away, and he was fine the next two days. This past Tuesday, again, he felt sick for part of the day, and it happened again on Wednesday. He wondered, by that time, if there was something about the new carton of yogurt or the new jar of honey that didn't agree with him, because the days he'd felt sick matched the days we ate honey-sweetened yogurt for breakfast. I was fine, so it obviously wasn't food poisoning, but he thought maybe he was just not agreeing with either one.

We switched up our breakfast choices, but the yuck didn't go away, and in fact, it got worse. By the time he came home Friday night, he was curled up with a heating pad in the fetal position, and the only food that didn't make him sick was chicken noodle soup with a side of crackers.

His co-workers had combed through his symptoms and come up with a diagnosis that made a lot of sense, but we groaned over it: gallbladder. It was true. Every symptom mirrored what I'd had with my gallbladder multi-year debacle. Sharp abdominal pain, aching back, nausea, worse pain after eating, etc. I told him he'd better plan on getting help soon because it could take weeks to actually achieve surgery if necessary!

So this past Sunday, New Year's Day, we went to church, and as soon as we came home and ate {a nice, healthy, clean-eating breakfast}, he was back on the couch with the heating pad, deep in pain.

 Break my heart! We had a family Christmas scheduled for that day - with Ryan's extended family, but there was no way he could go. He'd end up on some guest bed, all rolled up in a ball. No fun. So I made my food for the party and took it to his aunt, so she could deliver it to the party, and then I began the task of talking Ryan into going to the emergency room.

The pain finally got the best of him, and that afternoon, we landed here:

I worried the place would be packed, given it was the first day of a new year and people had fresh deductibles to begin meeting. Alas, it was virtually empty. Just us and some guy wearing bear claw slippers and handcuffs, escorted by a police officer.

We got right in and Ryan was issued a stunning evening gown. He rocked it.

They had one of those stick-figure-face charts to assess pain level, so I asked Ryan to please show me his pain level.

This...

 ...came closest to this:

LOVED the doctor on call. Seriously wonderful guy. He got right on it, ordering blood work and whisking Ryan away for a CT scan. {I had a mild panic attack at that point. CT scan seemed wildly serious, but they explained they do those because they can see so many things with one test.}

You do a lot of waiting in an ER, but fortunately, I came prepared.

I had a whole bag packed. Snacks, water, Bible, journal, Bible study, devo book, novel, camera - I was ready to hang out for the long haul if necessary!

We did some hospital selfies....

...Ryan began mentally designing slim-fit hospital gowns, because THIS was not working for his self-esteem...

We actually think he looks like he's standing behind one of those photo-opp cutouts, where your head size never matches the body. LOL!!!!

They came back to run a few more tests. I read our devotional book and we prayed together, and then I got busy on my novel.

We listened to the poor baby down the hall SCREAM his/her little head off {poor thing! I prayed for him/her. Whatever was happening sounded miserable} and then we listened to the guy at the other end of the hall screaming "HELP!!! THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!!!!" {Never what you want to hear in a hospital.}

And then the doctor came in to give his diagnosis. I think he was on board with what we thought - gallbladder - but he said Ryan's scan showed a perfectly healthy gallbladder. He actually had a perfectly healthy everything, he said. But he found this tiny bit of calcification that led him to diagnose: kidney stone! Didn't see that one coming! Probably would have if his pain had been more in his back than his abdomen, but it wasn't. The doctor agreed that his symptoms weren't classic kidney stone, but he was pretty sure that was it, so we named her Myrtle, read the "how to await the birth of your kidney stone" papers, and Ryan was sent on his merry way.

The doctor did say the stone had worked its way through so much that it was probably "in the birth canal" {my words: not his. I don't use his words in print.} So with the understanding that Ryan was unlikely to have much more severe pain if he ate, we went straight to Ruby Tuesday for some dinner. He was never so happy to eat in his whole life.

I wanted some coffee {hadn't had any since that morning}, so we squeaked through Starbucks before it closed. My one complaint about Kokomo living is that we do not have any coffee shops that stay open late. I think they all close at 8 or 9. I still have about 3 hours of coffee drinking left in me at that time!

They messed up my drink so they remade it and gave me both. Yes. Because we need three coffees!

So we went to visit our Phoebe girl {who was SO HAPPY to see us} and donated our spare coffee to her people. Hated to throw it away!

And that is how the Shaffers spent New Year's Day. Let's not make this a new tradition, my love!

{And on a more serious note...we'll still take your prayers for Ryan, as Myrtle the stone is still not born, and he's still in a decent amount of pain!}

A Little New Year's Fun

Are you more of a stay-at-home-and-go-to-bed-early on New Year's Eve kind of person, or do you prefer big parties with lots of people and even more food?

I fall somewhere in the middle. I like being at some sort of celebration to ring in the new year, but the bigger that celebration gets, the more nervous I feel. This year, our New Year's Eve celebration consisted of the two of us, a couple of friends, and their kids. And. It. Was. Perfect.

We'd planned to get together with our friends Mike and Angie over Christmas, but it didn't end up working out schedule-wise, so we rescheduled for New Year's Eve instead. Since they have kids, we went to their house, so the kiddos could go to bed on time in their own beds, and we could just hang out, drink coffee, eat snacks, play games, and talk!

Mike and Angie are fabulous cooks, and Mike went all out with a full New Year's Eve menu: cabbage, pierogis, shrimp, and sausage.

Oh, and did I mention these are the friends of ours who have a coffee bar in their kitchen and sometimes bring us lattes?

Why yes. It is a happy new year.

Netflix had a thing where you could pick when YOU wanted it to be midnight and you play a countdown for your kids. So we did a countdown dance and toast to "midnight" about 8 p.m. and the kiddos went straight to bed. {Impressive!}

And then the games began.

So you've seen those virtual realities, right? Well, Mike and Angie have one, and we spent the ENTIRE NIGHT passing that thing around, playing games. It started with an app that was supposed to help you conquer your fear of heights. Ryan has no fear. I have lots of it. So here were our experiences.

And then we played this interactive game that was flat-out HARD. It's called "Keep Talking and No One Explodes." So the person wearing the virtual reality is in a room with a briefcase that has a bomb attached. You have to describe what you see, and the rest of the players go through this manual and read the directions to you of how to diffuse it before it explodes. There are DOZENS of wires and codes and such, and you're working against a timer and occasional distractions. It's pretty intense! I was sweating a couple of times when it was my turn!

For the record, I was the only player who, by the end of the night, had not successfully diffused at least ONE. So I don't think I have a future with the FBI or anything.

{Bet you can't tell who was successful...}

We played until almost midnight, and then it was time to pour the sparkling grape juice and welcome 2017!

It really was the perfect, low-key night. We appreciated Mike and Angie opening their home to us and being so hospitable with food and games and fun! :)

Happy New Year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Shafferland Shuffle

A couple of years ago, Ryan got me a flip calendar to keep on my desk at work, and in my post-work-outside-the-home life, it sits on my nightstand. The verse for today, the first day of the new year, is the first part of 1 Corinthians 15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been in vain. 

I share that with you this morning, on this threshold of a new year, because I know it's easy to not feel satisfied with who you are. We all get caught up with comparison games and feeling like we aren't as welcomed or loved or successful or meaningful as others, but the words of this verse are TRUE. It is by His grace alone that each of us are the people we are and are living the lives we're living.

I share the Shuffle with you each week as a means of letting you peek into the sometimes crazy/sometimes fun/sometimes boring our life is each day, and also as a help to me in keeping track of the order of events for when I scrapbook. In no way do I ever want these shuffle posts to instill any feelings of inferiority in anyone else. It is by the grace of God alone that I am who I am, that Ryan is who he is, and that Shafferland is what it is. His grace to us is not in vain, and I want these posts to speak to that grace.

So as we embark on a new year and new journeys, here's a peek back at our final week of 2016.

* Last Sunday was Christmas Day, which you've already seen recapped in all its many pictures, but it was a beautiful and hard day all at once, with our little Shafferland celebration here at home, church, Christmas with my family and Christmas with one of Ryan's families. I think this is a Christmas we'll remember for many years to come.

* Monday, as you also saw this week, Ryan was fortunate to have a day off - something brand new for us at Christmas. We soaked up every moment of that day together, doing some after-Christmas shopping, having a fun Chinese buffet lunch, visiting with his other grandpa, watching a movie. We loved that day so much!

* Ryan had to go back to work on Tuesday, and Braeya and I soaked up the sun and the last of the Christmas decorations, because we knew that was a limited sight! My friend Jessica, who lives out of state, was home for Christmas, and she came by to see me, which was a great treat! And check out this really cool picture Ryan took: a reflection of Christmas, while looking ahead to next year!

* Wednesday, I took an all-day field trip to visit my friend Julie, who gave me an INCREDIBLE gift of helping me design a new website. My previous attempts were failing in a variety of ways, so her help was SUCH a gift. It was an all-day event, and when I came home, I enjoyed the last night of Christmas lights on old Grizzy - because his bottom branches were grazing the ground. :(

* Thursday, I took down all the Christmas decorations, which is always a sad and exciting time. Sad to see the season go, and sad to see all the hard work boxed back up, but exciting to think of new beginnings! Also exciting: making new labels for all my storage tubs!!

* Friday, Ryan "worked hard" at work, taking down the Christmas decorations and turning himself into a living Christmas tree, apparently. I was invited to a special lunch, which boasted DELICIOUS food, and I had a great time! And that night - Braeya decided to hang out with me for once, which is RARE. We read blogs together.

* And yesterday we made the TERRIBLE mistake of going to the store in the middle of the afternoon. Thought I might spend the next thirteen Christmases in line waiting to check out. But the day quickly redeemed itself when we went to spend the evening with our friends Mike and Angie. We were supposed to visit them over last weekend and it didn't work out, so we rescheduled and had the best time hanging out, eating their amazing cooking and playing fun virtual reality games before ringing in the new year together!

And with that, we wish you a very happy new year! :)

Linking up with Tamar!