The Shafferland Shuffle

Shuffle might be the best word to describe Ryan today. Two words: SKI TRIP. Enough said?? So while he rests his weary self, I'll tell you about our week!

* Last Sunday we helped with small group sign ups for our church. We're starting a new series and we're both looking forward to learning more about evangelism! It was a lazy day around our house (of course) filled with football and naps. And after about four hours of craving ice cream that night, Ryan decided to help me fill the craving and took me on a Blizzard date! YUM!!!

* I told you that Ryan's grandpa passed away, and his viewing was Monday afternoon and evening. We loaded up on coffee before we went, and we got to see lots of friends and family throughout the day as people came to pay their respects. (Some of the younger members of the family kept occupied by playing games...)

* Tuesday was Grandpa's funeral, and Ryan was a pallbearer. The service was really beautiful, and because Grandpa had served in the military, there were military honors at the end. I'd never seen that before, and it was very touching. (One of my pictures should be credited to Ryan's sister, Lori. I didn't get any pictures of him all dressed up in his suit, and she did, so I am borrowing hers.) Also...I apologize for the extremely poor photo quality on my pictures on this day. My phone seems to be doing worse and worse on camera quality, and I was trying to be fast and discreet with the funeral photos.

 * We went back to work on Wednesday, which for me, meant working on upcoming speaking engagements. I have several coming my way and I needed to dig in and start finalizing my material so I can learn it! Unfortunately in the process, my Bible got a little coffee baptism. I'm honestly surprised that hasn't happened before now! A peril of working so hard on writing is that the dishes really pile up, so I had to have a big date with the kitchen that day too!!

* Thursday was colllllllllllllllld. I spent a good portion of the evening curled up under a blankie with Braeya and a book. So frigid! I did, however, make soup, and that was delicious - and appropriate for a freezing day. And also on Thursday, Ryan and I began our collaboration for a speaking night we are doing together soon. So fun to work with a partner!

* We woke up to ice Friday morning and (woot woot!) school cancellations. I was so thankful to not have to drive on the ice. It was covering our windows pretty thoroughly on some parts of the house! Ryan spent his lunch hour trying to clear our driveway in allllll his new winter gear. He said he was so warm he started sweating!

* And that brings us to yesterday and the aforementioned ski trip. More on this later, of course, but Ryan had been wanting to ski for a while. I'm sure it surprises NO ONE that I don't ski, so he invited our good friend Shawn to ski with him. I went because being apart gives me hives. I sat in the ski lodge all day working on reading and writing, and the guys had fun! We managed to turn this into a county date, too - our first in 2018! (Night shot in this collage is credited to Shawn. Look at me being all footloose and fancy free with other people's pictures this week!)