A Christmas Card from Shafferland

I love Christmas cards. They make me so happy! I love sending and receiving them, and I always live in fear that someone's will get lost or misplaced and they'll think I don't like them. (NOT TRUE!!)

But I also like to share our card here every year - and our letter, too, so I can feel like I've sent all our bloggy friends a card!

Here is this year's card, and our letter follows!

He has made everything beautiful in its time.
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 –

            For the last six years, we’ve watched as God has slowly and methodically woven beauty into every corner of our lives. We are so grateful to be celebrating the milestone of our sixth anniversary as we head into this Christmas season! The year has been full of so many things, and we’ve see the push and pull of Ecclesiastes 3 in each of them, so we’ll share the good and the hard of our year through the words of that chapter.

            There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

       A time to be born and a time to die. This year we said hello to a new nephew on Ryan’s side (Camden) and our first great-niece on Bekah’s side (Caroline). And we said goodbye-on-earth to Ryan’s Grandpa Echelbarger and some friends who had become dear to us throughout our marriage.

            A time to plant and a time to uproot. We tried to plant seeds for the Lord throughout the entire year. We continued leading a small group through our church, and Ryan started meeting with some guys in an accountability group! We also tried to plant goodness in the lives of some of the kiddos in our world. Bekah hosted a mini-reading camp this summer for one of our friends’ kids, and she spent the first part of the year driving two kids to school each day.

A time to kill and a time to heal. We did kill a lot of mosquitoes this year (though not quickly enough sometimes) – but we’ll put our focus on the healing here. We learned at the end of October that Ryan’s mom had an aggressive brain tumor, and she immediately underwent surgery to have it removed. The surgery was successful, but she has a long road ahead of her. She came to live with us for a while following her surgery, and we did our best to help her recover safely and with intentional goals in sight. Now we take each day as it comes and join her in her ultimate prayer that God will be glorified in her journey.

A time to tear down and a time to build. For once, our year wasn’t laced with home improvement projects, so we turned our focus to tearing down treat-laden eating and lackluster workout habits that had begun to creep in and worked to build up healthier versions of ourselves!

A time to weep and a time to laugh. We did plenty of both this year! We learned in fresh ways that we make a great team, we work well together, and we know when it’s time to laugh and when we should cry. We are thankful for friends and family who supported us so fully throughout the year, standing with us whether we laughed or cried.

A time to mourn and a time to dance. We tried to do more dancing than mourning. And our year was indeed filled with much celebration. Bekah turned 40 in May, and Ryan threw a massive Beauty and the Beast themed surprise party with 100 people in attendance! We celebrated again on the actual big 4-0 day with a scavenger hunt around Kokomo. We helped other friends and family celebrate their milestone birthdays this year, too, and one of our nieces graduated from high school. We tried to celebrate at home, too, hosting Mommapalooza 5.0 on Mother’s Day and game night with our friends!

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. In our marriage, stones represent memories, and we sure scattered and gathered many this year. We crossed five more counties off our list in our quest to visit all 92 in the state of Indiana. (We visited Dearborn, Wabash, Ripley, Jefferson, and Decatur counties.) We took in two concerts this year: David Phelps (of course!) and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We took a long weekend trip to Madison, Indiana, to celebrate our birthdays, tour the little town, and hike at Clifty Falls State Park. And this summer, we took a long Midwestern vacation with stops in Springfield, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; Greensburg, Kansas; Joplin, Missouri; Kansas City, Kansas; Monticello, Illinois; and ended in North Webster at the lake with Ryan’s family! This fall we took a day with two of our friends to hike at Turkey Run State Park. Lots of memories (and lots of stories).

A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. Mostly we tried to refrain from embracing the idea that we should refrain from embracing. 😊 We continue to embrace our monthiversaries on the second day of every month, and we also embraced the opportunity to open our home to many this year. We hosted a missionary for a week, dog sat our beloved Phoebe (and another dog, Deuce) multiple times, and we helped out with child care for a number of our friends and family throughout the year. That guest room of ours has served just about every purpose it can, we think! We are grateful to have it and put it to good use.

A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be silent and a time to speak. We aren’t very good at being silent, but we did a lot of speaking! We were able to speak together at a few events this year and Bekah also spoke at quite a few churches and women’s events. We also both participated in our church’s big patriotic program this summer: Ryan sang in the choir and Bekah was a narrator. We’ve been able to record the weekly announcements (a video adventure) for the church a few times. Always weird to see ourselves larger than life on the big screen during the morning service, but it’s been fun to find these new ways to serve together. (We have started serving communion, too!) We are also still hosting our weekly podcast, called Spill the Beans, and we’re having fun with that!

A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. We work hard to make our home and marriage a place of love and peace, and we hope that all who encounter us or come to visit our home sense both those things. 2018 has indeed been a time for everything and full of multiple God-ordained seasons. As we say goodbye to this year and our sixth season together as a couple, we heartily agree that He has made everything beautiful in its time. We pray that He will continue to make our lives a beautiful representation of His love and that you will enjoy this Christmas season, as you celebrate His most beautiful gift ever, delivered in the fullness of His time.