Friday Fun: January Randoms

 

                At the end of 2025, Callie wrote this post as a structured round up to the year. I loved it so much that I earmarked it to revisit at the end of THIS year, but I actually decided to use it as a springboard for a monthly recap. Today will be the first of those!

Best Personal Adventure: Choosing to participate in WBCL’s Reunion Lunch and Nostalgia Week was one of the best decisions this month. I loved getting to see all my old work friends and spending a few minutes on the air with Glenn and McKalia. I’m beyond thankful the Lord made it possible for me to step aside from work for an afternoon and kept the weather clear so I could enjoy this fun day!

Photo Credit: Amy Sprunger Photography

Best Adventure Together: I have two for this one. Ryan and I really, really loved getting to have our godson in our home for a weekend. Because we are not parents, it’s always an adventure to have a full time kiddo in the house, but we loved it. We also loved getting away for the marriage conference! It was good to get away, good to spend time together, and good to learn!

Best Milestone: This month marked one year of being in our sanctuary at church! I still remember that first day back, and the whole year has just felt like such a gift. Being away from home sure makes you appreciate being back all the more, doesn’t it? All the learning and worshiping and growing that has taken place in that space over the last year has been wonderful.

Best Faith Grower: I’m teaching Darlene Schacht’s study on the book of Nehemiah, and I am actively working to learn to be bolder in my prayers. (We studied that in the first chapter.) I’ve always been more of a broad pray-er, and I’m working to be more specific and bolder.

Best Lesson Learned: Earlier this month, Ryan and I served as photographers at a wedding. My first time doing that was almost a decade ago when Ryan’s sister got married and I was an assistant photographer. I enjoyed that job because Ryan was a groomsman and I couldn’t hang out with him anyway, so it gave me something to do – but I wasn’t ultimately in charge of the pictures. Then about a year and a half ago, Ryan and I photographed his cousin’s wedding. Everything about the photography went swimmingly until the ceremony. The sanctuary was dark and I am not well-versed in lighting adjustments on my camera. The pictures were okay – but not what I would have wanted for her. So when I was asked about this wedding, I did my best to talk the bride out of it, but she insisted she just wanted random, candid photos like she knew I was capable of taking. It was a second wedding for both the bride and groom, as both lost their first spouses several years ago, so their expectations were different. We did okay, I think, but I learned during that adventure that I really am better making the scrapbooks with someone else’s photography. Primary wedding photography is just not my gift.

Best Purchase: Can I have three bests? Starting with the most frivolous…the health coach I worked with during my WillowBridge days posted about a recent Aldi shopping haul. She raved about the fresh dill pickles in the refrigerated section, so we tried them. LOVED THEM! We’ve long been a Claussen pickle family, but I think we will be switching to these. Next up…back at Christmas I gifted Ryan a little travel white noise machine. We used it for the first time on our marriage retreat trip, and it was perfect! It’s about the size of a slider sandwich, and it puts out a powerful sound. It saved a lot of room in our luggage, so that was a win! And finally…I used Christmas money to purchase Britt Fisher’s Healthy HomeBarista Course. I’ve been perfecting my pour over game (so far) and am looking forward to learning more skills, especially for lattes at home!

Best Habit Created: I started following someone on Instagram who is working to handwrite the entire Bible. I am not ready to take on that big a project yet, but I had already decided to study the gospels this year, so I chose to begin handwriting them. Each morning, I sit down with my notebook and Bible and write out that day’s section. I’m in Matthew chapter seven and have really come to appreciate the art of learning Scripture from writing.

Best New Recipe: I think I narrowed it down to two from this month. The first? The Frosted Brownies I made for New Years. They have sweet potatoes in them and were so delicious! I also really liked the sloppy joe bowls I made toward the end of the month. I am a sucker for a good bowl recipe, and this one was pure comfort food in a bowl!

Best Tradition: I thoroughly enjoyed our New Year’s Day traditions this year. We stayed up until midnight, toasted the new year with sparkling grape juice and a kiss, enjoyed a day off work together, and went through our little box of memories. New beginnings are so important to me, and I was so happy to enjoy ours together!

Best Little Luxury: I have a meeting every week at the Shaka Shack (and random other meetings there throughout the month in addition to the standing meeting). The owner knows my drink by heart and all I have to do is walk in and sit down at my table, and as if by magic, a drink appears. I’ve told Ryan over and over that it absolutely makes me feel like I have arrived. It’s a complete first world luxury, and I hope I never get over the joy of it.

Best Date: I loved our hiking date on New Year’s Day! We elected to skip going to the state park for the organized New Year’s Day hike and instead, just do our own hike for three (we took Lexi along). It was so much fun. It was a cold, cold day, but we had the trails to ourselves, enjoyed fantastic conversation, and took so many great pictures!

Best Answer to Prayer: We have been praying for the last four years to find a “Ryan and Bekah” for Lexi. Remember when we used to dog sit for Phoebe the goldendoodle? We were her home away from home, and her people always knew she could stay with us. Unfortunately, most of our friends don’t really love dogs, so we have never had a home to take Lexi to when we go away. We’ve had a good place to board her, but it’s a business, and we always feel sad at night when we know she’s hanging out all by herself. This month, when we went to our retreat, she stayed at a new place, and the host said she did great! I know she may not always be able to stay there, depending on availability, but it sure was the sweetest answer to prayer for us this month!