Chocolate Celebration

I've talked before on here about how my mom loves to volunteer. She's so good at it. She has a big heart for all kinds of groups and organizations and for as long as I can remember, she's been the volunteer to help out on everything from church potlucks to the Rescue Mission.

And the embarrassing but true fact is that I did not inherit that love. I'm not cold and hard-hearted, but the volunteering gene skipped me, and ever since I got put in the shame corner over it by a teacher back in high school, I've felt the need to apologize for my lack of volunteer-loving heart.

Somewhere along the way, in recent years, I managed to learn that not all volunteer jobs are the same, and just because I don't love to do the jobs that people hail as "good servanthood jobs" doesn't mean there's not a place for me to serve at all. That has been very freeing!

So a couple of weeks ago, Mom called and said she'd gotten an email from one of the organizations she's volunteered with for a while, and they were in need of some help...in the world of photography. OKAY!!!!!!

As if it wasn't great enough to get to volunteer while holding my camera, the event was the annual Chocolate Celebration, which is a fundraiser for Samaritan Caregivers. (They serve the senior community.) You can read more details on the celebration here, if you want to see the nitty gritty of how it works, but let's just say it was HUGE and there was so. much. chocolate. A happy place to serve if ever I saw one!

The event is held at one of the huge churches in Kokomo, and I arrived 45 minutes early and people were already there and itching to get their hands on some chocolate treats! I vowed not to get any, because I was there to WORK, not INDULGE. Yeah. Came home with four things. LOL!!! To be fair, I did share with Ryan, thankyouverymuch.

But I thought I'd share a few of my pictures with you so you could see what a fun event this was! And who can't use a little chocolate on a Monday? {I would actually share with you, but do you honestly think any of it survived until today? Yeah. Not even.}

I actually bought one of the little chocolate chip shot glasses there on the bottom. It was a cookie cup, lined with chocolate and filled with mousse. DELICIOUS. {Sorry, Ryan. I meant to save you a bite.}

The general way this process works is that vendors bring in treats, and the people who attend can do so for free, but they buy tickets to exchange for the treats. Several vendors also bring in other things that can be purchased with cash if you like. And a good number of them had free samples!

While obviously a big chunk of the vendors were in the food business {bakeries and such}, several didn't have a food-related business. That was okay, as long as they brought chocolate treats to exchange for tickets.

{Please note I restrained myself from putting down my work to visit THIS booth!!}

They also had a judging panel and handed out awards. I also restrained myself from asking how you get one of THESE jobs. I feel that judging a chocolate competition would be the ultimate in service, right? :) 

There were so. many. people. there.

This was down a hallway, and then the atrium of the church was full as well. Made it challenging to get pictures without being right up in people's faces {which I HATE doing} because if you tried to shoot a picture very far away, you had people walking across your path, blocking your view!

But I didn't see a single cranky person all day. How can you be cranky when surrounded by this much chocolate???

 My friend Kari and her friends...shopping away! :)

 This lady was from a local coffee shop, and she smiled SO BIG all day. I understood why, because obviously coffee and chocolate COMBINED will do that to you, but I just really enjoyed circling past her booth because she had so much joy! :)

A little quartet singing....to the sweetheart. :)

My four tickets. Well spent, I might add. :) It was a good day, a fun and different thing to do, and a chance to actually serve in a way that fits my personality! Win, win, win!

The Shafferland Shuffle

We absolutely wore ourselves out this week. By Friday night, we were asleep on the couch while a movie played on TV. Here's to an easier week - we hope!

* Last Sunday, as I already told you, we went to Hemlock Friends Church so I could speak in their morning worship service. Ryan got to ring the bell, and after church, one of the families invited us to join them for lunch, so that was a fun surprise! We were pretty much bums for the rest of the day once we got home. Three hour naps, I believe!

* Monday was gorgeous, and it was so welcome after the collection of gray days we'd had recently. Sunshine on the trees, Braeya napping in the sun...just beautiful. After work, we ran a few errands, which included going through the car wash. That warmed up the car in a hurry!

* Tuesday was supposed to be Tuesdays at the Table night, but our guests were sick, so we just had the night at home instead. I still made some of the food we planned to have, including a quick bread made with rosemary and onion. I do love the flavor of rosemary. Ryan got back to working out this week, which has made him feel much better, and Braeya was high-fiving him for his effots.

* Wednesday brought the start of a new computer system for Ryan's work, which has single-handedly made me a work widow. LOL. I remember starting new systems back in Financial Aid, they are 100% brain drain. I know it! He stayed through a lot of lunches and worked very late many days this week getting used to this thing! But that morning, one of his co-workers brought donuts to encourage everyone! So sweet! Another of his co-workers asked if I could help her by making some desserts for her, since she didn't have time or energy this week and she needed them for things she was going to. So I baked cookies!

* Thursday was our super busy day. Work for Ryan, dentist for me, followed by a visit to the station to see my friends, TWO viewings that night, and then the celebration of our 50th monthiversary with the "B" themed date from our alphabetical dates. This day may have been why we were asleep on the couch Friday night.

* Friday, I went to a Chocolate Celebration fundraiser here in town and served as a volunteer photographer {more on this tomorrow}, so between prepping, attending, and editing, that took up most of my day! Our friend Shawn and his boys and their cute little puppy stopped by to see us that evening, and other than that, it was pizza and snoozeville for the Shaffers.

 * Yesterday was a long work day for Ryan, so I worked at home and did our grocery shopping. What on earth possessed me to brave the store alone the day before the Super Bowl is beyond me and mine. Whew! I tried to cheer Ryan up by taking him a latte at work, and when he came home, we enjoyed a lovely evening at home together. I finished my VERY LAST WORKOUT in the Hammer and Chisel lineup. WOO HOO!!! :)