The Shafferland Shuffle

* Happy Sunday to you!!! We are so looking forward to a day of rest today. Much needed after a busy week. Hope you can catch some rest today, too! :)

* Last Sunday was Easter, so we weren't home resting that day! Church, exchanging baskets, lunch with my family, stopping in to catch the end of Ryan's family's celebration...a busy day indeed! But we were thankful for a pretty day, which was more than the forecast promised for Easter!

* Monday I went for a run, and I was pretty nervous about it after the first run of the season (on Saturday) went so ridiculously awful! But even though it was warm and sunny, attempt #2 was much better! Ryan spent the evening working at a friend's house, installing some lights for her, so while he was gone, I started planting the first of our flowers for this year!

* Tuesday was the day of all the crazy stories I didn't feel I could tell on the blog. Here's my pretending-to-be-nicer-than-I-feel-inside face that stayed plastered on much of the morning. And of course, a view from my book that I read at the doctor's office to try to stay calm while awaiting my appointment. Ryan had more work to do that evening at our friend's house, but he did come home in time to take a sunset walk with me. Beautiful view and enjoyable company!

* Wednesday I officially christened my new "open and closed" signs for my office. I like them!! :) This was also the day my brain had reached its fullness point, so I spent some time on the porch just being still (and perhaps napping for a brief time). At the end of the day, I watched our friends' five kiddos, but before I did, I tried out traction for the first time! Hoping it would help some of my sore neck issues. (Hello, computer for 18 hours a day!) Oh! And Ryan did work at other people's houses that night. You know. Something new and different. :)

* Ryan was so busy all week that he didn't have time to mow our yard, and the forecast called for rain, so Thursday morning, I put aside work for a bit to push-mow the yard. What a job! (Our mower is not self-propelled and the "tiny" hill in our yard becomes a mountain when push-mowing! GOt it done just before the rain POURED! That night, Ryan went to work at our friend's house again, and we'd been apart so much of the week that he missed me! So he called and asked if I'd come keep him company, which I was quite happy to do. (And I helped work, too.) When he got home, he found a razzleberry pie waiting for him. I thought he'd earned it after all his hard work!

* Friday night we had some friends over for dinner. They were new friends we made not long before we moved to Kokomo, and we hated leaving them! Because everyone has such a busy schedule, they hadn't been to our house since we moved, so we were glad to finally find a date that worked to have them over. We had a make-your-own-pizza bar and played Jenga together. (Ryan won.) It was just so nice to have them over and catch up with them!

* Saturday morning, at SEVEN IN THE MORNING, we went to help our friend move. (The one whose house Ryan worked at all week.) It was cold and cloudy, but no rain! We'll take it! (By the way, the seven a.m. time was chosen by Ryan.) It really was a pretty quick move. Last night we went out for the first of Ryan's birthday celebrations! Our annual pilgrimage to Tucano's for the bottomless meat festival, and this time we went with our friends Mike and Angie!

Easter!

Our forecast for yesterday promised a rainy, yucky day, and while there certainly were rainy parts, we actually had a fairly lovely day! (Big sighs of relief for egg hunters everywhere, I'm sure!)

We happened to be visiting a church yesterday that was really big and had quite a grand service. I adored singing all the big Easter anthems (in a crowd so big that I could actually sing out and not be heard!) and listening to a piano solo that made me drop my jaw. Such talent! (Ahhhh Bekah. If you had only applied yourself...well, let's be honest. You probably still wouldn't be that good!) Anyway. It was a wonderful way to start the day.

We had a little bit of time in between church and the Freelan family lunch, so we exchanged our Easter baskets here at home. (I had grand plans for coloring eggs and all manner of things, but it was much too busy a weekend. Next year, right? Nevertheless, we kept our basket-exchanging tradition.)

Ryan's basket for me was perfect. I've been joking (not joking) that I'd like to have an open/closed sign to hang on my office door so when I'm in "office hours" I can feel like a real place. He remembered this conversation and found REVERSIBLE CHALKBOARDS that I can use to write open and closed! (And I can use them for other purposes as needed, too!) How perfect is THIS????

Also, props for presentation!

 Also featured in my basket? Chocolates!!!!!!!

Ryan's gift was a bit lame in looks, so I tried to spice it up with a scavenger hunt plan I found on Pinterest! It definitely added to the experience.

The clues were hidden around the house in plastic eggs:

And he had a good time hunting for them!

(His helper had a good time as well.)

He found the prize!!

Funny story about his gift.

We are repainting our (badly peeling) porch this spring and wanted to replace our house numbers while we do that project. We think the ones out there now are hard to see, and isn't visibility kind of the POINT of house numbers? Anyway. We had looked at several kits at the store quite a while ago, so I went to the store this past week and labored over them all, trying to figure out which one would be the best. I finally picked one and came home. (He did not know I had been to the store that day.) That evening, we went there together to shop and he said, "Hey let's go look at house numbers!" I stood and held my breath, alternately terrified that he would purchase some/that he would hate the ones I got. Fortunately he did NOT make a purchase and he had no unkind words toward my choice.

Just in case the sunshine was temporary, we ran out to take our official Easter outfit photo. Now for those of you who caught the end of the shuffle yesterday, I know you're expecting Ryan to be in this:

I'm sorry. He did not buy it. But I think he still looks awfully handsome.

We spent the Easter meal with my family this year, and there were just five of us:

I feel like I've been awkwardly photoshopped into this family selfie.

This was Mom's first hostessing with the mostessing after her surgery, and I thought she did a great job! Good food, pretty flowers, great day!

And after lunch was over, Julie and I went out to the "pet cemetery" where all our dearly departed cats were laid to rest. Kaegan is apparently not the most well-loved in the plot. LOL!!

After we left my parents', we went to Ryan's family Easter, but we were so late, the meal and egg hunt had finished. We stayed for a while to talk, and then we came home.

Hope you all had great Easter Sundays too!!

The Shafferland Easter Shuffle

Happy Easter! Hope you all have a wonderful day, even if the weather isn't very sunny! (At least that's what we're expecting here!)

* Last Sunday seems so long ago now, but that was the day we went to Indianapolis with Ryan's sister's entourage for wedding dress shopping. A successful day for her, for which we were thankful, and quite entertaining to watch Ryan take in the whole Say Yes to the Dress experience!

* I spent Monday busily working in the office, wrapping up all the paperwork from speaking over the weekend. Fun fact: at lunch, Ryan made me laugh so hard I cried off all the makeup one eye. I forgot to fix that before I went out in public. Whoopsie. That night, Ryan went to help a friend of ours who just bought a house and needed some work done on a light fixture. Not sure how the hammer was going to fix it, but who am I to question? While he did that, I made our dinner: skinny mini lasagnas from Dashing Dish. Fabulous!

* Tuesday night, we hosted another Tuesdays at the Table with my good friend Ronda. We miss living close to her! I tried my hand at making "breadsticks" with cauliflower crust, and even though Ryan didn't care for it, I thought it was fabulous!

* Wednesday was a day of much prayer, Bible study, and journaling, and even though my heart wrestled through many things, it was so nice to see the two plants we own (so far) blooming beautifully! And that night, we had an unexpected dinner invitation to a friend's house! (Ryan was doing some work there too...he's been quite the handyman this week!)

* Thursday I got together with my mother-in-law for coffee, and at the end of the day, I just did not have it in me to make dinner. It had been a d.a.y. for both Ryan and me, so we went to Culver's for a treat. (And I did the whole treat thing, too! Burger AND fries!) And when Ryan went shopping at Lowe's, I thoroughly enjoyed their Easter lily display. So pretty!

* I had Friday off from carpool duties, so I stayed in my jammies and read blogs and drank coffee extra long that morning! After work, we helped one of our friends by hauling a truckload of mulch to her house. (That load tested our truck tire limits.  EEK!) And Ryan felt he had earned a Meat Mountain sandwich at Arby's, so we stopped for him to try one. Sorry there are no photos of my salad. LOL!

* Yesterday was GORGEOUS here in Indiana, and of course Ryan had to work, so I scrapbooked. We went for a run and I happened to notice that the strong winds had done a bit of a number on the portapotties around the area. (Lots of construction = portapotties.) Hope no one was inside! We took a few minutes to rest on our porch and drink coffee after dinner, and then Ryan wanted to look for an Easter outfit. This wasn't QUITE what I envisioned...

The Saturday Six

One.

While I do not currently have a "formal" mentor in my life, I have many women whose lives and walks with the Lord provide mentorship to me, and I appreciate that. I have also had seasons when I met with different women to allow them to mentor me, and I've served as one before, to a younger friend. It's such an important role, and I fear too many think they are not qualified because they are not perfect. And that's why this article by Carol Kent speaks such life and truth over that myth!


Two.

Last week on the Six, I shared with you a post by my friend Sarah Forgrave that gives healthy(ish) options to choose when eating fast food. (Because we all know fast food happens!) This week, she continued her series on healthy options, but she offers the same advice for sandwich and deli-style restaurants. Thought I would pass it along to you!

Three.

 This article was fascinating to me. The guy is a photographer who builds sets out of miniatures and random props he makes by hand, but the finished photos look like absolute, full-size, real life.

Four.

This article CRACKED me up. 25 random (and may I add - WEIRD) things church members have said to pastors.  

Five.

Still looking for a last-minute Easter dish? Looking for one that has some healthy qualities to it? 30 options here from Dashing Dish. (We've had three Dashing Dish recipes this week, and ALL have been keepers in my opinion. 2/3 keepers in Ryan's opinion.)

Six.

In a weird blog twist, I'm telling you about four books today. WHAT?!?!! I know! I was so busy reading advanced copies of books to help some authors that I didn't have time to read a whole extra book, but it's high time I reviewed these four on the blogaroo, so here you go! I've actually mentioned all of these before in suggested reading lists, but I've never officially told you all about them.

If you heard Tuesday's podcast, you heard about our trip to hear our friend Brent Vernon in concert. Brent is a multi-talented guy. He can sing and play the piano, he's a ventriloquist, but he's also an author and illustrator of children's books! I had owned two of his four books already, but you know me and incomplete collections: shiver! So at that concert, I rounded out my stash and purchased the last two books. And now I shall tell you about them!

The first three books are all part of a series called the Audrey Amaka stories. Audrey Amaka is a neckless giraffe who wears blue sparkly high heeled shoes to help in the height department. Also featured in these books are her two friends, Nelson and Doodle. (Nelson is terribly accident-prone, and I so identify with the poor guy!)

Each book features an important virtue from the Bible, told through creative story. In Neckless, the first book of the series, Audrey learns that she is fearfully and wonderfully made, even if she looks different from everyone else. And she learns that sometimes the very things that make you different can actually make you valuable and special. In book two, Curiosity Crescent Audrey and her friends take a special trip with Mr. Amaka, but they learn the importance of obedience and the consequences that result from disobedience. And in book three, The Okapicat Audrey meets her cousin Ornela, who turns out to be more of a copycat than an Okapi. During Ornela's week-long visit to Audrey's house, both girls learn important lessons about being content with who they are and how attitudes and actions make a big difference!

The stories are all 32 pages long, fun to read, the lessons are well-taught, and the illustrations are amazing. I could just sit and look at the pictures all day! :)

The fourth and newest book Brent wrote is called The Gingerbrood, and it's a Christmas book written in rhyme. I'm always in awe of those who can write poetry, since I have zero skills in that department. :) This book tells the story of a batch of gingerbread cookies that escape from Mrs. Claus's oven, believing if they don't, they'll end up as Santa's snack. The book follows them on their adventures through the North Pole, and is fun to read out loud! (Also amazing illustrations in this one. And if you want a page count - it's 23 pages.)

If you have kiddos in your life, these books would make fun gifts for them. If you don't have kiddos, these books make a great resource to have on hand when some show up at your house and expect you to have books for them to read! (Our niece and nephew loved them when I read them during a stay at our house.)

You can find all four books (plus Brent's music!) in this online store. Totally recommend all of it! 

Good Friday

Guess who forgot Easter was this weekend? This girl. Gulp. It's true. I was the one confused as to why school was not in session today. I was also the one subsequently flying to the store for Easter basket fillers for Ryan.

I think I forgot, in part, because I'm working ahead on so many writing and speaking projects that I lost sight of what's right in front of my face. But I also forgot, in part, because Easter never felt the same again once the Easter Pageant was no more.

I've talked about it on here before, but the Easter Pageant was an annual community passion play that my family participated in long before I showed up on this earth. And for the first twenty-some years of my life, I was in it every single year. It made Easter...Easter.

Several years ago, they stopped producing it, and then they brought it back in modified formats. The most recent rendition I saw was, in some ways, better than the original, I thought, but it was still different. And my memories are tied to the original pageant. The one where we got up at 3 in the morning on Easter and got in the car by 3:20 to drive a half hour, park a few blocks from the building, and run in the early morning cold into an equally cold and musty-smelling gym. We'd gather in our dressing rooms and apply thick costume makeup. Kids guzzled milk and adults guzzled coffee, and neither one helped anybody wake up. Only the cold splash of makeup jolted us into reality.

By six in the morning, we'd be in full makeup and costume, and the lines of people who had waited in the dark and cold outside were thawing in the bleachers, awaiting the first strains of music.

I loved that pageant. I loved seeing the scenes of Holy Week reenacted. I loved a better-than-front-row seat reminder of Jesus standing quietly before His accusers. I loved hearing the Hallelujah chorus sounding loudly as my parents and I escaped the building at the very end. (Our part was over before the Pageant ended, and if we didn't get back to our car before the crowd filed out of the building, we would never make it home in time to undo all the theater makeup and get ready for church.)

I miss all that. I have a DVD of it and if I didn't hide it somewhere in the move, I'll be watching it this Sunday.

But until then, I remember through these pictures, collected here and there throughout the years.