The Shafferland Shuffle

Well there certainly has not been a shortage of events this week!! Full, full week! Here we go!

* Last Sunday, Ryan had to work, which is a rare thing, but it does sometimes happen. (By Friday, he had worked 13 days in a row, and we were both exhausted.) When he got home, we went to an open house for a recently built house in our neighborhood. We love to see what's new! Ryan likes the light fixture and I photo-bombed. :) And that night, we began the first of allllllllll the visits to the hospital. That night? To see his mom.

* Monday I spent an hour and a half at the Goodwill, buying clothes for my spring capsule project (more on this later). I think that may be a record for the amount of time I've spent at the Goodwill in one day. That night, we went back to the hospital to see Ryan's mom again, and then out to my parents' house to drop off the 30 freezer meals I made for them. (They were surprised!)

* Tuesday was Mom's surgery day, so I hurried to get all my chores done in the morning and then we spent the whole afternoon and evening at the hospital with her. (And threw in some visits to Ryan's mom while we were at it.) We had Bible study that night and made minor pigs of ourselves on the snacks provided, because we'd never gotten around to having dinner!

* I'm sure it will surprise you that I spent part of Wednesday at the hospital, attending Mom's therapy sessions and delivering flowers. Ryan and I went back that night to see her again and to get our daily hospital selfie. We tried to get one every day this week, but this was the last day we actually remembered to do it.

* Thursday morning, we went on the first portion of our "C" date (more on this to come), and then while Ryan went to work, I went back to the hospital to be Mom's therapy coach. Even got to eat lunch with her! Ryan and I went back that afternoon to help with her release and to get her home and into the house safely. Quite a production!

* Friday morning, my dad had a previously scheduled appointment, so I went to sit with Mom while he was gone and to help when the home health nurse came. (Lots of questions and Mom was still pretty groggy from all the happenings of the week.) Came home, worked all afternoon and then that night, Ryan and I had part two of our "C" date. We were so tired, we ended up sleeping on Mo and I missed the entire end of the movie we watched!

* Woke up yesterday to SNOW. COME ON, INDIANA! Snow was so last month. Let's move on to spring! We went out for the third and final portion of our "C" date, and then I had to get back home for a podcast interview. It was Ryan's first day off in two weeks, so he enjoyed updating his phone and doing other fun at-home chores. Well-deserved. We paid a quick visit to my parents, and it's great to see Mom doing so well!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy Sunday, everyone! This week, we have some classic Indiana for you in the old Shuffle! Hope you enjoy!

* Last Sunday was a glorious, low-key Sunday at home. It was also Super Bowl Sunday, and because we didn't have any personal investment in the teams playing, we didn't go to or host a party this year. I did make a clean eating queso recipe and clean eating mozzarella sticks for our party for two, and we watched the whole game! Commercials, half-time show, overtime and all!

* Monday night we had Tuesdays at the Table. Confused? LOL! We wanted to have our friend Randy over for dinner, but Monday was a better day for him, so that became our night! I kept the menu on the healthy side - a cleaned up version of cheeseburger soup, salads, and even a healthy dessert. We had a great time catching up with Randy!

* Tuesday was a rainy day: perfect for staying home to write, which is exactly what I did all day. Had a big old writing marathon. Worked on chronicling more of our story, which took me back to journals of yore. Ryan brought home a cupcake treat for us - leftover from a birthday party at work. Delicious! And we had Bible study, which turned out to be a great night of discussion!

* Ryan woke up Wednesday morning with Starbucks on his mind, so even before work, we were in the car headed out for a treat! And by afternoon, the entire city was coated in the most beautiful snow. It came down like a snow globe and was just stunning to behold!

* Annnnnnnnnnnnnd then on Thursday it wasn't so pretty anymore. It was just icy and dangerous. We even had a school delay! I slid back home JUST in time for my podcast interview with Sarah Beckman, and I worked on that the rest of the day. I remembered late in the afternoon that I was supposed to make a dessert for a small group meeting that night, so I scurried around to throw something together, and off we went to meet some new friends from church!

* Friday was a busy day for both of us - the kind of day that leaves you warming up leftovers for lunch and going out for dinner. Ryan sent me a picture from work: I think Ryan's work is a little too fun sometimes!! :) The fun went downhill when he got home: tax prep is not fun at all!

* Yesterday was supposed to be rainy, but it turned out to be a gorgeous WARM spring-like day. No coats needed! (Yes, you read that right. Two days after a snow day.) We did a county tour to Boone county, which I'll tell you more about tomorrow, but it was just such a fun day! Loved having Ryan all to myself and exploring new territory!

Snowwwwwwwwwwwww!!

Well you are looking at one grateful girl. SO GLAD my dental appointment was last Thursday and not today. Today I'll just be praying my way to elementary school and back {#hatesnowdriving}.

Right before Ryan came home for lunch yesterday, these big, beautiful, snow-globey flakes began to fall. I had no idea what to expect, because they've promised snows all winter that {mercifully} never came. So I didn't know if it would snow this time at all, and if it did, how much would end up on the ground.

It snowed the entire day, slow and steady. So pretty. So picturesque. Words I can only say because I was done driving for the day. I heard the roads started to get nasty last night, and to me, snow is never as pretty when it becomes treacherous.

But for the day, it was a pretty, pretty snow.

I stopped writing every couple of hours to take a fresh round of pictures, with the snow domed up more than it had been.

And by the time Ryan came home, there was a decent amount to shovel from the driveway, and a stunning yard full of snow.

It was the most snow we'd seen since we moved here, and I loved seeing how our house fit under a pretty blanket of snow.

{And now as long as the snow gets off the roads and stops being treacherous, I will happily continue to enjoy the view.}

The Saturday Six

One.

Listen to the Interview.

This week I talked with Kelly O'Dell Stanley (a fellow Hoosier!!), who just released a new book called Designed to Pray. It's a study/workbook/prayer guide to help you creatively find new ways to approach prayer. Prayer seems to be a theme that keeps popping up for me, and I'm learning a whole lot about it right now, so I'm happy to be able to pass that on to you! This book is different from the one on prayer I featured last month, and both have great ideas. But if you have a few art-loving genes in your soul, you'll especially want to take a listen to Kelly's interview. BONUS! Learn more about this book at the end of this post, and I even have a copy to give away! :)

Two.

 Some of you might have heard this story and some of you probably didn't - and I only bring it up because I'm so impressed with the way it's been handled. Several weeks ago, a high school student posted a photo of himself and a friend with a couple of Colts cheerleaders, who had come to the high school for an event, and he made a racial slur about one of them. Not the best press for the high school, but I have to say, every single article I've read about the cheerleader and how she handled it has really impressed me. Read this, and pay particular attention to what she says about how all of us who are adults have a responsibility to teach kids good values and forgiveness by participating ourselves. Convicting stuff - at least for me.

Three.

So apparently, two years ago, right about this time, we were knee {waist?} deep in snow and Polar Vortexy goodness. I. Do. Not. Miss. That. I remember that winter and allllllllllllllll the tears I shed getting back and forth to work every day. Oh, those two hour drives! BLECH! Anyway. In my Facebook timehop this week, I found an article someone sent me back then of these lighthouses covered in snow and ice. Still fascinates me to no end. Check it out!

Four.

Speaking of snow, I loved this post by a blogger named Elizabeth Lang Thompson. She lives in the south and writes about how southerners do snow days instead of foraging ahead in the peril of snow. I feel I would make a good southerner. Bring me some sweet tea and let me have my snow day, thankyouverymuch.

Five.

I cannot imagine putting the amount of time and work into a project that is described in this post by Thistlewood Farm's KariAnne, but oh. my. goodness. Coolest keepsake ever. All of it. The book, the family tree, the memorabilia. It's amazing. Read up and enjoy.

Six.

Source

As I promised at the beginning of the post, I will tell you more about Kelly O'Dell Stanley's book, Designed to Pray, and then stick around, because I have a giveaway of this book to share with one of you!

Kelly O'Dell Stanley is a graphic designer and writer, and her two loves collided in this book. She had previously written a book on prayer called Praying Upside Down, and after completing that book, she began to have ideas for an interactive workbook type project on prayer that she hoped would help people become closer to the Lord through creative approaches to prayer.

This book isn't really a "read from cover to cover" kind of book, although I read it that way so I could tell you about it! It's a book you'll want to approach in a slow, daily kind of pace until you've worked your way through every single page. It's designed as an 8 week study on prayer, with new activities to try every single day.

She talks about everything from trying actual new postures of prayer to learning new ways to remember (consistently) to pray for requests that come your way to suiting up in the full armor of God as you pray, and over 50 additional ideas in between.

There might be some exercises that don't zing you, and that's okay. Her goal isn't for every single activity to resonate with every single reader. Her goal is to help you uncover new ideas you might not have considered and to unlock some prayerful creativity in you.

And if you're nervous about trying a book like this because you don't really have creative genes within you, NEVER FEAR! She already thought of that and designed each exercise to be a door-opener for the creative and well-equipped for the creatively challenged. You'll find enough tools on each page to be able to do some version of the exercise, even if you can't draw or think outside the box very well.

(OH! And if you are into the coloring craze, you'll find more than one opportunity to use that outlet in this book!)

You'll want to hear Kelly's interview above to learn more about her heart behind this book, but one thing she mentioned as she talked to me is that God is THE CREATOR, so to approach Him with reverent creativity is to approach one of the core pieces of who He is!

Though this book is geared for women (and is actually one of the resources on the new Belong tour), I think it would work well for teens, too, so if you're mentoring a young woman or have a daughter you're trying to find some common ground with on the topic of teaching prayer, this might be the ticket!

GIVEAWAY: I have one copy of this book to give away to one of YOU! To enter, just leave a comment telling me your biggest obstacle in your prayer life. (And if you comment anonymously, make sure you leave your contact info so I can reach you if I draw your name!) I'll leave this contest open until next Friday night, January 20th, at midnight, and then I'll post the winner's name on next week's Saturday 6!

** I received two copies of Designed to Pray at no cost to me from Tyndale Momentum and the Blythe Daniel Agency. All opinions on the book in this written review and in the podcast are my own. *

The Shafferland Shuffle

After the week we've had, I kind of feel like New Year's Day was about 1000 years ago, but alas, it was just last Sunday! Here's a peek at our way-more-eventful-week-than-we-planned happenings!

* Last Sunday, as I said, was New Year's Day, and we'd planned to spend the day with Ryan's extended family for our annual Christmas gathering, but alas, we spent it in the Emergency Room instead, trying to get to the bottom of Ryan's sudden onset of pain within the last week. After four hours and a huge battery of tests, we were sent home with instructions to await the birth of Myrtle the kidney stone.

* Monday was our 49th monthiversary, and since Ryan's department was closed to observe New Year's Day, we actually got to spend the day together. YAY!!! We took it easy at home and tried to celebrate, but Ryan was still in a decent amount of pain, so it wasn't perhaps in the top five of most fun and eventful monthiversaries of all time. I hated that for him, but I was still happy to be with him.

* Tuesday, Ryan went back to work, and so did I, after a month or so away from my writing and speaking pursuits. We also hosted our first Tuesdays at the Table for 2017 that night, inviting our friends John and Sandee over for dinner. Apparently I cooked the worst of all the things for Ryan's poor stomach, because John and Sandee had barely left before we were in the car headed back to the Emergency Room for another 3 hours of tests. This time, we were sent home with an ulcer diagnosis.

* Wednesday, I returned to the carpool world, because school returned to full-time session. (I had a feeling the kiddo I drive to school would not be quite ready to go back, and I was right!) I spent the day working hard, and when I went to visit Ryan at the end of the work day, I even got to see Miss Phoebe! That's always a good day. Ended the day by making a big batch of granola, which made the house smell just like a bakery.

* Thursday, I devoted (hey!! that's my word of the year!) my entire day to finishing the work on my website to get it up and running. I got the entire site done, which made me SO HAPPY, and also SO BEHIND on my steps. I had to do some major laps around the house to get them all in, but I did it! And it was the perfect day to do all this, because it was also our first snow of 2017! (There's no picture of this because I guess he didn't want to remember it, but this was also the day of Ryan's gallbladder ultrasound, which showed the healthiest liver in Howard county...and no gallstones.)

* Friday was cold here in the Midwest, although we were not preparing for any blizzards like I know some of you were! I ran my errands early so I could be HOME where it was warm, finishing my book and trying out my new foot soak kit (HEAVENLY). Ryan and I did our grocery shopping right after work so we could come home and rest all evening. Ryan's had a long, hard week, and he definitely deserved his rest! Since we can't eat most places currently, we got Subway and brought it home. Delicious - and bonus! Didn't make Ryan sick!

* Yesterday was cold again, but I told Ryan whenever the sun comes out and the wind dies down, it somehow doesn't feel quite as cold. I worked hard to try making some new recipes to try to make Ryan's diet a little more exciting, and he was able to eat everything I made. YAY! He was even feeling well enough last night to run to Starbucks for a latte. He takes the whole coffee thing very easy right now, so this was a treat!

Rest...Heard of It?

Yesterday was supposed to be our family Christmas with Ryan's mom's side of the family. Christmas in the log cabin is always picturesque. It's the kind of Christmas that when I married into the family, I thought fully encapsulated what Christmas was supposed to look like. Lots of family, lots of kids, lots of excitement, lots of food, and, well, of course - the log cabin in the woods.

{I'm not kidding. Photo credit to Nita for this, but see what I mean??}

But when ice covered central Indiana overnight from Friday into Saturday, and when the forecast called for more of the same, plus sub-zero temperatures for Sunday, the decision was made to err on the side of safety and delay Christmas until a warmer (?), safer day.

Our church bent toward safety, too, canceling services yesterday, so Ryan and I were presented with one of our favorite things: a snow day!

Ryan got up before I did {because left to my own devices, I will not exit a bed until the last possible minute} and had the kitchen buzzing with biscuits, gravy, eggs, and coffee by the time I finally peeked out with bedhead and a purple bathrobe wrapped all around me.

A lazy morning of breakfast, coffee, and church on TV followed by naps, football, scrapbooking, more naps, more coffee, more football, and twinkly lights shining from Grizzy in the corner made for pretty much the perfect day.

It's not Christmas in a log cabin, to be sure. We had to concoct an alternative dinner plan that wasn't quite as delicious as Allen's pancakes with homemade maple syrup, but even with those adjustments, it was a good day.

Christmas in the Midwest falls to the mercy of the weather more than any of us want to admit. Flights are canceled and people who planned to come home...can't. Parties have to be postponed. Christmas programs get moved. It's disappointing to young and old alike, for sure, when the calendar, already stuffed full of activities, has to be altered.

But sometimes we need rest more than we need the happenings. That whole silent night and heavenly peace thing isn't just for the songs. It's for us, too. It's for those of us who are worn out from making lots of memories. It's for those of us who have overextended in every way to make things perfect for the kids. It's for those of us who are juggling extra jobs on top of extra get-togethers. It's for those of us who are fighting to get well (or stay well) amid a sea of germs.

We don't do it well - the choosing rest. Sometimes we have to bend to the mercy of the weather, swallow the disappointment, and learn to be okay with a plan B sort of celebration. And in the middle of it all, it might just be good for us to think about this thing called rest that has just been offered to us.

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was the kind of leisurely we like. Coffee date in the cafe at church, really convicting service, two hour nap, much scrapbooking and reading and football. I am so grateful God thought to stick a day of rest in each week and I'm so grateful we've become accustomed to taking it as such.

* Monday began my last week in the second round of my clean eating/exercise, and I added one more workout to each day just to shock my body. {It is certainly shocked.} So while I worked out and tried to cook veggie-loaded meals, Ryan was turning the Bekah-mobile over to 200,000. Big day for us!

* I spent much of Tuesday preparing for our small group meeting - trying to get everything pulled together and organized. When Ryan came home, he was carrying a big box full of stuff, so I asked if he still had a job. {He does.} Ryan's doing some speaking in a few weeks, so he spent much of Tuesday night hiding in the office working on his talk. It's odd to check on HIM while HE writes. Isn't it usually the other way around in this household?

 * Wednesday was a pretty snow day here in Indiana {not the kind of snow day most of you are dealing with out east right now}. I went down to campus to take pictures in the snow, which was so pretty! {Had to get to it before the students played in it!} That night we held our small group meeting, and Braeya considered leading it - until people showed up and she freaked out and hid.

* Thursday, I trekked to Fort Wayne for my next follow-up dentist appointment. I was thankful for blue skies and clear roads for my trip! I had to run some errands when I came home, and I was so excited to see PLANTS and FERTILIZER and HOSES out in the store. Spring is coming!!! By the time I got settled in at home again, Braeya had missed me and only wanted to snuggle up and make sure I didn't leave again!

* I've been reading a book about faith in my devos this month, and of course Friday seemed to be test day! I had a rough heart day as I wrestled through some stuff with God: thankful for the freedom to have time to do that and for big boxes of tissues and cups of coffee! When Ryan came home {with a pork loin that he had strapped into the car like a child} we rested and then had date night: Starbucks and grocery shopping! We are THE coolest. 

* Yesterday Ryan went to a ministry meeting, so while he was gone, I did chores and read about half a book. :) And I got presents in the mail, which made for a pretty wonderful day. I'll take presents over bills any day of the week. Last night, we went to visit some different friends who have been sick/recovering from surgery, and then we went to Subway for dinner. Ran into Ryan's brother, so we talked to him for a while. A full day, but a good day!

First Snow

One weekend ago, Ryan and I stood in our backyard, in t-shirts, tearing down the remnants of summer and raking up the remnants of fall.

This weekend: snow.

The snow surprised me, actually. Sure, they predicted it, but we were on the southern bubble, and it seems like in the past few years, when the first snows are predicted, the promised accumulation is actually a dusting. So this time, I expected the dusting.

We still went to the store the night before, because I figured there would be the panicked folks who would go buy up all the bread and milk, and while this would NEVER be my choice of food staples for a blizzard, both things were actually on my grocery list, so I wanted to be sure to beat the crowd to get them.

The first flakes were the kind you have to squint to see - the kind that count only if you're in some kind of a contest to see the actual first snow. I figured the flurries were about to fizzle out, and then they didn't.

I sat in a restaurant with my friends and watched as snow-globe-esque flakes fell. We watched as they stuck to the cars and then the road. We watched as other people entered with giant, almost fake-looking flakes clinging to their coats.

Not just flurries.

We picked our way home from lunch, respecting the heavy, wet snow that sloshed against the wheels, and hoping those coming toward us were kind enough to do the same.

I grabbed the camera and headed into the yard to capture a winter made more beautiful by the safety of the yard.

I prayed as I took pictures, because I knew somewhere out there, people were wrecking cars and finding the hard part of first snows, even as I was overwhelmed by the powdery beauty of the same snow.

The snow was lovely but so thick and wet...I had to let my coat and hat dry out when I came inside, and I had to dry off my camera with a towel.

I heard from some of you {east and west coasters, I'm looking at you!!!} who didn't get snow, so I wanted to share some of ours in pictures.

I have to say...it's so much more fun to enjoy snow when you're not driving in it. Here's to a winter of not commuting!

Linking up!