Return Invitation

Last summer, I received an invitation to speak at a little church just outside of Kokomo. They needed someone to speak in their Sunday morning worship service and their pastor's wife had just learned that I had begun to do some speaking, so they invited me. Since Ryan wasn't working, he went with me, which I loved. The congregation is small in number but huge in heart and kindness. We loved being part of their service!

A couple of weeks ago, they called again and invited me back! It's a bit of a relieving feeling to be called back, you know? Well, at least it was until Ryan said maybe they were giving me a chance to prove I really could do it. HA!

I prayed for several days about what to speak on and with the date of the service drawing close and closer, I started to get a little worried when I hadn't heard God prompt me in any particular direction! But one day, as I started to wake up from a nap (one of the times I hear best in prayer!) I had a very clear sense of direction and went to work immediately!

So Sunday morning, Ryan and I packed up the car and headed to the church to share with the people again. We arrived just before their Sunday School hour ended, so when we got inside, we had just a few minutes to wander around and settle in.

Ryan settled into the front pew, but he decided not to stay there. No one needs the nostril view, right?

It only took us five tries to get this photo:

The outtakes are hilarious, but I really need and want Ryan to love me a lot, so I won't post them.

Now if you heard this week's podcast, you heard this story already, but let me just put it in print for posterity. This church has an old fashioned bell in its steeple, and the rope for the bell hangs in (apparently) a very tempting manner in the foyer of the church. While we waited for Sunday School to dismiss, Ryan threatened to ring it and I told him I really wanted a chance to be invited back again to this congregation, so maybe that wasn't the best idea.

But when one of the ladies came out to set up for church, we talked with her and the whole bell thing came up in conversation. She laughed and nodded for him to go ring it. We both stared at her in total disbelief, but she pointed at the rope and said, "Go ahead! It's okay! Ring it!"

Well, he needed no further invitation.

Pretty sure he stopped JUST short of actually swinging from the rope.

A few minutes later, we heard another church bell - from the church about a block away. The woman who had said Ryan could ring the bell listened closely and said, "They're trying to outdo you! They never ring their bell. Ring it again!"

I feared I might never lure him away from this bell!

But I did. Church began and it was a great service. While we were singing, a gentleman got up and left the sanctuary, but he came right back with his harmonica and he played along with the congregation for the rest of the time. I don't know when (or even IF) I've heard such a thing before in person, and I loved it!

When I got up to speak, the people were just so kind, and I appreciated them laughing along with the stories (laughing at appropriate points, that is) and taking in the message God pressed on me!

(Bonus! My mom remembered that this church had thrown her a surprise baby shower before I was born, and I found some of the pictures in my baby book. I took the whole album so they could see that blast from the past!)

A wonderful Sunday...thanks, Hemlock, for asking me to come back!

The Saturday Six

One.

Listen here.

This week, I had the privilege of interviewing Jackie Drew, who is a small-business owner, along with her husband, Rick. They own Rad-Joy, where they make Surrender crosses: wooden crosses that provide a way for you to write down your burdens and concerns and nail them to cross in an act of surrender to the Lord. I went into the interview eager to learn more about their business, and I did learn that, but I walked away encouraged tremendously in my faith after hearing Rick and Jackie's personal faith journey. This particular Conversation Cafe is a bit longer than the rest, but Jackie is a great communicator, and I think you'll find her story well worth your time! (And then check out the crosses because they are unique and beautiful!)

Two.

 Back when I was single, I shopped at Aldi regularly, because it helped the old budget. After Ryan and I got married, we gave up shopping at Aldi because our double-commuter schedule put grocery shopping in a very late-night slot, and Aldi was always closed when we went. This year, we've returned to shopping at Aldi and are enjoying getting good deals {and some really good food!} there. Mandi at Life Your Way did a post this week on how shopping for her growing family was putting a strain on the budget and she details what she can get at Aldi for under $300 for 2 weeks {for eight people}! If you've never shopped at Aldi and want to see what the fuss is about, check out her post! The picture of her purchases is impressive!

Three.

 I told you in my "Day in the Life" post last week that a friend of mine had called to interview me for a class project. She finished her article and shared it with me, so I'm going to share it with you! I offer it not because it's about me, but just because I am so proud of Amy for her journalism skills and for being bold enough to share her work (she doesn't do that often) and I wanted to pass along the love!

Four.

 Is bravery as hard for you as it is for me? {Spoiler alert: I'm pretty terrible at it.} My friend Hether wrote this beautiful post on being brave. Maybe you need to hear it like I did.

Five.

Ahhhh, children of the 90's. Here's a trip down memory lane for you. Own any of these shoes? A special shout-out from me to number seventeen!!

Six.

Every now and then, I read an author's debut novel, and I never know what to expect going in. They're often good, but this week, I have to say my experience with a debut novel was exceptional. Ann Marie Stewart's novel Stars in the Grass was so well-written that I consistently forgot I was not reading a memoir. She was that in tune with her main character. Fantastic work.  

The story is told in first person from the perspective of nine-year-old Abby McAndrews, the middle child of a preacher and his wife. They're living a common life in 1970 in Ohio, shepherding a common Presbyterian church, and taking a break for a common vacation to visit family. And that's when the unthinkable happens: Abby's little brother Joel, just three years old, dies in an uncommon, freak accident.

And that's where the common ends and the uncommon, confusing, unpredictable trail of grief begins for the McAndrews family. Four remaining members and four very different ways of processing the deepest kind of loss. Not only that, but grief was handled very differently in the 70's than it is today. Emotions weren't spoken out loud quite as freely. Counseling wasn't as heartily recommended. So the days go by, where Abby works to process her own feelings, guilt, curiosity, and confusion, while watching her family do the same. She's wise and intuitive beyond her years, and yet her little-girl heart is so innocent and tender.

I would easily say that the characters in this book were the most well-developed of probably any book I have ever read. I knew them better than I know some of my own real-life friends and family, by the time I closed the book. The book itself is both captivating and heart-wrenching. It's not a light read by a long shot. The suffocating grief is hard to read, and yet you can't stop, because you're cheering for this family and you want to see them make it to a new normal.

Ann's description of the 70's is well-written. Enough detail to remind you how different things are today, but blended enough that it doesn't scream of another era and distract from the story line.

The only disappointment I had in the book was that it did contain one swear word. (I'm a stickler about clean language in books I read and won't read books that don't meet that standard. It's just a personal preference.) Having said that, I will add that the word was understandably placed, as part of a grief-stricken rant, and I do realize that even in choosing that word, she was making the point of  debilitating grief . It just caught me off guard because I wasn't expecting it from a Christian-marketed book.

But that does not keep me from loving this book and being astounded at the craftsmanship of Ann's writing. This was one of those books that made me want to be a better writer and story-teller. I appreciated it and will add it to my permanent library.

And as a side note, I will add that if you have experienced a deep loss that still marks you, even if it was years ago, this book might be a perfect pick for you. It will be hard to read and will stir up much emotion, I have a feeling, but I think you'll find a camaraderie, even in the friendship of a nine-year-old girl from the 70's.

*  This book officially releases on February 1, so you still have a couple more days before it hits shelves, but when it does, check it out! I received a complimentary copy from Barbour Publishing and was not required to give a favorable review. All opinions are my own! *

Bicentennial Torch Relay

I have no idea if schools all follow {or still follow} the grade level study schedules I did when I was a kid, but way back then, we studied Indiana history in 7th grade.

I really don't remember many of the specifics of the class {or of anything history-related, much to the chagrin of my history-teaching father}, but I clearly remember the written/oral reports. I don't remember how often we had to do them, but periodically, we'd have to study a specific part of Indiana's history and write a report about what we learned. Then we had to read our reports out loud to the class.

As in stand up in front of classmates and talk.

The reports were much like you would expect from a group of seventh-graders: excruciating. Kids got up, slapped their stapled reports on the podium, leaned their heads so far toward the papers that you could barely hear their words, and mumbled assembled facts that sounded just like the last dozen reports.

I determined to be different. Not to show up my classmates, but just to survive history research. I turned all my reports into short stories, reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie. I created families and named all the members and threw them into whatever situation I'd researched and then for twelve or so pages {not kidding}, I'd tell their stories. They had log cabins and horses and oil lamps and the whole nine yards.

This may be why I had very few friends at that stage in life. It may also be why half my class was asleep after my reports. 2:30 p.m. and a twelve page mini-series? I can't blame them for napping.

But that's what made history interesting to me: stories. It's why I like the 92 county tour project Ryan and I are apparently devoting the rest of our natural lives to completing. There are stories hidden everywhere. Stories of how counties got their names, stories of how coffee shops came to be planted in refurbished buildings, and stories of the quirky little places unique to each county.

I can't spout off dates to you, and there's a whole lotta history I couldn't begin to teach, but I can tell you the stories.

So that's why I was excited last week to be just the tiniest part of a piece of that history. Indiana is celebrating its bicentennial this year {a fact I also had not remembered from studying all those many years ago}, and part of the year's celebration is a torch relay that is still in the middle of traveling through all 92 counties in Indiana, a trail that covers 3200 miles.

In each county, different people carry the torch in a relay-fashion. It began in Corydon, which {little known fact for you out-of-state readers} was the original state capital, and it will end in the present capital, Indianapolis. The relay started just over a month ago and will end this week! Last week, it came through Howard County, and the path of the torch was scheduled to go right by Ryan's work! It seemed only reasonable to go watch, because this is the only bicentennial the state will ever have, and I won't likely be alive for the next 100 year celebration!

I went over to his work just a little early, because I didn't want to miss it, but of course, it was running late, so I hung out in the parking lot for quite a while! {Loitering in a hospital parking lot is not terribly exciting, in case you were ever thinking of doing it.}

 Not until I arrived, did I discover the hospital was actually a "torch passing" location! The motorcade stopped right there to allow it to change hands!

{The motorcade had a lead car that stopped by ahead of time to make sure all was well.}

It came by right at the end of Ryan's work day, and his last patient canceled, so he was able to leave early and come watch with me!

The motorcade is coming!

Howard County has a huge automotive legacy, so it only made sense for the torch to arrive at the stopping point in this car:

From there, it was given to an elementary student who had been nominated by his principal. It was pretty exciting to get to see a kid get to participate!

After pausing for some pictures, the torchbearer and entourage continued on down the road to the next relay point, and we went on home.

They had a huge celebration downtown, and maybe if I had felt better, we would have gone to check it out, but the cold I have acquired was beginning to really knock me over, so I mostly just wanted my blanky and a couch. :)

I can only presume that in another couple hundred years, some nerdy junior high girl will write a twelve page essay for history class about a torch relay and how a cute therapist and his bloggery wife went to watch it.

{Tell her not to read it out loud in the middle of the afternoon. Unless, of course, she serves caffeine.}

To Cassie...On Her Wedding Weekend

Dear Cassie:

You were my best Christmas present ever. What eleven year old doesn't want a baby sister for Christmas? And since my parents made it quite clear that request was n.e.v.e.r. gonna happen, having a niece arrive in time for Christmas was equal perfection, I thought.

Would have been nice if I'd notified my face, wouldn't it?

One week after your birth...one week to the day...Jesus took hold of my heart in a new and passionate way, and sometime right after this picture was taken...

I hid in the bathroom of your parents' house in Amboy and knelt beside the tub to tell Him I was ready for a real relationship. I was already His daughter and saved by His grace, but that was the day my relationship became real. That was the day when, because of your tiny baby-girl hand in mine, I knew I needed my hand in His.

I love you because you're my niece, but I treasure your life even more because you impacted my eternity. That's even better than a baby for Christmas.

We were always pals. The beauty of an eleven-year age gap is that we really were more like sisters. We played and read books and colored and dressed up and made-believe...and you kindly overlooked my sense of fashion.

You copied what I did...journaling and reading from your own Bible when I read from mine and praying prayers that your dad said sounded like mine. He said he could always tell when you'd been hanging out with me because you started praying like I did. {Hope I didn't lead you astray there, Sister!}

I think, given the amount of years {most of them} that we've been separated by too many miles, we've done a good job of keeping our relationship open and great.

We grew up together...bumbling along the way and figuring out this life thing. You watched some pretty rough parts of my own journey and encouraged me and kept loving me even when I fell apart. I love you for that.

I admire your bravery. You are my girl in SO MANY WAYS, but bravery isn't one of them. You found your courage years before I did. In fact, you found yours before I found mine in real time, and you're eleven years behind me chronologically.

You had me at your high school graduation when you gave a speech in front of the President. OF THE UNITED STATES.

While you were doing that, I was hyperventilating my way through security and trying not to make eye contact with the Secret Service.

But you did it...and you did it with incredible grace. I mean really...how many aunts get to read quotes from their nieces' speeches on CNN?

We've found a way to make it work...trekking back and forth for the big moments in life...being part of each other's worlds. Thanks for making a place for me, always.

Aside from the bravery, I love how many things we both love. From books to organization, you're my girl through and through. I love it and I'm sorry.

You've supported me so fully in so much. You walked every step of my wedding day with me, taking pictures, running errands, carrying the bears, whatever I needed. You've read my books and offered your feedback. You encouraged me when I finally found my own sense of bravery lurking beneath the surface. I love you for all of that, too.

You put up with my endless photo taking, and you've actually extended an invitation for me to take pictures throughout the wedding weekend. I thought I was supposed to be the one giving YOU a gift!

You've welcomed Ryan into the family and made him your uncle, no questions asked. I still remember that night when you all came home to surprise us at Christmas, and you spent the night at our house, and the three of us stayed up crazy late talking and you asked our advice, listened to our thoughts, and we made a whole new aunt/uncle/niece family right there in that conversation.

And now it's your turn. Your wedding weekend. You've found the one your heart loves, and you're ready to hold on and not let go. My heart is bursting for you. Bursting with joy and pride and excitement.

I am proud of you for waiting, even when the wait was hard, to marry a man who loves you so well and is such a match for you. {Sorry you had to take after me on the waiting, too!} I have loved watching you blossom IN love and I have loved seeing contentment in you. The contentment of knowing this is good and right.

There's no formula for this marriage thing. You'll walk down an aisle in a stunning dress and exchange some words and have a party and go home with a new last name. All that is scripted and will go somewhat according to plan and the parts that don't go according to plan will just be great stories for later. {And you'll still be married, so it won't even matter.}

But then you'll hit marriage and there will be many good and wonderful things, and you should celebrate those. You know my philosophy. You can't over-celebrate marriage. Celebrate all the versaries and even a Tuesday if you want to. Tuesdays are underrated. Have fun. Make memories. Make traditions. TAKE PICTURES, for the love of Pete! {Or I suppose more appropriately, for the love of Kasey.}

Some days will be hard. Ryan and I hear a lot of people say that marriage is hard, and maybe for some, it is. It hasn't been for us. LIFE has been hard, and DAYS have been hard, but we just have a friend in our boat to do the hard days with. He has grumpy and disappointing days, and I try to cheer and champion him. I have grumpy and disappointing days, and he returns the favor. That's what you do. You balance and work as a team to do this life thing. You choose love every morning and then you walk through the day to figure out what love looks like that day.

Some days love is a versary with cake and a party. Some days love is sitting in the ER and hearing about gallbladder surgery. Some days love is dancing outside in the pitch black. Some days love is cleaning out the refrigerator because the other one hates to do it.

But choose love every day and then do the love thing, however it looks, for that day.

We had this line in our vows, and I go back to it all the time: I will live first unto our God and then unto you. Your job is to put God first and Kasey second, and his job is to do the same back to you. I haven't kept that every day of our marriage. Sometimes I want to put Ryan first and I have to remember that God was my first love. All the way back in that questionable hair photo when you were just a baby. God made me His. So my love is His first and then Ryan's and when I love Ryan the way God teaches me to love, it works. And when Ryan loves me as Christ loved the church, it works.

So do that. Even if it's not spelled right out like that in your vows.

I'm proud of you. This is the start of a beautiful new adventure that you both get to figure out one day and step at a time. Hold hands. Kiss all the time. Say I LOVE YOU out loud, and figure out how to be the Gambles. There's no manual until you write one. Write a good one.

Can't wait to see your beautiful self tomorrow. Much love to you both from both of us. We are excited for you!

Love,

Aunt Bekah

PS: The verse below is no reflection on marriage. HA! It's just the verse that came up for the day. But the last part...now that's a good attitude to take into marriage.

Road Trip Travel Bag

Well first of all, the BIGGEST gift of my day yesterday was reading through all your comments and smiling HUGE smiles at your stories of how you stumbled upon this humble little blog and what you like to read. Seriously. Better than a cupcake. {Whoa. That's a bold statement. Let me pause for a moment.} Thank you for being so kind as to let me know you're there! I think I met some of you for the first time, and I dearly loved it.

Today's post is kind of different, but maybe you'll find something inspirational in it that can fit into your world no matter your life station!

A few weeks ago, Ryan's brother and his family went on a mission trip. We weren't able to attend the fundraiser dinner their church had several weeks before that, and I felt really bad about it. I wanted to do something to encourage and support them, so I decided to put together a little travel gift. I found some coloring books and little games for the kids, a bag of iced animal cookies {do those thrill anyone else's soul like they do mine??} and a selfie stick, just for fun. I put them all in a bag and gave them to my sister-in-law.

You know what I loved? Halfway through the lonnnnnnnnnnnnng day of travel they had, she sent me some pictures, taken using the selfie stick, that showed the whole carload of them having fun with the games and coloring books.

I thought about that this week when I ran across a pin on Pinterest that had some ideas on keeping your kids occupied in the car, and I have to say, this is something my mom did very well when I was little. By the time I hit my teen years, all I needed was a pack of batteries for my Walkman {WOW, I'm old!} and a stack of novels. But when I was little, road trips were just long days in a small space. This was, of course, before electronic games and portable DVD players. This was back when imagination was required.

The trip I remember specifically was our family vacation to Washington D.C. I was between my second and third grade years of school, and the Freelan-mobile at that time was a snazzy station wagon. This was before the rules of car seats, and I was blissfully able to curl up in the way-back of the station wagon with my pillow and blankets and watch the world go by through the hatchback window of the car. And I did just that all the way to Washington D.C. and back.

{BONUS! My mom pulled out the photo album from this trip and took some pictures of pictures. Please excuse the 80's camera quality and 80's hair, but enjoy a peek at our trip!}

Indiana to Washington D.C. isn't horrible, but when you're eight, it's not the quickest. Mom planned ahead and purchased little games and gifts, wrapped them, and assigned each gift a time slot. When the time slot arrived, she'd pass the gift to my sister in the back seat who passed it to me in the way-back, and I'd open it and enjoy something new and different for the next couple of hours before a new gift time arrived.

I still remember that, 30 years later. And now I do it for the Shafferland road trips. Hey, you don't have to have kids to need games on the road! You can BE an overgrown kid who needs games on the road. So anytime we take a trip, I print out some new and fun things we can do while we roll across the miles.

So all of this led to the next portion of my thought process {boy, I bet you're glad you don't live in my brain, huh?}..which is the point of the post.

I am always on the lookout for gift ideas that are budget-friendly, easy to make, and a bit on the different side from what everyone else is doing. This is especially important now that we're on a more limited income than we were!

Enter the newest gift idea in my brain: a travel bag or travel binder. I started a Pinterest board {of course!} to keep track of my ideas, and I'll put it below for you, but I think this is such a fun and different idea, whether for your own kids, for grandkids, for nieces and nephews, or just for people you love who have kids and like to travel.

The ideas I found had already-designed printables that you can just print out at home.. You could also laminate them or put them in plastic sleeves if you want them to be usable with dry-erase markers so they can have a longer life span.

There are also ideas for little games that use supplies you can find inexpensively at a dollar store or maybe even garage sale/thrift store {with good cleaning, of course}.

This is a great time of year to stock up on supplies like dry-erase markers, crayons, and other similar supplies, since back-to-school stuff is on sale.

Even if the kids in your life don't travel a ton {travel is expensive, and I know sometimes families can't afford huge trips...been there!!!}, a travel bag or travel binder could make even an hour or two in the car a bit more pleasant. And it's a great break from electronics, too. {My sister-in-law...the same one from the mission trip...was telling me the other day about some article she read that talked about some of the negative effects already seen in small kids who spend a lot of time on electronic devices, and she said it really made her think about her own kids' time on such things. So even if this idea may seem strange at first to the recipient, I really think it's something they'll appreciate as they see it really IS possible to be entertained apart from a handheld device!}

I'm excited to make one for a gift and thought I'd share it with you in case you want to do the same! And of course, Pinterest has way more ideas than I've pinned on my board. This is just a starting point. Happy hunting and creating!

The Saturday Six

One.

Source

Stumbled across a new {to me} blog last week that has some delicious looking healthy recipes on it. Thought I would pass it along your way in case you're in need of some new recipes!

Two.

Source

If you were a child of the 70's/80's/90's, this is a fun list to scroll through. Might recognize some of your own toys! :) And if you're extra fortunate, you might still own them!

Three.

Source

I know, I know. I just showed you a tiny house in LAST week's Six. But I might like this one even better!! 

Four.

My jewelry box fell apart after about 20 years of use. THE NERVE. I should pause and say that I'm not a "real" jewelry girl in that I see no personal point in spending our money on actual gold and silver and gems. No judgment toward those who love real jewelry, but it doesn't zing me. I'd rather fund my scrapbook addiction than get diamond earrings. So my jewelry is mostly stuff I've gotten at Cato or home parties. And I love it. I do love wearing jewelry EVERY DAY. I just don't need it to be expensive stuff. Last week we finally finished making my new jewelry hangers. We painted blocks of wood {the top one is actually board intended for house numbers...we got it at Lowe's and the bottom one was a scrap wood square we found at this house when we moved in} and Ryan added hooks to them so I could hang my necklaces and bracelets. I love having them out where I can see them, and I love it that the project was CHEAP! 

Five.

I did some editing to one of my Pinterest boards this week, and I thought I would share the board with you here, in case you need some inspiration! I know everyone uses Pinterest differently, but for the most part, my goal is never to 100% recreate an exact look that I find on there, but rather just to be inspired to find something fun to use as a creative springboard. Even though our guest room isn't done, I went through my Guest Room board and edited it to show how the pins inspired me to work on our room! If you have a guest room that needs some help, maybe you'll get some ideas!  

Six.

Source

My favorite kind of fiction, when I was growing up, was pioneer fiction. I guess that shouldn't surprise anyone who knows of my deep love for TV shows like Little House and Dr. Quinn, right? But in my recent reading days, I've ventured away from historical settings and into more contemporary settings, for the most part. Now and then, though, I like to expand my horizons and return to my first love of a setting in days gone by.

This week, my book of choice was Mary Connealy's No Way Up, a book set in the wild ranching west in the late 1800's. This book is the first in a new series by Mary...The Cimarron Legacy. Mary is an award-winning author who loves writing romantic comedy with cowboys, and the cowboys certainly saturated No Way Up!

Chance Boden is the beloved patriarch of the successful Cimarron Ranch, but he is concerned for the future of the Ranch, since his three grown children seem to be more interested in their own dreams {and arguing with each other} than pursuing a future in the family business.

Chance alters his will to declare that his three children must move to the ranch and stay there to run it for a year, or they will forfeit their entire inheritance, but before he can deliver the news to his children, Chance is caught in a terrifying avalanche. His life is spared by the quick actions of one of his hired hands, Heath Kincaid, and while Chance spends time recovering, Heath begins to suspect that the avalanche was intentionally set and the danger hasn't passed. Determined to spare the lives of the three Boden children {one of whom happens to be a beautiful young woman}, Heath sets a plan in place to figure out what's happening and why.

I admit I was nervous to read in this genre when I haven't for so long, but Mary's writing drew me in quickly and I didn't even have to mentally adjust to a different time period. The suspense is present, though not breath-stopping, and I enjoyed the touches of family life, romance, and yes, even some giggles along the way.

In the last quarter of the book, I stumbled a bit with a section that brought in new characters and caused me to get a bit lost, but I have a feeling that was more on me as a reader than on Mary as a writer.

Book two in this series is scheduled to release next February {and there were a good number of loose ends awaiting a neat bow when the book concluded}, and I learned on Mary's website that there's also a prequel novella available for this series if you're interested in more of the back story!

If you like western books with a faith base, check out this new series - and perhaps you'll wander your way through more of Mary's books!

Thanks, Bethany House, for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!