Daddy Daughter Date Night 2017

Two years ago, after I'd resigned at WBCL, the very last station event I worked was Daddy Daughter Date Night. It was an emotionally charged evening for me, because not only was it my last event, but it was one Ryan hadn't been able to attend, and somehow it didn't feel right to me that he missed my last-ever event!

A few months ago, the station reached out and asked if I'd be interested in coming back to Daddy Daughter Date Night to serve as a volunteer photographer for the night. I said yes - and that's how this last Friday, I made my way back to Fort Wayne to see my work buddies!

Again, Ryan wasn't able to go with me (sadness!), and pretty much everyone I saw said, "HI! Great to see you! Where's Ryan?" LOL!!!

Thought I'd share with you a few pictures from our night!

Remember when I used to be part of PB&J in the morning? (Phil, Bekah, Jim). Well I found the morning team right away when I went in!

Clearly I should have taken the selfie stick! Larry (the news guy), Jim, Phil, and Phil's beautiful daughter Faith! These guys all picked up RIGHT where they left off two years ago - picking on me like you would not believe. I do miss them. They may have given me a hard time, but I do miss them. (DO NOT TELL THEM I ADMITTED THAT IN PRINT.)

I think I heard somewhere that the evening had sold out with 500 tickets. So clearly not all 500 seats are in this photo, but I wanted to get a picture of the room before it started filling up. The color scheme was so beautiful, and I LOVED all the lights!!

While I'm here, I'll show you the place settings and cupcakes!

 The photography team!!

Behind me is Jeri, who hired in right about the same time I did, and next to her (in the striped dress) is Dana, who answered the Mid-Morning phones for the last couple of years before I left. (She does many other things as well, but that's when we got to work together!) The three of us ran cameras for the photo booths, and the two girls on the right are Dana's sisters, who served as our lovely assistants!

I was surprised to actually see people I knew! I saw six people from my old church in Marion! One of them was my mentor for a while, so I had to get a picture with her!

My dear Cindy - I miss her so much!

The photography booths were open as soon as the dads and daughters came in, but when they served dinner, of course, most sat down to eat. So the photography team sat to eat too! We had just started, when we saw lines beginning to form at our stations again. I was so afraid if I walked away from my plate, the waiters would think I lost interest. UH NO!!!! So this was my attempt to hang onto my dinner!

It worked!

That cupcake...

The concert for the evening featured JJ Heller, and while I didn't get to hear a lot of it (chose to spend part of that time visiting with friends I never get to see), I was entirely impressed at how well she related to those girls!! Very personable!

At the end of the night, I did manage to get a few minutes to talk to this lovely lady right here:

Lynne!! We had a great (although quick) talk, and we remembered just how much we miss having long talks!

By the time I packed up my camera bag and limped (stupid shoes!!) out to the car, it was getting late, and by the time I rolled through a drive-thru for caffeine to get me home, I discovered it was going to be after 11 before I got home. Now, I'm not so old that getting home after 11 is late, but this was the first stop on a VERY BUSY WEEKEND, so I wanted to try to get a decent amount of sleep if I could!

So wonderful to see my friends, and so thankful they were kind enough to invite me back! :)

The Shafferland Shuffle

WHEW! Hope you are not floating away in all this rain we've had! What a lotta water!! Here's a peek into the dry parts of our week.

* Last Sunday was the second and final day of Ryan's continuing education course, and it was also the second (and turned out to be final) day of my 3 Day Refresh detox. I felt like I had the flu, so I pretty much stayed on Mo the entire day, with big hair and no makeup. Ryan got home from class that evening, and I was so happy to see him and so sad to be unable to drink coffee that I just cried.

* Because I called it quits on the detox at 4:03 Monday morning (after a long/short night of hallucinations and no sleep), I enjoyed the most amazing cup of coffee when the alarm went off. I've never loved it more. And I mean that. Ryan had a chance to try out a genuine Mayberry sheriff's car that day. Doesn't he look so cute in it? And I was excited to see a preview of Erica Wiggenhorn's forthcoming study on the book of Acts! It's gonna be great!

* Tuesday was our monthiverary. 53 months! We both spent the day working hard on our respective jobs, but that evening, we enjoyed dinner, a Dashing Dish dessert, and a lovely evening at home together. Even got in a nice, hard workout!

* Wednesday was a big office day for me. Lots of writing and practicing for upcoming talks. When I finally flipped my sign to closed at the end of the day, I was pleased with how much I had accomplished! Know what I was not pleased about? The manicure I got at the double-date mani/pedi last Friday completely fell apart. Had to do my own less than a week later. I think it turned out well, though!

* Thursday the rain began to fall...and it was just one wet, nasty day. What a birthday gift for Braeya, huh? She mostly napped all day and I didn't blame her. Wanted to do the same, myself! :) We didn't have nearly the flooding that some areas had, but it still was a soppy wet mess.

* Friday began our crazy busy weekend! I headed up to Fort Wayne to be a volunteer at WBCL's Daddy Daughter Date Night - photography night for me! It was so good to see all my former work buddies! I also got the chance to meet one of my friends' new little baby! :) Ryan spent the evening helping out my parents and enjoying a dinner out with them. Definitely odd to be apart, but we both had great nights!

* I'd gotten home after 11 on Friday night and we were back on the road by 8:15 Saturday morning so I could speak at the Huntington Baptist Church brunch. Ryan went with me, and we had a great morning with the ladies there! We got home just in time to drive the opposite direction, down to Indianapolis, to attend the wedding of one of my high school/game night friends. A full and fun day!

One Year Later...

The date on the calendar this coming Sunday will mark one year since I left WBCL for the last time. One whole year, you guys. I truly cannot believe all that has taken place over this last calendar year. Proof that God really does abundantly above and beyond all we could ask or imagine.

This was a scary day. I was about to voluntarily {and obediently to the Lord} walk away from the job I dearly loved and had grown to be good at, and I had no idea what would be in front of me when the alarm went off the next morning...or the morning after that...or the morning after that.

But you know what's so great?

God knew. He knew all that would be ahead of us, and He knew I needed to be at home, free to handle all the details. {Details known only to Him.}

One. 

Even though it was not the predominant theme of the year, Ryan and I did get to actually rest some this year. I am not sure that people understood how very little rest we had enjoyed since getting married. Double commutes with jobs in health care and radio did not afford much down time. My being home to handle some of the day-to-day tasks gave us more time {even if not a LOT of time} to rest. I cherish it.

Two.

I spent many of the early weeks combing through every square inch of our house and purging all the boxes and truckloads of things we didn't need anymore. It was another task that had piled up since our wedding, and to finally be able to look through it all and weed out the excess was a blessing. It was freeing to simplify, and because I had the time to do so, I was able to sort, price, and arrange everything for a huge garage sale. We made enough money from that sale to pay for our vacation last fall. I was so thankful to be able to contribute that way!

Three.

 In the four years I worked at WBCL, I had time to read about four books. And all of them were work-related. Since leaving the station, I have had the privilege of reading a book every week, and it has been a delight to me. I love learning and honing my own writing craft through reading the words of others!

Four.

 Another thing I didn't have time to do while working? Write. I could blog, but I didn't have time for anything beyond that. In the year that I have been off work, I have written an entire book manuscript and am working to publish it. And the ideas for more that swirl in my head tell me I need to keep doing what I'm doing!

Five.

 We trained for and ran a race, which is something I would love to do again, but it was the first time we'd made time for this since we got married.

Six.

 Though we are still learning to have more time for this, we loved being able to actually have a little more time to spend with friends this year. Dinners and parties here and there, connecting and reconnecting in ways we never had time to do before!

Seven.

 We started serving more together at church - as greeters and coffee makers. We found areas where we can serve TOGETHER, and it was freeing to have the time to make those commitments!

Eight.

 In the spirit of serving together, we also hosted our first small group in our home, a group formed through our church. We led the group for six weeks and loved sharing with them every week. We are looking to lead another group starting this fall, because we loved the chance to do this before!

Nine.

 We missed radio, so we started our own podcast, now over 30 episodes strong, where we banter about life, tell funny stories, and share what we're learning from the Lord! This has been one of the biggest delights of our year!

Ten.

Perhaps the most unexpected change of the year was our move! I have no idea how people who work full time ever manage to sort, purge, pack, move, unpack, and settle! That was a lot of work and consumed a considerable amount of hours. But I was so thankful that I had the time in my schedule to do all that. With the exception of a few attic and garage items, I packed our entire house myself {with my OCD planner in tow} and did the lion's share of the painting, unpacking, and settling at our new place. Oh how we love being settled in our new home!

Eleven.

 The freedom in my schedule has also given me the freedom to add more speaking to my work, and I have loved preparing and sharing with women in different groups. I have also loved it that Ryan gets to accompany me to almost all the engagements. Looking forward to much more of this in the months to come!

Twelve.

And the biggest change? Losing almost 30 pounds in the last six months and feeling better than I ever have in my whole life. Our switch to a clean eating lifestyle with much more exercise has been really good for both of us.

All these things have happened in the last year, and I am profoundly grateful for God's provision for us in allowing me to stay home and manage these things. What a busy, full year, and while I do miss my friends at the station, and I miss being able to share like I did on the air, I adore being home, serving Ryan, writing, investing in friendships, investing in our marriage, and being free to be used by the Lord in ways I hadn't been able to for the last four years!

The Shafferland Shuffle

I'll start out today with a giant Happy Father's Day to my dad, Ryan's Dad and Allen...and to all of you dads out there!! Enjoy your special day!!

* Last Sunday, Ryan and I had the honor of attending my friend Faith's baptism. She asked if I would come and take pictures, and of course I said YES! She also invited us to go to the celebration lunch with her family after church, so we did that. Delicious lunch {although when you're a party of nine, you wait a bit for a table!} and then straight home for a nap!

* I think I briefly mentioned our latest house project, which is finishing off our garage so it can be used as an additional gathering space. Last Monday, the drywall guys came to finish the drywall {it was half done when we bought the house}, and I couldn't believe how different it looked when they finished! And they left their equipment since they were coming back to work the next day and SOMEONE thought he should try out the stilt thingies. Shaking head. As for me? I had a rather rotten day, so I polished off the smallest possible bowl of consolation frozen yogurt.

* Tuesday I developed a new respect for moms EVERYWHERE. I kept all of Ryan's brother's kids for the day, and they were a DELIGHT, but I was a bit pooped when the day was done! Three kids, three ages, three levels of need, and we spent the whole day just having fun and trying to make sure everyone was happy! Movies, books, naps, making our own pizza, playing ball, drawing with sidewalk chalk, visiting Ryan at work...WHEW!

* I think, when Wednesday rolled around, Braeya was glad to have her nice quiet house back. {She is pretty anti-kids or anything else that makes noise.} I had to drive to Marion for a meeting that evening, so Ryan worked on house projects while I was gone, and when I got back, it was so pretty out, we went for a walk!

* Thursday, a couple of my WBCL friends happened to be in Marion for a sticker stop, so I drove over to see them for a while and I ended up just having lunch with them! I miss them! The drywall guys had finished up their work on Tuesday, which included finishing the ceiling so that it matched the interior of the house, so Ryan and I spent that night PAINTING the ceiling. Drippy work!

* Friday I bought my first lemonade from a kid's lemonade stand in our neighborhood. This seems like a rite of passage somehow, and it was fun! I was so excited when my FOUR scrapbooks arrived a day EARLY and I couldn't look through those enough as the day went on! And that night, Ryan and I went to Phoebe's house for dinner! {Her humans invited us. She did not cook.} I think she missed us!

* Yesterday I went to a first birthday party for the daughter of some of our friends. {Ryan had to work so he missed the party. Great sadness.} When we both got home, we got busy painting the garage! That is one large room to paint! And then - a surprise late-night date to see fireworks!!! Ten million points to Ryan for walking away from a half-done paint job to take me to see fireworks!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday morning it was freezing when we woke up. No. Like LITERALLY freezing. And that is how we came to have a potted plant surviving in our bathroom. IN MAY. We went to a lunch at our church - a lunch provided for some of the different teams of people who serve. Got to sit with some friends we didn't know very well so we could get to know them better! And before we went home, we drove by a building they're demolishing on campus. We've watched a lot of construction in the past few years, but not much demo!

* Monday I found a fun surprise in the yard: a rose bud on a bush!! I love finding surprises left behind! I made a new recipe for Ryan, called smothered chicken, and it was most delicious! {And healthy!} And he wasted no time putting together the new bookshelves we got at IKEA on my birthday. They look SHARP! He picked them out and it was a good choice.

* Tuesday was a very cold and rainy day, so it was the most perfect time to curl up with a novel and read, read, read! I loved that! It was also a good day for warm lunches and catching up on TV shows with Ryan while drinking extra hot coffee. I guess there is something lovely after all in a cold and rainy day!

* Wednesday was a blissfully ordinary day - but I did get to have lunch with one of my friends who was in town for the day! And that night I worked on sorting the very LAST of the stuff we hadn't sorted, while Ryan began assembling the bed for our guest room! {It's best if I steer clear of assembly.} 

* Thursday was my next dental follow-up, and I got the best report I've had so far since surgery! We're coming up on two years since I had the procedure done, and they say I'm not cured yet, but I'm making great progress! And after the appointment, I got to have one of my favorite lunches with one of my station friends, and then I got to see my station friends! That night...a stunning sunset on my run!

 * Friday evening, we took some rummage things to a sale Ryan's mom and sister were having, and when we got home, we embarked on our next adventure: dog sitting! Yes again! Not the Great Dane this time, but a little Golden Doodle that is adorable and NOT loved by our cat. LOL! Poor Braeya Jo. She's trying so hard to be brave and make friends, but she is still quite scared.

* Yesterday morning, I had a DVR'd movie watching date with my friend Kari, and before we did that, we went to check out the Farmer's Market in town. It was much fun - and I got Ryan a giant cinnamon roll as a treat, since he couldn't join us! We spent the rest of the day continuing to bond with our little charge, and I think we exhausted her!

The Saturday Six

One.

Source

My parents had a garden {a BIG garden} when I was a kid, and of course I was required {as I should have been!} to help with it. I hate gardens. It could be one of those things I eventually outgrow, but I'm going to be 38 soon, so you'd think if that's true, it would happen to me soon, right? Anyway. Ryan and I have ZERO desire to have a garden of our own, but I have to admit that growing a few things - container gardening, if you will - intrigues me. And that's only because I know it would be cheaper than buying everything in the store. My friend Sarah had a guest blogger this week who shared about some easy things to grow. I have to say the blueberry bushes intrigued me. So if you're a gardener or a wannabe gardener, check out this post!

Two.

Source

When I worked at the station, life was big. There was a grandness about the job, and there was a sense of responsibility and representation everywhere I went. The platform was huge, and much more far-reaching than I probably ever knew. But when I left, I knew God was calling me to downsize. Not just my stuff, although there was that, but my life. Crystal Stine articulates it well here. It's about living a life that is true and saturated with integrity and obedience, even if no one outside the four walls of your house knows your name.

Three.

Virginia Tech Athletics - Patriotism
Kudos to Coach Buzz Williams, VT Basketball Coach. Given the ignorance or disrespect evidenced by most of today's athletes during our National Anthem, he decided to "have a talk with his players”. All coaches need to do something like this with their players!Coach Buzz Williams, VT Basketball Coach Don’t you wish all college coaches would do this? In a few years, there would a re-birth of patriotism on college campuses!
Posted by Changing the Game Project on Sunday, March 6, 2016

Have you seen this video? The coach teaches his players proper respect of the National Anthem. Moving.  

Four.

Two of the last women I met before leaving WBCL were Sheila Walsh and Mary Graham, who came to the studio prior to Women of Faith coming to Fort Wayne. They spent an hour on the air with Lynne, and while I've always had a fondness for Sheila {that only grew with meeting her}, meeting Mary Graham was an honor and delight. She was the quiet force behind the women on stage and for that last tour, she joined them on stage. She shared this post this week about her recent diagnosis of Alzheimer's, and my goodness. What a testimony! Read it!

Five.

Source

I'm not happy about it {still, lo these many years later} but here's your reminder of this weekend's big news. If you need me, I'll be sleeping somewhere to try to recoup my hour. 

Six.

Source

Right about a year ago, I read Marissa Shrock's debut novel, The First Principle. You can read my review of it here, and I'll mention again that while this book is targeted for a young adult audience, I felt it held great truths for readers of any age. Marissa just released the sequel, an equally fascinating book called The Liberation. 

The sequel picks up where the first book left off, in an undisclosed future year, when the world is not as we know it today. Vivica Wilkins is now seventeen years old, a new Christian, a fugitive from the government, and heavily committed to the work of the Emancipation Warriors, an anti-government group that really is her only hope for staying alive.

Vivica undergoes a radical transformation to alter her identity and keep her safe, and she uses her multi-lingual and computer hacking skills to aid the Warriors, with a personal motivation of finding her imprisoned mother and boyfriend, and doing what she can to spare them from execution. Along the way, she finds herself, her country, and her entire world in much greater danger than she ever anticipated, and her faith challenged beyond anything she ever expected.

As I said in my review of the first book, I don't normally read in this genre and truthfully, there are things about it that scare me. Though written as fiction, there is much about this that could easily be our reality in the future, or certainly a version of it, anyway. It is convicting to think about the sorts of freedoms we consider rights at this moment that could so very easily become a battle or grounds for imprisonment.

Vivica {or Fredrica, as she became known in her alter identity} showed incredible courage beyond her seventeen years as she fought mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical battles to stay alive and one step ahead of danger. The storyline was suspenseful from beginning to end, and I'm eager to read the next piece of this story, as I do believe there is more to come.

If you have teens in your life who enjoy reading, I recommend this as a solid Christian book that offers every bit of the suspense any secular book in this genre would give, but with the added bonus of sound Christian underlying values. If you enjoy novels in this genre, but aren't accused of being young, don't let that stop you from picking up this book. I don't think you'll be disappointed at all.

I would recommend that you read The First Principle before you read The Liberation so you can have a better understanding of the characters, as they do carry from one book to the next. I think you'll enjoy the second book much more if you've read the first part of the story.

Marissa, congratulations on a well-crafted sequel to your novel. Looking forward to the next installment!

* Marissa provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own! *