Slow Cooker Meat & Potatoes

I grew up on  meat and potatoes. It was my Dad's favorite thing. Of course, his favorite version was much more along the lines of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy, but still. This was before we learned how awful fried foods and starches are for long term health, but like most people in his generation, you're not about to convince him to give it up now.

Dad still loves his traditional meat and potato dinners, but I've largely given up that style of eating over the last few years. My taste buds have changed, and the ever-present battle with the scale require a different menu.

But you know what? Now and then you just need a good comfort meal. And you need one that can be thrown in the slow cooker before work and gobbled up immediately upon returning home. And this is one of our favorites. It's not the healthiest thing we eat, but it is one of the most comforting, and certainly one of the easiest.

In the list of Ryan's many wonderful virtues...he's a really good cook. And this dish is one of his. Whenever we have it, it's because he assembles it, and I really appreciate that. I love to cook for us and do most of it, but now and then, I get busy or just need a break, and he hops in without complaining to make a delicious dinner.

So we share this with you...one of Ryan's contributions to our recipe box. {Hey non-cooking guys? You can do this one!!}

Slow Cooker Meat & Potatoes

* 1 pound package of smoked sausage
* 2 cans of green beans, undrained
* 1 envelope onion soup mix
* Roughly 2 pounds of potatoes
* Roughly 2 cups of water
* Seasoned salt {or salt and pepper} to taste

Slice smoked sausage into 1/2 inch rounds. Cut potatoes into small pieces. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and add enough water to barely cover the ingredients. Cook on low for 7 hours or until potatoes are tender. Serve warm.

A Few Tips:

* We always buy the turkey sausage, because it's one thing we can do to attempt to make this a little bit healthier. We like it just as much as regular smoked sausage, and it doesn't have nearly the grease to contend with, which we also love.

* We normally buy the tiny gold potatoes, because they're already small, and we can just quarter them. If you buy regular sized potatoes, you'll want to cut the pieces fairly small, or the cooking time will be longer, and that delays your eating. You could also use red potatoes in this if you want.

* We buy the cut green beans, but if you prefer a different style, you can pick whatever you like.

* Sometimes we add additional onion to this, beyond what's in the soup mix. We don't do it every time - just depends on what we have on hand and how quickly we need to throw the meal together.

* Add or subtract the amount of potatoes I suggested depending on how much you like them or how strict your diet is. You could still make this and cut way down on the potatoes if you're not supposed to have that much.

* The leftovers warm up very well, and we enjoy taking this one in our lunch after we make it.

* We put seasoned salt on pretty much everything, but if you don't care for it or don't have any, just make sure you add some salt and pepper for flavor.

Because You Never Know

I've been staring at this screen for a while now, not even sure how to type this, because I'm afraid in some weird way, it will come across as boastful, which is not at ALL my intent.

But I think it's important, so I'm going to type it anyway and ask you to see it through eyes of grace, like you're always so good to do anyway.

I had a conversation with someone this week...and she told me that something she'd read in my story {assuming she meant here on the blog} gave her the courage to take a leap of faith in her own life.

This wave of joy washed over me, because I loved it that God had used something in me to bring courage to someone else's life. And then I felt an even bigger wave of flat out wonder wash over me.

This cannot possibly be real, right?

Almost ten years ago, I went to my ten year high school reunion {good NELLIE...how am I this old??}, and no one recognized me. They all thought I was someone's date. Pretty sure some of them didn't even remember I went to high school with them. Rebekah who?

So it's still strange to me when people remember my name...much less find anything inspiring rolling around in my life.

But I know it happens...and while it always baffles me, it always leaves me with a renewed sense of gratitude and a renewed sense of responsibility.

A renewed sense of gratitude because I appreciate the truth that God can use my crazy life...our crazy lives...to bring hope or encouragement to someone else. It brings such purpose to the seasons I've lived through {we've lived through} that have been difficult to endure. When the lessons learned in those places can push someone else toward a personal victory...that's God.

A renewed sense of responsibility because I appreciate the reminder that people I don't even know are observing my life {our lives} and I want to be faithful to live well so they can see God at work.

So....I say all of this not to say yay Shafferland!...but to say this is true for you, too. No matter how invisible you were...or fear you still are...people see you. They see you and they learn from your daily testimony. They watch you struggle and succeed...struggle and fail...struggle and try again...and then they learn and apply in their own lives what they've seen from you.

Isn't that a great gift? And a great responsibility? It's exciting to know that no matter who you are and how boring/insignificant/invisible your life may be, people see you. They do, and you matter to them. Whether they say it out loud or not, you do matter.

Because you just never know...

...but God does. And He's using you, my friend. Live well for Him.

Braeya's Birthday Bash

Yes. She gets her own birthday post. :) Because of course!

Our little Braeya Jo Jo turned NINE years old on Monday. NINE! How is this possible?? Want to see some vintage Braeya? {Please overlook me. I hadn't shed the baby weight yet. Wait. What? You can't use that when you get a cat?}

I can't stand her cuteness...

Anyway!! Back to present day.

I only worked half a day on Monday, so when I came home, we bonded. I was doing some work in our room, and she had SUCH FUN with the birthday balloon. To be fair, we did not get her a balloon of her very own. This is leftover from Ryan's birthday, but it's pretty much her favorite thing right now, so we just sort of bequeathed it to her. She had such fun.

And then I did some laundry, which is her favorite chore we ever do, because that means she gets to play with a dryer sheet. {I don't make this stuff up. She has the WEIRDEST addictions.}

And then she was just worn out and had to rest. I mean, she IS nine, you know.

{She's also practicing for a future career in posing to be a lion outside a castle.}

Later...time to check some birthday greetings on Facebook:

And then her favoritest of the favorite: TV with her dad:

Even birthday girls tucker out...

She keeps us laughing, hopping, and short on sleep - and we love her!

Monthiversary 29

Last Saturday was our 29th monthiversary, and we spent the majority of the day apart. Boo for that!! Ryan had to work, and I had a lunch date with one of my friends...followed by a hair overhaul at the salon. But at least by the time he got home, I looked as good as I possibly could!

We decided for this weekend's date and in honor of said monthiversary, we would head to Upland for dinner and strawberry shortcake at Ivanhoe's. We haven't been there in about six months, and that's about six months too long!! I had been dying for one of their shortcakes, which is essentially the best shortcake on the planet, PERIOD.

When we arrived, it was as I feared: the entire county and possibly a good chunk of the state had all descended upon Ivanhoe's. It's just that good and the day was pretty, which meant people were out and about and in need of their ice cream and shortcake. So when we arrived, the line was wrapped around the entire inside of the restaurant, and we both determined it would just be safer if Ryan went in to order and I stayed in the car. He was gone for probably 20 minutes ordering, and then he returned to the car to wait with me while they made the food.

Only then did we realize that we had no way of knowing when our order was called, so we tentatively ventured inside together to wait. Fortunately they have a giant wall of Instagram photos people posted, so we searched for anyone we might know.

 

And guess what? We found friends!

About 25 minutes later, our order was up, and we beelined it out of the crowded restaurant to head over to Taylor's campus to eat. We've done that before and it's always so peaceful!

We did not realize, however, that school hasn't let out there yet, so the campus was a bit on the full side. Channeling our best inner college students, we camped out at a picnic table beside a dorm and dove into our dinner!

 Some of us dove a bit more eagerly than others. :)

 I love their pasta salad. I get three meals out of it. It's fantastic.

We walked around campus for a while, since it was such a pretty night.

It's not a visit to anywhere unless you find and pose with a statue:

And then it was time to come home for the best part: coffee and THE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!!!!!!!!!! {Possible overuse of exclamation points.}

Once we were satisfactorily stuffed with shortcake, we went grocery shopping. {Important to go when you're full, you know.}

Ryan found something for us to try on:

Too bad we didn't have those for our wedding day. I think it would have added something. Happy 29 months to us!! It was a fun evening!

A Little Bit of Culture

Today is my sister Lori's birthday, and it also happens to be the birthday of our favorite resident four-legged kiddo. {Different years.}

Lori told me last night that she missed the books I wrote during college...books which flew away in the tornado...8 years ago today. She told me a specific story from those books that she really loved, so I thought today, in honor of her birthday, I'd put it here on the old blogaroo, for her and all of you!

{Backing up to explain: one year, while I was in college, I didn't really have any money to buy presents for the family, so I took what I did have, which was time, and wrote a collection of stories and essays. I made copies for everyone and that was their Christmas gift. This is a story from that book, which takes us back to the late 90's, when I was still in college, and also still in that awkward state of redefining the parent/child roles. And you might notice it wasn't all that gracefully. Still...hope you enjoy.}

I've always considered my relationship with my parents educational - both for them and for me. Don't get me wrong: I love my parents very much, but our wide generation gap sometimes provides much entertainment. This was the case last December when I invited them to a cultural experience.

The University Chorale was going to perform Handel's Messiah about a week before Christmas break. Two of my roommates were singing in it, and I planned to watch them. I thought it would be a nice gesture to invite my parents to this cultural event, so I got three tickets.

Well, the week before the concert, I came down with one of the nastiest colds I'd had in a long time. I informed Mom and Dad that if I was still in the severe coughing stage on the night of the performance, I wasn't going. I told them it would be rude of me to go and ruin the night for other people while I hacked away in their ears. But by the night of the concert, I was doing fairly well, so I went.

We arrived a few minutes early in order to get a good seat. The doors weren't open yet, so we waited around outside. After a few minutes of waiting, Dad said he would run to the restroom. He left...with the tickets. No sooner had he disappeared than the doors opened, and all the people around us filed inside to take our seats.

Dad finally returned, and we went inside. Now for me, finding a seat is no big deal. You find something in the back, on the aisle.

This is not the philosophy of my parents.

"Now," my mother said, "Do you want the back of the front section, the front of the back/middle section, or the front of the back/side section?"

"I just want an aisle," was my reply.

After much debate, we chose the middle of the back middle on the aisle. We had hardly settled in, when Mom and I decided we needed to check our hair. We left Dad with our coats and went out for a hair check. When we returned and settled in, I was on the aisle, Dad was in the middle, and Mom sat on the other side of him. Every two seconds, I leaned across Dad to point someone out to Mom. Apparently that became quickly unamusing for Dad, who stood to trade places with Mom.

We had just gotten comfortable, when Dad decided to spring for one more restroom break. Mom and I stood to let him out and then of course a few minutes later, we stood to let him back in. Fantastic. So far we've all acted like a bunch of two year olds!

At last, we settled in for good...just in time for the concert to begin. Everything was fine for a while, and then Mom dropped her program on the floor. Dad leaned over to pick it up. She dropped it again. {Did I mention the two year olds....?} It was right about then that I had a flashback from my early years. I seemed to remember having similar papers snatched from my hands when I proved unable to hold onto them. Wisely, I refrained from doing the same.

We were okay again for a while, and then I realized there was a family behind us who had apparently not learned the rule about staying home from cultural events when sick. First the dad coughed...then the mom, then the kid. It was an assembly line...right down the row they went. I squirmed, feeling like I was stuck in a doctor's office, entirely distracted by the coughing. I was actually fighting the same problem, but I gave it my best shot to wait until the soloists were done and the choir joined in before I coughed.

Right about then, it came time for the Hallelujah chorus. If you didn't know, that is actually not the final song of The Messiah. Dad was ready, and reading ahead, even. I think the first note might have started before he jumped to his feet. Everyone else was still untangling their feet from the cramped quarters of the aisle, but Dad was straight and tall.

Apparently culture did exist in the family.

And I thought we were home free at that point...but I was not so fortunate. One of the soloists was sick and decided at the last minute to skip his final solo. My ever-attentive-to-the-program parents picked up on this and began trying to figure it out during the sixty-fold "Amen" at the end. I considered, at that point, snapping my fingers sharply like they used to do to me when I talked out of turn. But again, I wisely refrained.

The music ended, and the obligatory wave of a standing ovation began. I waited until the people in front of me stood and then I joined and clapped. I had probably been standing for ten seconds or so when I realized not everyone in the room was standing. All the people in the entire auditorium were on their feet, except two. And I bet you can guess where they were sitting.

Beside me. Discussing the missed solo. Still.

In total exasperation my role reversal parenting skills kicked in, and I gave them my best pursed-lips-parent look and tapped Mom on the shoulder.

THEN we were all standing.

Despite the exhaustion, I remained very proud that my parents attended a cultural event and had done fairly well. I made notes to go over the standing/sitting/bathroom break/dropping programs/talking thing, but overall, I was pleased.

And maybe, in ten years or so, I'll have the courage to try again!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was a beautiful day at church. I needed the sermon and our Sunday School class so much and also loved my church cafe coffee date with Ryan. We rested all day, reading and praying and napping and just enjoying a day together. These are among my favorite days. And that night...little at-home pedicure date for Bekah!! Got rid of my scary winter feet!

* Monday was a busy day at work, and the best part was...leftover cupcakes from Daddy Daughter Date Night! Will work for cupcakes! After work, Ryan and I went to the gym, where I did my first FULL workout since surgery. Like with weights and everything. And I might also mention...I adored all the pretty trees outside the gym. Spring is stunning for the trees.

* Tuesday, we had a special treat at work. Habitat for Humanity brought us lunch! It was a year ago Tuesday that we began the process of partnering with them to build a house! So we all celebrated with Chipotle, which is a beautiful way to honor anything, I say. That evening, Ryan worked hard on our yard, and I worked hard on chores, but I loved pausing to enjoy the beauty of the backyard for just a bit...leaves popping out and sun shining through. And before the day was done? We celebrated Kiss Your Mate Day. {Of course.}

* Wednesday morning, Ryan sent me off to work with my coffee cup to match my outfit {Shout out to our fellow OCD'ers!!} and when I arrived at work, I discovered he'd also gotten me some donuts for breakfast! What a fun surprise! After work, we went back to the gym, where I suffered through the second workout of the week. I was proud of myself though...for being as sore as I was {and that was a lot!!} I actually did better than the first day. Baby steps!!

* Thursday  was a curly hair day for me - something I've not done much lately. But sometimes, you have to choose between extra minutes of sleep or extra minutes for hair straightening. And if you're me, you choose sleep. So curly it was! After work, Ryan and some of his co-workers went to his boss's house to plant a tree in memory of his boss's dad, who recently passed away, and then they got to stay and have pizza! He had a lot of fun, and I always enjoy seeing pieces of his life that I don't get to be part of in person!

* Friday night, we grilled our dinner at home and ate in the backyard for the first time this season. {Pirogi is not up yet, but we just dragged the furniture into the yard and ate!} Then it was time for a Starbucks date {of course} and a lovely walk through the park. We figured it would be PACKED with people, but it wasn't. Found out later there was an event downtown, so everyone must have been there instead. So we enjoyed our leisurely evening!

* Yesterday was our 29th monthiversary...and in honor of that, Ryan worked, and I went to the salon! And THEN the best part was when we both came home and had a fun date. We went to Ivanhoe's, got dinner, took it to the Taylor campus to eat outside, and then came home to eat our STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!!!!!!!! Finally!!! It was a fun night...I'll tell you more about it next week!

The Saturday Six

One.

Anyone else have a case of nasty winter feet? Ryan was unaware that this was even a thing. It is not fair - NOT FAIR, I TELL YOU - when guys have perfectly smooth feet. Like a baby's bottom. Ryan doesn't "do" anything to his feet. No lotion, no soaking, no pedicures, no nothing. And his feet are perfectly smooth. Mine? the ones that I exfoliate in the shower and try to lotion now and then and stuff like that? Yeah. They could kill you like knives after a winter season. But my friend Cindy told me about her potion of putting a cup of Listerine, a cup of white vinegar, and adding enough warm water to fill up the little foot bath tub enough to cover your feet. Soak for 1/2 hour and then use your pumice stone (or whatever exfoliator you have) to rub off the bottom of your feet...and it actually works! The worst parts of it were: the smell of mint (gives me a headache) and cold feet (thanks, Listerine!!!) after it was over, but it really did work. My feet are no longer hazardous!!

Two.

Source

I have been reading the posts on Mundane Faithfulness and am learning much from the "encore" blogs they're posting from different places of Kara's journey with cancer. This particular one posted this week got to me, because it reminded me of how I used to have some really specific practices when it came to prayer...praying for certain people extra on certain days or times...and how I've gotten away from that. I'm convicted to return to these kinds of specific prayer. Thank you, Kara!! 

Three.

Source

Ryan and I are working on getting back into a regular workout routine, but I sense...sadly...a rough month of it coming up here, because May is my birthday month. {Tranlation: TREATS!!!!}  Sooooo...I was really excited to see one of my favorite bloggers, Katie Farrell, issue this 30 day Dashing Dish workout. I love it that it's really flexible, to fit anyone's abilities (3-5 days a week, depending on your fitness level and a choice for each day that doesn't REQUIRE that you have a gym). So I'm going to do it! It starts Monday. Who wants to join us?

Four.

Source

I found this post this week by Emily Freeman...and while my husband is not quitting his job {that he's mentioned, anyway}, I found the insights within her words well-timed for my own life transition. Always good to remember that while I might think I know what's coming - even in the unknown - God could have a completely different agenda that I haven't even seen yet. Thanks, Emily!!

Five.

Kind of excited about THIS news!! I've read Shauna's blog for a while now, and a new HGTV show?? OKAY!!!
 

Six.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that with the fullness of life lately...with all the pending changes...you know what I needed? {Besides Jesus, Ryan, and coffee, of course...} Some fun, light-hearted reading. Enter: Nobody's Cuter Than You...the latest memoir by Melanie Shankle.

Melanie blogs over at the Big Mama blog. {Side note: if you should happen to Google her site from your place of employment, especially if said employer has good internet filters, do be sure to Google "Big Mama Blog" because simply searching "Big Mama" will get you a big fat "site denied" in no time.} {Not that this happened to me.}

I read Melanie's first book, Sparkly Green Earrings, right after Ryan and I were married, and while it was a book about motherhood and I'm not a mom, I found myself nodding and underlining and laughing hysterically at her stories. {The one about her then-very-young daughter telling her she might want to do something about trimming up her facial hair stuck in my brain and still makes me giggle. I'm sure she'd be relieved to know THAT is the story I regularly conjure up out of all of them.}

Nobody's Cuter Than You is a memoir about friendship, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting {through her stories} the friends who shaped her into the woman she is today. From Lindsay Letterman, the first friend she ever remembers meeting in kindergarten, to her beloved Gulley, the best friend she met in college and kept for life, Melanie let me peek into the lives of the people who loved her and the things that formed, grew, and sometimes tested their friendships. She also reminded me of why face-to-face friendships cannot possibly be replaced by FaceTime friendships, and her words inspired in me the desire to return to those in-person investments the world seems to have pushed away.

Her words are wise, including reminders that "friendships are fragile and we need to handle them with respect and reverence," and her stories are hilarious. {You'll want to especially find the story in which Melanie and a prospective employer happen upon best-friend-Gulley, sawing logs on a couch in a hospital lobby.}

Melanie made me think {with fondness} about the friendships in my life, past and present, and she reminded me that "having your soul knit to another isn't for the faint of heart." But she also reminded me why it's the craving of my soul.

Heaps of wit and a good measure of wisdom is what I found printed on these pages. I'm glad I read it - especially right now - and I'm looking forward to reading the middle book in her memoir trilogy, Antelope in the Living Room, which is about marriage.

Grieving, Groundwork, and Goosebumps

When I turned in my resignation to WBCL, I gave almost twelve weeks' notice. The job has many tiny pieces and parts to it, and training takes a while. I wanted to be fair to Lynne and to the person God has for this job...to have plenty of time to train before moving ahead into what God has next for me. It seemed great at the time. Twelve weeks. All kinds of time. Goodbyes were far away.

But I'm learning that a twelve week goodbye is all kinds of hard. Every day, I walk into that office and take visual stock of my space...I sit and have conversations with my work buds...I make plans for future shows...and then it hits me. I won't be there when those shows air. And in eight weeks, I won't be having conversations with those work buds, unless they call or FaceTime me.

Pretty sure that for the next eight weeks, I should just take my makeup to work every day, because I think I am bound to cry on all days that end in Y.

It's a grieving process, this leaving. It's saying goodbye to something I have known, loved, and held dear for four years. And I don't apologize for grieving. I don't apologize for being sad to let go of a beautiful gift I've loved so greatly.

I've got a checklist of tasks to complete before I leave, and one of them was to make copies of the blog posts I wrote for Mid-Morning over the last four years. I didn't want to forget the words I'd written, so I spent some time copying them over into a document to preserve. I glanced at my posts as I copied them, and more than once, I noticed I'd written about waiting. About what God had been doing in me in seasons of waiting.

He laid the groundwork in those times. Five years before I got the job at WBCL, one of my co-workers walked in my office at IWU and handed me a slip of paper with words on it. He told me it was the login and password for a blog he'd created. For me. Blog, he told me. Your words need to be read. I had no idea that day...that I'd need to know this skill for a job five years down the road. Same with my book. I wrote the words of the Advent devotion for me...for a season of studying I did on my own. Awkwardly, I shared it with friends. Publish it, they said. Your words need to be read. So, scared out of my mind, I did just that. And I had no idea it would be the thing that opened the door for that job.

Groundwork. He was laying it the whole time, and I never saw it. But as I glanced over my blog posts, I recognized the groundwork theme in the waiting posts. And I know...even in this time of tears and grieving a hard goodbye, He's laying more groundwork, for a future I can't see.

And that gives me goosebumps. When the tears start to fall at work, and I feel overwhelmed by the goodbye of it all, I push myself to think about the future. The future that while yet unknown, is so exciting. A future full of possibilities and joy. A future to find out the next part of why God has called me to be here, now, for such a time as this. How can that be anything OTHER than exciting?

So that's this week in my heart...a little grieving, a little {invisible} groundwork, and a lot of goosebumps for a future He's writing.

{Photo taken during my first week of work, when Lynne and I had a photo shoot and found the groundwork of a beautiful friendship being laid.}

Permitting Change

I'm writing this to you more as a form of processing out loud, rather than speaking as an expert on the subject...which I most assuredly am not. Well. Unless you want to consider me an expert in how to struggle with this...and then I qualify.

I'm going to keep the identifying details on this story as vague as I can, for the preservation of my own dignity as well as to protect any sort of identification of the other person in the story. She doesn't even know of this situation, and there's certainly no need for her feelings to be hurt in any way because I have issues.

Several years ago...{s.e.v.e.r.a.l.}...I was at an event with a young woman who appeared, at first, perfectly normal, perfectly nice, and perfectly level headed. She was beautiful, and from my little chair in the distance, I envied her for being the perfect, put-together person she appeared to be.

And then she opened her mouth.

As did I...slack-jawed by the offensive junior-high-ish behavior that emitted from her. The beauty faded for me entirely, and I tried to tune out the words...but alas, her lungs were healthy and I couldn't avoid hearing. Eventually I had to leave, and I was an unhealthy combination of sad and bitter that she'd driven me out of something I'd looked forward to attending.

We don't travel in the same circles, so I don't see her regularly, but now and then I'll see her from a distance, and every time I do, I bristle. I don't mean to. It just happens. But I've done nothing to stop it. I let the bristles bristle and before long, my blood runs bubbly in my veins as I remember the transgressions from so long ago.

When I saw her recently, though, I noticed something. {In the 30 seconds between spotting her and the beginning of the bristles.} Her face looked different. Not like old and wrinkly different, but softer, and more matured and settled somehow. I didn't dwell on it, but I noticed it.

And then last Sunday, during the sermon, our pastor preached about how people change...in a good way. About how God grabs hold of people's hearts and transforms them into the people HE created them to be, and they change for the better.

And that's when the conviction plopped over me so fully I'm surprised you can even still see me peeking out from underneath it.

She changed. But I didn't let her.

I could tell from the countenance on her face, that she's not the same girl who offended me with her mouth years ago. She's grown up. She's changed and softened and become molded into the woman God intended. That's what's been happening in real time. But in Bekah-time, a one-evening scenario has been playing on a loop for far too long, and I haven't let her real-time changes infiltrate my mind. I haven't been able to see her as the masterpiece God is making, because I only see the mess from long ago.


And shame. on. me. for it.

I'm 100% confident I'm not the same girl I was that night either. And if she would have looked my way then, I'd want her to kindly dismiss that girl and see instead the girl I am now. Because God's been working on and in me too.

I've been holding her accountable for the person she used to be instead of seeing her with eyes of love for the woman God has transformed her into today.

People change. They do. And I need to let them.

{Disclaimer: sometimes people don't change. They don't let God transform them, heart and soul. They don't grow in love and favor with the Lord. And sometimes it's good to put a protective hedge up if their lack of transformation is harmful toward us. That much is true.}

Later that same day, after Pastor Steve's convicting sermon, I read these words by Dr. Tony Evans: "God will never define you by your past, but the enemy will try to confine you by it."

Gulp.

The enemy had been tricking me into confining that girl in front of me to the girl she used to be. The problem is, God's not using that to define her anymore.

So that's what I'm working on this week. Working on learning to see people with fresh vision each time I see them. Working on learning to let them change and not confining them to the people they used to be.

Daddy Daughter Date Night

Last Saturday was WBCL's fifth annual Daddy Daughter Date Night, and it was also my last big event to work for the station. {Read: I cried most of the way through it. If your husband was at this event and mentioned the weird sappy girl in the corner, that was me!!}

I was sad partly because it was my last event and partly because Ryan couldn't go with me, and that just seemed wrong somehow...like we never got "event closure" on the job. But I dressed up in my Easter dress, packed my camera, and went to the sold-out night with a concert by Mark Schultz.

My job was to be a photographer at the photo booth, and I also took other random pictures throughout the evening. Thought I'd give you a little peek into our night.

The room was huge and packed to the very ends. Mark said it was like singing to an airplane, because the room wasn't very deep, but it sure was wide, like the wings of a plane. Such pretty decorations...with a balloon theme this year!

And the tables were so pretty too. Not that I was fixated on the cupcakes and cookies or anything. Nope. Not me.

The evening was so lovely. Dads of all ages with daughters of all ages filed through the doors and enjoyed their dinners {and the cupcakes and cookies I'm not fixated on} and they also visited our photo booths {we had three identical booths} to have their pictures taken together...with props this year!

It was fun to watch the dads try to figure out how this whole prop thing worked. So cute.

I tried to sneak in some pics with at least a few of my co-workers, since this was the last event. I didn't get them all, but here's a few:

This is Phil from the morning team. He is one of my big brothers...and I will dearly miss him {picking on me}. We took this picture to send to Ryan to tell him we missed him! 

 My dear friend, Cindy. She has heard my laments and let me cry tears on her shoulder so many times. Most of the hard work that went into this event was done with her own hands, and she does an incredible job. This event is her heart and soul and I love watching her shine with it each year.

 Sweet Dana...who answers our phones for Mid-Morning. {She has more jobs than just that...but that's our common bond.} Her husband's name is Ryan too, and the two of us have fun confusing people with our Ryan stories. Dana is always upbeat, always smiling, always encouraging, and always interested in the lives and stories of all of us who work with her. Love this girl!

 And my friend, fellow photo-lover, and fellow scrapbooker, Jeri. She is always there with a hug when I need one, an encouraging word for everyone around her, and will pitch in to help with absolutely ANYTHING. And this particular night, she cleaned up a couple of my sad-to-be-leaving meltdowns.

 The second half of the evening was a concert by Mark Schultz, and I learned in short order that there is not a single song in his set that won't reduce me to tears. SERIOUSLY!!! I'm such a sap.

So, in summary, after crying my eyes out all night, in the best possible ways, I helped clean up, and then we had a staff picture taken with Mark:

It was a lovely evening, and I hope all the dads had a great time with their daughters...because it sure was a lovely way to end my event-working...watching all of them sharing the joy of a special night together.