Braving the Service Project

Last year {you probably don't remember...and it's okay} Ryan and I served at the Grant County Mobile Pack for Feed My Starving Children. You can read more about that day and what the organization does...here.

This year, the mobile pack came back to our area and one of the guys in our Sunday School class was instrumental in bringing it back, so of course our class planned to serve again. Ryan was SO excited, because he loves stuff like this. So I signed us up early on, and we made plans to work the project that day.

And then.

Ryan has to take classes at random to get continuing education credits for his degree. It's rare that he can find a class to fit the requirement that is also free. And sometimes the classes can get pretty pricey, actually. So it just so happened that a class became available the same day as the mobile pack.

It was a no brainer. He had to go. He couldn't pass up the opportunity to get credits for free. I  knew it. But the thought of going to that mobile pack by myself took me back to dark places of junior high that I had no desire to revisit. I thought about backing out, but then I got guilt gut over it. I knew they counted on their volunteers, and our family had already backed out one of them, so I couldn't find it within me to back out citing reasons of being scared. {And apparently I found the one thing that countered last year's declaration that I would "happily serve again. HAPPILY."}

So the morning of the mobile pack, I removed all my jewelry except my wedding ring, which if you read last year's post, you'll remember was quite the debacle then. I pinned back my hair so it would fit better in my stylin' hairnet, and I drove to the church to pack.

Several of our Sunday School friends were already there when I arrived, and our friends Nate and Jenna so graciously adopted me and let me sit with them {seriously - it was junior high!} so I didn't feel like such a dork. Although seriously. I think the hairnets level the playing field on the junior high thing.

We sat through the intro, where they gave us all the instructions for the day...

And then we headed in to get to work.

I was not even worried at that moment, because I'd been told that our class had all been assigned a table together, so I knew I would have friends, and life would be merry.

Or so I thought.

Apparently there were two tables assigned to our class {because it's big anyway, and people could bring their kids to help, so with kids added, there were just a LOT of us}. Each table has two packing stations on it. Well evidently our class filled one full table, but only had enough other people to fill half the second table {one full packing station}. Since I was the only person there without family, I was moved to the other side {which I named the island of misfit toys} with other potluck people from other over-filled tables.

Cue the panic.

For the first hour, none of them really spoke to me, and by the end of that hour, my knees were sore from being locked, my back was sore from bending over to seal the bags, my left hand was dripping sweat inside its glove {required since I refuse to take off my wedding ring} and I was wishing I would have worn my swimsuit, because it got pretty warm in there. So I sort of forced the poor lady working next to me to have a meaningful conversation with me to get my mind off the heat and the sore back!

And I took a selfie for Ryan:

I've decided to incorporate the hairnet into my everyday life.

At the end of our shift, we had a group picture taken:

The stats for the entire weekend {not just our shift} said that over two days, 800 volunteers came together, 172,800 meals were packed to feed 471 starving children for a year.

So it was worth it to brave the junior high fears to help the kids! {But please dear class scheduling people, let me have Ryan next year!!!}

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was blissfully lazy. We woke up to our first frost, and it was SO pretty. {Prettier because we didn't have to scrape any vehicles!} We enjoyed church, which included time to cuddle with one of our favorite littles, and these CUPCAKES!!! Caramel cappuccino cupcakes. I could have eaten ten. We spent the rest of the day on Mo, napping, watching TV, reading, and writing.

* Monday morning, I went with Mom and a friend of hers up to Fort Wayne to shop for Christmas candy making supplies. We had fun {how can you NOT in a room full of candy??} and went out for lunch after our shopping extravaganza. Meanwhile, Ryan had to report to the courthouse because his name came up FOR JURY DUTY. Despite my prayers to the contrary, he ended up getting selected, and below you can see our respective thoughts on that. I began preparing myself for a week of jury widowhood.

* Tuesday Ryan headed back to the courthouse for more jury duty. While I was still nervous about this hiccup to our schedule, I did enjoy having him home longer in the morning, home for lunch, and home sooner in the evening! YAY! Braeya and I read blogs and worked on writing throughout the day, which was fun. Know what wasn't fun? Trying to hunt down a book that apparently does not exist in our county. When the bookstore and the library are dead ends = FRUSTRATING!!!

* Since Wednesday was Veteran's Day, the Courthouse was closed, and Ryan went to work at his regular job. He sent me this STUNNING sunrise photo, which I loved so much. I spent the day trying to be a good housewife, since I've spent so many days being a writer. I even cooked a real dinner for him - marinated baked chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese, green beans, and snickerdoodle brownies for dessert. He deserves about 800 more meals like that to be caught up from my nights of tacos and such. LOL!! We just rested that night, and we curled up for popcorn and a movie. The Notebook. Sobbed with the same intensity as when I first saw it years ago! Such a sap.

* I don't know what it's like where you live, but it was ridiculously windy here on Thursday. I saw that our ferns did a face plant in the back yard and hoped that was the worst of it, but it wasn't. A massive branch pierced the top of our pirogi and ripped it! We were so sad! {Especially since we had planned to take it down in just two days!} Ryan was gone all day at jury duty again, so I spent the day baking quick bread for the freezer {that was a big mess in our little kitchen} and then that night we had a quick Starbucks date that I enjoyed so much. I have MISSED him this week.

* Friday. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Friday. Ryan went to jury duty that morning and we met for lunch at Wendy's. Good thing we did because that was the last I saw of him for almost TWELVE HOURS. I spent the afternoon writing, raking leaves {again}, doing my nails, watching Hallmark movies, and wondering if I would ever see him again in my natural lifetime. Finally at 10:30 that night, I decided he wasn't coming home for dinner {I'm nothing if not hopeful} and I drove to Burger King for dinner. He finally got home at 11:30 and our jury duty life ended. Praise. The. Lord.

 * We slept in a bit yesterday morning, a treat Ryan richly deserved after his week. We did some dreaming shopping in the afternoon and then went to the funeral for Ryan's great aunt. We went to the family dinner after, where the kiddos kept us busy! I was so very glad to have Ryan back...sigh...so glad jury duty is over!

The Saturday Six

One.

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I ran across this post this week, and thought I'd share it with you in case you're looking ahead to bringing organization into your home in 2016. This blogger has a plan to do one organization task each week, and she offers this sneak peek to what it will encompass. I realize it's a bit early to be making new year's resolutions, but if you know cleaning will be among yours...here you go!

Two.

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I knew about this because I read it on Facebook, but I didn't know it made it into the media! My talented and creative friend Jenna made dresses and bow-ties for her parents' 40th anniversary celebration. She wanted to surprise them with something, so she made the dresses and bow-ties for all nine grandchildren, and they had a photo shoot.  Oh - and did I mention all the fabric came from the bridesmaid dresses from her parents' wedding? HOW CUTE IS THIS!

Three.

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A lovely post about lowering expectations on Christmas Day. I have to admit, in my newly adopted "less is more" mentality, I have a fresh appreciation for making holidays more about the memories than the stuff. {I also find her thoughts interesting in light of the book review below!}

Four.

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To my praying-for-love friends...a wonderful post written by my friend Jamie Bennett, about the gift of grieving losses in love.  

Five.

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I know one thing I am looking forward to about this winter is NO COMMUTE!!! But winter is really hard for a lot of people. The germs, the cold, the snow and ice, the feeling cooped up - that can all be really hard. I found this article fascinating - about a study done on Norwegian communities where people actually look forward to the deep winter, even though it means days on end with no sun. There's actually something marinating in my mind here that will show up in a future blog post, but for now, check out this article. Whether or not you agree with their thoughts, I still think it makes interesting reading.

Six.

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Sad sigh. It's time for me to tell you about a book I desperately wanted to love, but {gulp} I didn't.  Keeping Christmas is a new novel by Dan Walsh, out just in time for the holidays. According to his website and other reviews I read after I finished the book, it seems he puts out a new Christmas novel regularly, and I believe this is the fourth one.

It was also the first time I read any of his writing at all. I was surprised to see on his website that his writing is often compared to Nicholas Sparks and that he enjoys writing suspense. I was surprised by the Nicholas Sparks comparison, because I actually just sobbed my eyes out over The Notebook {AGAIN} and didn't have any of that strong emotional connection to this book. Also, I actually mentally prepared for suspense several times in this book and then realized it wasn't coming. I thought he was setting it up...and I was wrong. So maybe those things are found in his other books, but not in this one.

His story centers on a couple named Stan and Judith Winters, who are experiencing their first holiday season without any of their children at home. No one comes home for Thanksgiving and no one can afford to come home for Christmas, either. This turn of events sends Judith into such a downhill spiral that she just stops caring about Christmas. She doesn't want to decorate, she doesn't want to play the music, she just wants to sit and be sad. Stan is at a loss of how to help his wife recover her normally over-the-top festive spirit. Alongside their best friends, Barney and Betty, they work to help Judith find her festive.

I thought Dan did a good job of writing female characters...he didn't hesitate to portray scenes with crafts and shopping and other such things that I think might be kind of challenging for a  male author in terms of crawling inside the female mind. But even so, I really didn't like Judith at all. I found her to be whiny and selfish and I kind of wanted to send her to her room until she could straighten up her attitude. I've lived with parents who have struggled with diagnosed depression, and what I saw in the book described as depression didn't match up with the experiences I have witnessed. It just seemed to me like she wanted her way or else.

The storyline also  fell a little flat for me. I wanted more twists and turns and curves and suspense, and it was pretty straightforward. Having said that, I did tear up at the end. I won't give it away for you, but I will tell you that it did evoke a little emotion in me. To be fair, I had figured out how the story would resolve {unusual for me - I never figure stuff out ahead of time} but reading it unfold was lovely. But I will also tell you, even in the resolution, I didn't like Judith any better. My feelings toward her remained.

Maybe if I were an empty-nester, I would understand this a bit better and relate more? But I just couldn't get there in the reading. I think I would give another shot to reading something by this author, because some reviews I read said that this was not his best work, so maybe what I hoped for is found in another book?

{And I will say, I think it's a cool concept to have a new Christmas fiction piece every year. Kinda makes me want to take up fiction writing.}

* Thanks, Revell, for sending a copy of the book to me in exchange for an honest review. *

Vacation Capsules

I have news that may or may not excite you today. I have had a secret Pinterest board for a while...one in which I've collected some various posts on capsules, and now, just for funsies, I've linked all the posts I've written so far on the subject. I switched it to a public board, so if you want to see the posts that inspired me, or link back to any of the ones I've written so far, you can visit my little corner of capsule heaven on Pinterest here.

Now...on to today's topic: packing a capsule for vacation:

 I am known for my...ahem...overpacking. Always. Everywhere I go. This time I wanted to try to take clothing that could be mixed and matched and reused...and since we were vacationing in the fall with unpredictable weather, I wanted to try to create outfits that could be layered up or down to fit the weather needs. I was really pleased with how it turned out, and I wanted to share my fall vacation capsule with you.

I'm such a nerd: I actually took a picture of every outfit before we left home, so I would remember what I packed and why. So below, you'll see the original concept and the actual rendering.

Day One: Travel Day

 I chose workout clothes for our travel day. One of my most comfy shirts, a pair of workout capris, and my trusty Go-Walks. I wanted to be cool and comfy in the car, and it didn't matter what the weather was like, since I knew we would be IN the car the entire day. I guess this is about as good a photo I have from that day.

Day Two: The Beach

 For this day I chose a graphic tee, an infinity scarf, my trusty zip up hoodie, a pair of skinny jeans that I could roll up {to avoid dragging my jeans in the sand} and the Go-Walks again - easy to kick off and walk in the sand. It ended up being warm enough that I was able to ditch the jacket for part of the day. But with and without the hoodie, I loved the outfit.

Day Three: Church and Walking through Williamsburg

For church, I chose my trusty little black dress with a belt, another infinity scarf, gray leopard tights, a denim jacket and my cute black ankle boots. It was warm enough that I had to ditch the jacket when we arrived at church, but I loved the layered look.

 And then for the afternoon, this had been the PLAN for walking through Colonial Williamsburg: 

 This was actually the outfit I messed up/altered the most. My plan had been to use my regular jeans, another graphic tee, go back to the first infinity scarf, keep the denim jacket, and keep the cute shoes. The day ended up being colder than we expected, so I chose a spare long-sleeved tee to put underneath the graphic tee for extra warmth. I kept the denim jacket and accidentally kept the scarf I wore at church. And I ditched the cute shoes for the Go-Walks again, and I was SO glad I did, since we walked  a lot that day.

Day Four: Cape Henry Lighthouse and Shopping

For this day, I went back to the skinny jeans, kept the Go-Walks, brought out a white long-sleeved tee, a quilted vest, and kept the same scarf that apparently I loved way too much for this trip. And I am sorry this is the best full length photo we have of this outfit. EEK!

Day Five: Travel Day

 For our second travel day, I picked another workout shirt and yoga pants, with, of course, the trusty Go-Walks. Super comfy, and yet presentable enough to tour the coffee roasting facility.

Day Six: Hiking in a State Park

For our hiking day, I recycled the white shirt from the day at the lighthouse, and layered it under a striped t-shirt. I recycled the yoga pants from our travel day, and pulled out my running shoes. For the cooler parts of the day, I also pulled out the gray zip-up hoodie again, but it got warm enough that I didn't need it the whole day.

Day Seven: Niagara Falls

For Niagara Falls, the trusty scarf came back, and I PLANNED to use the skinny jeans again. The Go-Walks were back again, as well as the vest from lighthouse day. The new part of the outfit was a blue long-sleeved t-shirt. In reality, I wore the regular jeans in place of the skinny jeans, but otherwise, the outfit stayed true to my plan. For part of this day, I also layered the gray zip up hoodie under that vest.

Day Eight: Travel Day

 For our last travel day, I had one more comfy workout shirt, and I'd planned to bring those workout capris back, coupled with my running shoes. But in the end, I wore a second pair of long workout pants I threw into the luggage at the last minute. I'd used them throughout the week to lounge in during the evening, and I thought the traveling home temps needed longer pants.

 So that was the capsule! Much mixing and matching...much attempting to bring a good mix of blues and neutrals. I was pleased with the outcome!

For an eight day trip:
1 Dress
2 Scarves
1 Vest
1 Zip-Up Hoodie
1 Denim jacket
2 pairs of jeans
2 graphic tees
3 long sleeved tees
3 workout tees
1 striped t-shirt
2 pairs of long workout pants
1 pair of workout capris
3 pairs of shoes
1 sweatshirt {for lounging around}
1 pair of shorts {for lounging around}
1 pair of jammies

Celebrating Five Years of "His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift"

I just realized a few days ago that this year marks the fifth anniversary of publishing my first book. I kind of wish I would have paid attention to that little milestone earlier and planned a party of some sort. I do love a party.

So in honor of a beautiful thing in my life and in mourning of the fact that I don't have a real-life party, will you have a blog party with me today?

I know many of you have started visiting here in the last five years, so you didn't get to be part of that early journey with me.

His Advent: Still His Greatest Gift is a devotional reading for the Advent Season, and it was born out of a Christmas season several years ago when my heart struggled to find a desire to celebrate. I went through all the outward motions, but I didn't really care. Throughout December, I did a personal study on the lives of people who were impacted by the moment Jesus arrived in their lives, and the next year, I braved sharing my thoughts with a few friends.

They urged me to publish my work, and I set about trying to find an agent to help me find a publisher for my book. It was discouraging when that part of the journey didn't work, but right about that time, I learned of WestBow Press, a publishing house that offered self-publishing packages to authors. I decided I wanted to share my devotional, even if the reading crowd was small, and in 2010, I submitted my manuscript and began the publishing process. You can read a timeline of that part of the process here, but here's a picture of fluffy Bekah with her manuscript:

The book became available in July of that year, and throughout the early fall, I mailed out copies to many friends {THANK YOU!!!} and even had some book signings...at my church, in my hometown, at Indiana Wesleyan. It was such fun.

And a bonus: I had the opportunity to be a guest on a little show you might have heard of: Mid-Morning on WBCL.

That's where it all began. That little interview with Lynne eventually led to my job at WBCL! A totally unexpected part of my book publishing journey!

2010 was a hard year in many ways, but this opportunity to see my name on a book was such a joy.

Some of you have asked recently about the book...where to get it...things like that. So....

Who: Just a reminder that I published this book before I got married, so if you're looking it up online, you'll want to search under Rebekah J. Freelan.

What: The book is only 108 pages long, and each day's reading is just two or three pages. You can use it for your own personal devotions or for family devotions. One of my friends used it with her under-ten-years-of-age daughter and said she really enjoyed sharing Scripture with her this way. 

When: Though you can read it anytime you like, the book was designed to be read each day through the month of December. So if you order now, it should arrive in time for you to begin on December first.

Where: The book is available on Amazon and if you're local and know me, I do have a few copies on hand and can save you some shipping.

Why: My goal in writing this book was to look at unique ways Jesus met the people of His day, and I hope you learn something through the pages. If you read, thanks so much for letting my words {learned from His teaching} be part of your season!

Who Says Vacations Have to be Expensive?

Ryan and I love to travel, visit new places, revisit old places, and make memories...but traveling can get ridiculously expensive. While we don't have kids {and therefore realize we save some travel expenses}, we are down to one income, and therefore we have to be frugal about things like vacations.

We commented to each other that our last vacation was so much fun, and yet we spent very little on it! I thought I would throw out some of the things we did to make it affordable, and maybe an idea or two will help you see that vacations don't have to be expensive to be fun...and maybe you can afford more fun than you think!

1. Creative Financing

This time around, our vacation was financed by the Great Yard Sale of 2015. We saved the money we earned at the sale and put all of it toward various expenses of our vacation. I loved it, because it didn't dig into our savings, AND because the yard sale prep had been my "job" in my early days of not working full time, so it felt like I contributed to this adventure. I know some people finance vacations by making them a gift. So maybe instead of getting each other birthday or anniversary gifts - or even Christmas gifts for a whole family - they go somewhere instead. Some people use money earned from a side/hobby job to pay for vacations. Some people use loans. This I know from my loan office job. Don't do that, please oh please, okay?


2. Creative Housing

This time around, we had the privilege of having friends in the area of the first half of our vacation, and they graciously allowed us to sleep at their home for four nights. Saving four nights of hotel bills was a HUGE help on our vacation budget, so if you're able to swing something like that, go for it! But most of the time, we are not that fortunate. Ryan is the designated hotel-finder in our family. He will do hours of research, looking for the best places to stay, reading reviews, hunting for deals, etc. We've saved money by vacationing during the week instead of the weekend, staying three nights at one hotel {which sometimes gets us a huge discount} and avoiding off-peak seasons for destinations. Ryan will often call and ask about additional discounts and sometimes he can get them and sometimes he can't. We also try to stay at a hotel that offers a free continental breakfast so we can get a great meal to start our day...for no extra money. {And while they're fun to have, skipping the need for an impressive view can save you some cash. After all...you SLEEP at a hotel, not stay up all night looking out the window.}


3. Creative Eating

Part of the fun of going on vacation is finding local places to eat and trying something you couldn't get at home. We did that {more than once} on our trip, and we found some great spots. But eating out at local, sit-down restaurants for every meal can get expensive after while. We saved money by {when possible} taking leftovers back to our hotel {we always try to get rooms with a fridge and microwave} and eating them at another meal. We also did settle for dollar menus sometimes - and we packed all our own snacks before we left home, to save us the expense of gas station and vending machine purchases.


4. Creative Entertainment

Thinking back over our vacation...I think the only things we paid to do were go up in the Cape Henry Lighthouse {$8 per person} and go up in the observation deck at Niagara Falls {$1 per person}. That is not bad for an eight day vacation, is it? We spent a day at the beach in Virginia Beach, and although it wasn't warm enough to swim, it was warm enough to walk the beach, walk the boardwalk, enjoy the views, and if we'd wanted, we could have played games on the beach or sat for a while. All that is free. When we went to Williamsburg, there were opportunities to buy tickets to go into buildings and museums, but we were satisfied with seeing everything from the outside and didn't feel we'd missed out by not going in. Walking the streets was completely free. While we anticipated paying a fee to enter Letchworth State Park, we didn't have to. I'm not sure why they weren't charging that day, but they weren't, so we got in free. {Even if we would have had to pay, a cost of five to ten dollars for our car would have been WELL worth the views.} All the trails were free to hike. And then at Niagara, though we had planned to ride the Maid of the Mist boat {$17 per person}, we elected not to and felt that we had a GREAT time at the Falls walking the areas that were free {or $1.00}. And some of those places still allowed us to get SO CLOSE to the water!


5. Creative Souvenirs

Ahhhh the eternal question: what to bring home from vacation? There's no right or wrong answer of course, but we really like the souvenir tradition we started. We get a Christmas ornament from each place we visit, and then every Christmas, we have one tree that's devoted to our memories as a couple. It makes it nice when we're traveling, because we don't have to figure out what to look for; we just hunt for ornaments. And while ornaments can get very expensive, we've learned you can usually find a nice one for well under $10.00. I think we purchased six ornaments on this vacation, so the cost was minimal, and we'll have those in all the years of our marriage to come....to hang on our trees!


6. Creative Memory-Capturing

Our favorite part about vacation is the chance to make memories we can look back on for the rest of our lives. Thankfully the digital age of pictures has arrived, and I could snap away to my heart's content without worrying about the cost of film/developing. {How EVER would I have survived as a photo-loving adult in those days??} Our biggest investment in this vacation, other than time spent together and resting, was investing in good photos of scenery and in fun photos of our time together. And now that I'm home, I'm working hard on a scrapbook to capture every story, every photo {yes, all 1000 of them}, and then we'll have that for always. The only cost for me will be to print the book when it's done, and I'll wait for a good sale on that, so it won't be horrible.


That's how we do vacations as cost-effectively as possible in Shafferland. It's not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it helps!

Adventures with the Tripod

Today's blog post is inspired by a question I got last week from Sandi, who wanted to know how we get such good pictures with our tripod. I loved that question!

Back when I was single, I was adamant that being alone could not mean a lack of photos. This was before the days of smart phones with reverse picture options that could let you see yourself as you took photos. I got to be quite expert at holding my little point-and-shoot camera backwards and taking selfies that did not include half my arm over on the side.

It's all so much easier now, with timers and tripods and such. And Ryan is such a good sport. He is great about setting up the tripod and setting the timer and being willing to stick with the attempts until we have great pictures!

On our honeymoon, we purchased a little compact/travel tripod similar to this one - which we have used for every photo shoot, every vacation, every county tour, everything in the last three years. It was so tiny that it folded up nicely in my purse or our backpacks, but alas, on our most recent vacation, it broke, thankfully NOT while propping up our fancy pants camera.

Fortunately, Ryan's mom had just given us an amazing, grown-up, fancy pants tripod that raises higher and is MUCH more durable than our old one. We had it with us too, so even though we can't shove it in a purse, it saved the rest of our vacation.

With all of that fascinating info out of the way, here are some things about our tripod pictures.

1. Our camera has the capability to take either one or ten pictures on a timer. I almost always go for ten. I do that partly because Ryan is a blinker {sorry, Baby!! But it's true!!} and partly because we're goofballs and usually cram serious AND silly pictures into one round of shooting. Taking ten is also very helpful when taking a big group photo because it increases your chances of having at least one good photo of everyone. If I get two good pictures out of ten...yay!

2. I try to pull the lens back so it captures a bigger space, and then as I edit, I crop and zoom in various ways to get some close-ups and some farther away, without ever actually zooming in and out with my lens.

3. When we set the timer, one of us is always IN the picture already and the other one runs in after we press the shutter. By having one person already in, we can give the camera something to focus on that won't change with the last minute run-in person. This helps us eliminate so many blurry pictures.

4. Sometimes we just have to do it over. Sometimes, no kidding, we'll take thirty pictures to get one good one. We always check after our first round of ten, and if there's something we really didn't like, we'll adjust it and try again with a second ten. And sometimes - we have to do a third try. Some days are just like that.

5 We've learned things about ourselves that help make the photo shoots go faster now. Like we've learned how NOT to stand with our hands so that it doesn't look like I'm pregnant or that our crazy noses aren't sticking out like beaks. All trial and error.

6. Have fun with the mess-ups. Sometimes pictures are a FLOP. And sometimes the flops are the funniest.

Here are some examples of our tripod adventures, for better and worse:

When Ryan underestimates the time needed to run around a bed ON plastic before the pictures start...

The beginning of a shoot...

Caught changing positions...but it was still funny...

What starts well...

Can end in the MOST interesting way:

I think for us...our best pictures are the ones where we're actually not TRYING to do anything organized and nice. The ones where we can just be goofy. Maybe that's the key. Be yourselves instead of being perfect.

Hope that helps! Happy tripod-ing! :)