Be Still Retreat...Day 2

If you heard the podcast yesterday, you heard us rave about the best. cinnamon. roll. we. have. ever. eaten. in. our. lives.

I felt you might want to see it:

And that picture does not even do the goodness justice. And this was how our Saturday began at the women's retreat. Our first glimpse of the food delights we would get to experience as the weekend unfolded.

And to accompany said best. cinnamon. roll. ever, there was also a beautiful sunrise hitting the trees by the lake. Oh, be still my soul.

I spoke twice on Saturday, and the first session was right after breakfast. It was the hardest of the four sessions to deliver {just heavy in topic}, but God was gracious to give me strength and to keep the ladies awake after that breakfast!

After that session, the ladies had some breakout sessions to attend, and Ryan and I took some time to decompress by exploring the beautiful grounds!

We enjoyed lunch and had the afternoon free to do whatever we wanted. Ryan took a nap, and I visited some sessions to see what the ladies were up to!

 Ryan and I took another stroll and had some afternoon coffee before the official group photo shoot!

Guess who was the photographer for that?

One wonderful group to serve:

We ate dinner together and enjoyed a STUNNING sunset on our way to the evening session:

Ryan prayed my tired voice through the evening session, and it went really well! And this first picture...oh, I love it.

Saturday evening was also when I got to hang out with several of the ladies at the book table - and get a few pictures with them!

 Anna was a little excited to get an autographed book! {Thanks for letting me borrow your picture, Anna!!}

And Ryan even got asked to sign a book!

It was such a good day. I was so grateful for all the prayers, for my voice holding up, and for God moving the way He did in those ladies' lives! I love watching it take place!!!!!

Be Still Retreat...Take Two

It's Tuesday! Time for Spill the Beans! Much fun today...reliving our weekend adventures!

 Click here to listen

This past weekend, I had the privilege of sharing the Be Still retreat with another group of ladies! This time, the retreat was closer to home - just an hour away, actually - and Ryan went with me! His first women's retreat! {He shares more about that in the podcast, if you want to hear it straight from him!}

The retreat was held at a conference center in Hartford City, Indiana, called Lake Placid. {Clearly not to be confused with the one in New York.} It was a BEAUTIFUL piece of property!!

We arrived Friday afternoon, and Ryan helped me get my book table all set up, and then we went to settle in to our cottage. WHAT?! Yes! The planning committee arranged for us to have our own private cottage on the grounds, so I would have the space and privacy I needed to prepare, pray, rest, and process in between sessions. It was such a blessing, and such a darling little house! {3 whole bedrooms!}

The planning committee invited us to join them for an early dinner at Ivanhoe's, since it wasn't too far away, and it seemed just rude to turn that down, so we went. It was Grandparent's Day at IWU and homecoming weekend at Taylor, so to get a table for 13 in the middle of THAT was nothing short of a miracle!

Friday evening was our first session together, which started with worship, and the girls who did that were just wonderful. They used the song Still by Hillsong as the theme for the weekend, and it was so perfect.

And then I shared the first of the four sessions. I know on Saturday, I asked for your prayers, and I really did appreciate them. I remained sick the entire weekend, but miraculously, I was able to complete all four of my sessions without dying of coughing in the middle of them. THANK YOU for praying!

And that was the first day! It was a wonderful start!!!

Home

First things first today! Time to announce the winner of the Jennifer Rothschild book from last week's giveaway. We put all the names in a hat and Ryan drew out the name SHERYL GLANCY!! Sheryl!! You won!!! :) I will message you to make arrangements to get it to you! :)

And now...on to today's post!

I am so eager to tell you all about my retreat weekend, but I am still putting all my thoughts together, so today I want to tell you about a beautiful little God-moment we got to experience last week!

I wrote a post last month to commemorate the six month mark of living in our new home, and in that post, I mentioned that we knew our old home's new owner was loving it well. But it was a surprise and complete joy last week to get an email from his mom, who just wanted to let me know that it really was true.

He's been in the house five months now {ACTUALLY, to be fair, I have to say that she said it was his fifth monthiversary in the house, and how much did I love seeing her use that word???} and that he really was loving it.

And not only was he personally loving the house, but he was doing with it exactly what he hoped and envisioned he would do with it: making it a place of ministry. It's a home away from home for college students who need a place to escape and have a home-atmosphere for an evening. She said they were responding and coming over every week, and she even sent me a couple of pictures to show me ministry in action.

I wanted to cry in the best way! He is using the home in ways we never could have. It is a resource and asset to him in a way it couldn't be for us. To see proof of the legacy continuing was such a joy to my week.

AND THEN.

Yesterday we went to a celebration for the centennial celebration of my old church. {The one I attended before the Ryan days.} I will tell you more about it later, but it was such a fun way to see old friends and celebrate the work God has done in the 100 years of that church's life. One of my friends brought a housewarming gift for us. She'd told me quite some time ago that she had a gift for us, and Sunday I unwrapped it.

And I cried.

Again.

This was our home.

And I want to tell you why I love this so much. I have another watercolor painting that I inherited because I bought this house - a painting done probably thirty years ago, when Grandma and Grandpa owned the house. The structure is the same, but house in that watercolor is their home. Hanging plants on the front porch, green carpet on the porch, big bushes in front of the railing.

This picture is our home. This picture shows the siding I put on as soon as I bought the house. This picture shows the red shutters Ryan and I added after we got married. It shows the star we bought on vacation and Ryan hung above the stairs. It shows the landscaping bricks Ryan painstakingly added and the gray paint I applied to the porch after I ripped off the carpet. This shows the metal sign my friend Jenny gave me and Ryan hung on the front of the house and the coffee filter wreath I made at a craft day. It shows our rocking chair and the table that belonged to Grandma and Grandpa that always sat by the front door.

The picture makes the words true. Home is wherever I'm with Ryan. And the picture shows the home we created together, building on the foundation made by my grandparents.

This housewarming gift is dear to me. This, combined with the story of how well-loved and intentionally-used the house is every single day...is beautiful. I'm grateful for all of it. My heart smiles.

The Shafferland Shuffle

** JUST A REMINDER that tonight we will draw for the winner of the Jennifer Rothschild book that I wrote about on Wednesday. I will announce the winner tomorrow!!**

* Last Sunday, I was still in the middle of my ridiculous cold, so the order of the day was a rotation of cough drops, oils, water, and coffee. I was floating by bedtime. We rested, took naps, and that evening, when we got ready to go for a walk, Ryan suggested we walk to get dinner. It would surely negate any bad things we ate while there! We're trying to take full advantage of any good weather we can, so we did just that!

* Monday, the chill finally arrived, and Ryan had to wear his hat to work. It cracked me up that he wore a fleece hat and no jacket. LOL!!! It really was a nice day, though, and by the time he got home from work, it was perfect power walking weather, so we went out for one. I did fairly well, despite not being able to breathe much! And that night, I unearthed that fabulous little head scratcher thingie and Ryan used it on me. He hates it - says it tickles. But I love it!!

* Tuesday was my dad's 84th birthday, and I failed to formally wish him a happy birthday in this space, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!! It was a gorgeous day to sit in the sunshine and read a book, so I did just that. Braeya preferred to unmake our bed and take a nap. I ran out of cough drops, so I told Ryan we needed more, and he ran to the store and came back with the economy pack. Apparently he has very little hope that it will get better in our lifetime.

* Wednesday I played the newest game I play with our little robot sweeper: Where's Rosie? I found her nearly buried under the couch that morning! I was glad she peeked out or I'd have driven myself crazy trying to figure out where she went! I cooked a nice healthy meal for our lunch, and then added Cheez-Its for Ryan. LOL!!! He likes his snacks! And then I took to the couch for the afternoon, working on getting better, and apparently my number one assistant lent her support in the efforts!

* Thursday morning, Ryan had to run out for boxes of donuts to take to work for a party. He was kind and sneaked an extra one in for me: a fun treat! We went for a walk on this BEAUTIFUL day and enjoyed the rapidly changing trees. I am such a sucker for red trees!!! That afternoon, I got busy packing for the women's retreat I spoke at this weekend, and when I turned my back, SOMEONE declared she was going, too!!

* Friday, I left for my next retreat - on the same topic I spoke about last month: Be Still. This time I was much closer to home, but somehow that required no less packing! {Especially right now when it's hard to tell what the weather might do!} The grounds were STUNNING, and the ladies were so warm and welcoming. Can't wait to tell you all about it!

 * Yesterday was another STUNNING day, and I was so excited for so much free time at the retreat! Photo shoots and long walks - and 23,000 steps on the old FitBit! WOO HOO! They fed us so well at this retreat. It was kind of embarrassing. And delicious. God has been so amazing {as always} and I cannot wait to tell you all about it! I am so glad I was part of this weekend!

The Saturday Six

One.

Am I allowed to start with a prayer request? I have one! I am speaking at another women's retreat this weekend, talking on the same topic I presented last month in Ohio. As I have mentioned on here a couple of times already, I've been fighting an annoying cold for the past couple of weeks, and while I feel significantly better than I did, I am still not in the "well" category. I need to be able to present {without sounding horrific} two times today and one time in the morning. {One session is already done.} I would completely welcome your prayers as I speak! And because I know firsthand how important this topic is, I would welcome your prayers for those attending, too. This one does not seem to go without a battle!}


Two.

Source

For a while now, I have been following the adoption journey of blogger Nicole and her husband. They battled infertility and began an adoption journey, and then found out they were pregnant. They were recently matched with a birth mama and drove to get their baby right after he was born, and the mama changed her mind and kept the baby. They're caught in the place of grieving the son they lost and anticipating the daughter to come so shortly...and Nicole's faith through it all is inspiring. She's writing a series on the attributes of God for Write 31 Days this month, and if you've not seen it, I want to point you to it. 

Three.

Source

I read this article this week and have to brag on Ryan for just a moment. He does this. He sees people as people. If we go out to eat, he makes a point to learn the waitress's name on her first stop at the table, and he calls her by name every single time she comes back. He does ask the cashier how his or her day is going and proceeds to make actual conversation from the answer, not just shrug and call the conversation done. As a girl who is ridiculously terrible with names and generally hides to avoid divulging that fact to waitresses and cashiers, I have to say what he does, and what this article suggests really matters. 

Four.

Source

You know of my undying love for all things photo booth related. So even though I know Thanksgiving is over a month away, I wanted to share this now for those of you who might be planning ahead. FUN!!!!

Five.

Source

At our Bible study meeting this week, we talked about how important it is to teach Bible verses to kids while they're little, because we've noticed that the verses we know the best are the ones we learned early. It just gets harder for most adults to memorize as adults. So I found this list of 25 suggested verses to teach your kids while they're young. I wanted to pass it on for those of you with little ones at home!!

Six.

Source

Last year, right about this time, I read the book The Road to Becoming by Jenny Simmons. I was extremely excited to learn that she actually signed a deal to write more than one book, and the second one, Made Well, just released. {It's been kind of a big month of Jenny: a book and a new baby! Lots of births! Lots of celebration!}

Jenny writes with such a beautiful heart and no reservation. She'll tell you honest stories about herself, even if they're scary to share. She'll pull wisdom out of them and write it out for you to see, so you can nod your head and realize that wisdom hides in an awful lot of places. And the blend of these two things causes Made Well to be a treasure, in my opinion.

Made Well works two ways. It's a good reminder that as people made in the image of Almighty God, we are indeed made well. It's also a reminder that we live in a broken, broken world, but if we desire to see it happen, we can be made well. {See what she did there??}

Filled with stories from the scope of her life, this book makes Jenny incredibly relatable, even though most of us will never live the kind of life she leads. Not long ago, I read a series of book reviews for a recent release by a pretty well-known author. I noticed a common thread in the review: readers felt like they couldn't relate to the author because her life was filled with privileges that the common readers wouldn't connect with. You won't find that issue in Made Well, because even though Jenny travels and sings and writers {which most of us don't do}, it's not been a smooth journey. The path of service the Lord has called her to hasn't been easy, and while the details may differ from her journey to ours, it's clear that she gets it. She gets the struggle and she's slogging through the trenches with us.

Multiple times as I read, I stopped to read out loud to Ryan, because the things she said fit so perfectly with what we're learning in our small group study or conversations we've had in recent days. Affirmation poured over us as she said what we'd been trying to say...only she said it better.

The wounds for Jenny run deep: the plague of lifelong, debilitating anxiety, the loss of people dear to her heart, the disappointment of a career that didn't do what she hoped, the confusion of trying to parent well so her daughter is strong and well-equipped for life, the exhaustion of trying to keep up with it all and be all things to all people.

But the gifts of healing for Jenny run just as deep: story after story of God's provision in unexpected ways, the glimpse of this story He's weaving with all our lives interconnecting, the reminder to look for Him in the most obscure places.

I dearly loved this book and will treasure it as a permanent resident in my library. I'm grateful for the reminder that someone else struggles in ways similar to mine, and I'm grateful for the reminder that God is very much at work in our world today. {How much we need to know that right now!!}

Thank you, Jenny, for being so transparent with your life and for writing deep wisdom, coupled with compelling stories. You were made well...and you are being made well. I'm grateful for both!

* Thanks to Baker Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. *