The Shafferland Shuffle

* I think we tried ALL the seasons this week, starting with our first real, beautiful frost last Sunday morning. Ryan took pictures of it all on his own! {A thousand husbandly points!} We got our first red cups of the season, and I replaced all the pictures in our living room wall collage, using the new ones we had taken this fall. Add about 29 pages of scrapping to that and it was a full Sunday!

* Monday was the same busy day Monday always is, but I had the added bonus of a whole new crop of Hallmark Christmas movies to watch, because I remembered there are TWO Hallmark channels! WOO HOO!!!!! In the afternoon, I had a fun treat: my friend Elisa came all the way from Fort Wayne to visit me and see our new house! Loved that! :) And that night, we saw the first of this week's spectacular moon viewing!

* Just as I was about to fix lunch on Tuesday, Ryan texted and asked if I was up for a lunch out at Wendy's. Don't have to twist my arm! I'll take a surprise, impromptu lunch date! :) We had Bible study that night and ran some errands while we were out, which included a trip to Lowe's...should we get this TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLAR lawn ornament?? And that night we contacted Fitbit about replacing mine...because I didn't think the taped together version would hold much longer. They were so great about replacing it!

* You already read about  my "interesting" Wednesday, when Starbucks was out of all the drinks I wanted, I almost put diesel in the car, and all kinds of crazy things happened. BUT! It was also the day all our Christmas cards arrived in the mail! YAY!! I am excited: ready to start addressing! Ryan found the latest update on Sonic when he was out and about, and he even pitched in to help work on the office wreath by being the official spray-painter! What a good work sport he is!

* After 2 days of working on website creation, I needed movies and naps! My brain was so tired by the end of Thursday, I couldn't think at all. Ryan came home from work and did what we hope is the final mowing for this year, and I went for a run/walk to clear my head. Gorgeous sunset and PERFECT running weather!

* Friday night, we had a first here in Shafferland: craft night hosted in the garage! It was sort of a random last-minute idea, but I invited a handful of girls over (most were Ryan's co-workers) to just have fun. Bring a snack, bring a craft, and come hang out for the evening! LITERALLY in the hour they arrived, the weather switched to winter, and we had a sudden temperature drop and horrible thunderstorms with tons of wind and rain, but we were cozy and warm little crafters in the garage!

* And yesterday, Ryan and I spent the entire day together - Christmas shopping! Yes, it's true! He had a day off work, so we headed to Indianapolis to shop and enjoy a whole day of fun {in the wind, rain and snow} together! We also had dinner at his cousins' house, which was a fun way to end the day! The only one unhappy was Braeya, who did not approve of our absence!

The Saturday Six

One.

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Our first year of marriage...well, to be fair, our first MONTH of marriage...included our first time to get a live Christmas tree. Ever. In our lives. About ten days before Christmas, we trekked to a little tree farm about an hour and a half from home, chose a half-priced lopsided leftover from the picked-over farm, took it home, named it Chuck, and that was our first live tree experience. So it's a little different for the 94 foot, 14 ton tree that was transplanted into Rockefeller Center for this Christmas. But HOW COOL to see how they do it! Check it out!


Two.

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And speaking of Christmas, if you're in this general area and looking for some fun things to see during the holiday season, The Adventure Mom blog has compiled a list of things to try in Cincinnati. Ryan and I went there for our first birthday getaway, but after reading this list, I may have to put it back in contention for a future anniversary getaway. Some great stuff here! Perfect long weekend getaway destination for Midwestern folks!

Three.

A few days ago, when I blogged about our best purchases of the past year, I included my Fitbit, which Ryan gave me for a birthday present earlier this year. Not long ago, the band on it bubbled up and one side broke free from the mechanism. Thankfully I was asleep when it finally gave way, and I didn't lose it! Earlier this week, we got online and chatted with customer service at Fitbit. They answered quickly, resolved the issue, and put a new Fitbit in the mail to me. {And they no longer make the model I had, so they replaced it with the newest comparable version.} HUGE KUDOS to them for providing a painless fix! Looking forward to wearing a regular Fitbit - not one held together by tape! 

Four.

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Still unsettled on your Thanksgiving menu? Need healthy options? Not surprisingly, I'm going to send you straight over to Katie Farrell at Dashing Dish, who has compiled THIRTY (yes, THIRTY!) secretly healthy Thanksgiving menu options. Sometimes the search for the recipe is more exhausting than making it, so this should save you time and exhaustion! :)  

Five.

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Anyone gearing up to decorate for Christmas in the next week or so? I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry for the overuse of exclamation points, but I just really, really love decorating for Christmas!) Anyway, sometimes it helps to get a little inspiration, so here's a Christmas home tour for you. This is from last year, but Christmas is Christmas, so I don't think it's all bad to recycle last year's home tour. I found multiple inspirations within it. Hope you do, too! :)  

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Before I launch in to my book review this week, I'll confess I had a huge struggle with this book. Rhythms of Rest by Shelly Miller initially caught my eye, because I have a tender place on my soul for the topic of Sabbath rest.


My parents were very careful to set apart the Sabbath day and keep it holy, and in the years that have followed leaving their household, I have spent much time on this issue, figuring out how it works for me and how I want to be intentional to do it. Since getting married, Ryan and I have finally found our best Sunday practices, and I feel our bodies and souls are healthier because of our choices to abstain from all work (and as much social activity as possible) and truly rest on Sundays.

I always enjoy reading what others have learned about Sabbath rest, and that's why I wanted to read this book. And for the first half of it, I found the writing to be captivating, but (and I have never said this about a book before) the presentation of the book itself was off-putting to me. It's not a terribly long book - just over 200 pages, actually - but there was so much text on a page, and the font was such that I felt worn out just picking up the book (on rest!!) to read. It baffled me, because I've read hundreds of books and have never struggled with the font, the words on a page, or anything else. It was very strange. And very probable that it's just unique to me, but I still feel I must admit it.

Then, about halfway through the book, I started struggling with the book itself. Shelly is a good writer, and I enjoyed her thoughts (and even underlined a fair number of things I agreed with). But I felt confused, because it seemed like sometimes her writing style was very lyrical and poetic - almost like Ann Voskamp's - and then other times, I felt like I was reading a cross between her journal and her inbox, while she shared conversational stories from her ministry and actual email conversations with people who read her blog.

The stylistic jumping back and forth eventually lost me. I also saw themes pop up throughout the book but never found their full-circle or resolution moments. Maybe they were there, but I was so lost in all my struggles with the book that I just failed to find them. I'm not sure.

I do think she had some great points throughout the book, even in the final chapters, when I felt lost and confused on the whole, and I underlined several things that I think are worth remembering. But the book, both the literal book, and the jumping around in writing style, confused me. I really wish I would have loved it more. I wanted to! But this just wasn't a fit for me.

* Bethany House sent a complimentary copy of this book to me. All opinions are my own. *

Helpppppppppppppppppppp!

Now that I have your attention...

It's really not as bad as all that. I promise. Nothing's wrong. {This can ONLY be said thanks to the genius of the team of folks who decided to make diesel fuel nozzles too big for gasoline cars. I have a feeling I would still be in tears, otherwise. See yesterday's blog if you're confused.}

But two days of working on the website building adventures have left me craving creative outlets that my mind can actually handle. You know: things like baking cookies and scrapbooking and, of course, writing.

So my writery little brain has a project whirling within it, and I need help! Input, actually. Ideas.

And who better to ask than all of you!

So if you're interested in helping me, you're welcome to leave your thoughts in the comments or {if they're long or you'd rather not be that public about them} you can email me at readingrebekah at yahoo dot com.

Here is my question, and it divides into a thousand little sub-points at your discretion:

What are/were your favorite Christmas traditions and why do/did you love them so?

By sub-points, I mean:


* It doesn't matter if you're single, married, widowed, divorced, young, old, male or female. If you have a favorite, I'd love to hear it.

* Your tradition(s) can be about anything. Recipes, service projects, decorations, events, church, Santa, family, friends, parties, presents, Advent calendars, books, plays, musicals, concerts, movies, shopping, baking, trips, cards, photos...literally anything.

* You can be as vague or detailed as you want. If you just have a quick sentence, I'll take it. If you have a typed, two-page, single-spaced short story, I'll take it. No right or wrong. (I first typed "write or wrong." Ha! See what I did there?)

* If you can't think of anything today, but in two weeks, when Christmas is fully underway, something pops in your beautiful little brain, you can still share it. I don't need this by the end of business today, by any means.

I know this is short and sweet and terribly unbloggery of me, but I thank you in advance for any ideas you're willing to share. Thanks for helping a website-design-weary writer-girl find an outlet for her poor brain!

Here's My White Flag, Wednesday

Squint hard: do you see it? The white flag?

It's me. Surrendering to yesterday. It wins. I lose. Bring me a blankey and let me take a nap.

But despite the fact that clearly Wednesday was out to get me, it has provided blog fodder for today, and for that...I thank it.

My main goal for yesterday was to work on a website design. I'll tell you more about it when there's actually something to tell, but I'm working on a website {aside from this one} to use in my writing and speaking.

Back when I was in college and was new to the internet {WOW. I am old.}, I enrolled in a class to learn about web stuff and design and all that. I dropped out after a week. Only class I ever quit in college. And now I remember why. I am creative, but my brain does not bend the way of code and plugins and widgets. It just doesn't. I'd prepared as best I could, watching a two hour YouTube tutorial and taking ten pages of handwritten notes to walk me through the setup.

And God bless that YouTube guy, because without his step-by-step instructions, I never would have made it. But halfway through the thing, I found a box that would not go away on the site, no matter what I did. And nowhere in ten pages of notes had this guy addressed that box. And in multiple Google searches, I found no workable answers for the problem.

Swallowing my pride, I contacted the IT guy at the station, confessed my utter embarrassment at crawling back a year and a half post-employment to ask a question, divulged my dilemma, and hit send.

And got his out-of-office auto-reply. Because of course.

It seemed like a good time to take a break and run a quick errand. Clear my head, perhaps. It just so happened that my errand took me right past Starbucks. And it just so happened that yesterday was my double star day. That seemed proof enough for me that I deserved a latte. Enjoy the following conversation.

Barista: May I help you?
Bekah: Yes! I'll take a caramel brulee latte.
Barista: We're out of those.
Bekah: No problem! I'll take a chestnut praline latte.
Barista. We're out of those.
Bekah: What DO you have?
Barista: From the holiday menu? Peppermint.
Bekah: I hate peppermint. Can you make a skinny caramel macchiato?
Barista: Yes.

So I took my third choice drink and went home.

I had just taken off my shoes and put my purse away when my phone buzzed with a text from Ryan.

Can you get gas? Just got the notification that it's going up.

Put my shoes back on and retrieved my purse.

I should interject to say that when I commuted, I filled up my gas tank three times a week. I could pump gas in my SLEEP. {And on some early mornings, I think I did.} But when we got married, Ryan told me one of the ways he wanted to show his love to me was by filling up the gas tanks. He hated for me to stand out in the elements when he could do it. No arguments here. I will let you fill up my love AND gas tanks by being the designated fueler of the family. So it's been a good long while since I had to put gas in the car.

Of course the lines had started to form at the station, but I managed to get in quickly {AND had pulled up on the correct side AND managed to wrestle the stubborn cap off the tank}. I got out my card and stared at the pump. There were two places for cards. Where did mine go? Figured it out, and right about then, I realized a guy had pulled up behind me and I could only imagine what he was thinking as he watched me stare at that pump as though it was my first day to know about fuel. As I moved toward the correct card receptacle, I realized I didn't know which way the strip was supposed to go, so I fumbled around and got it put in. Answered the 10 question quiz required, hit the octane of my choice, grabbed the nozzle and....

...it would not go in the car. I jammed it around for a while before realizing....I had the diesel nozzle.

Oh good grief. I did not even make eye contact with the guy in the truck behind me. And I could only hope he was not posting me to Facebook right about then. "Look at this idiot woman trying to pump gas!" {I sure would have been tempted to post me to Facebook. Just sayin'.}

Finally pumped the gas, got my car put back together and high-tailed it out of there before the lines got worse. {I've seen that place be a near death trap in gas-is-going-up situations.}

I went home, only to find that UPS was making a delivery and had my driveway blocked. I wasn't the least bit mad about that because HELLO!!! UPS IS THERE!! PRESENTS HAVE ARRIVED! But while I waited, I sort of held up traffic on the whole road, so I'm guessing I was not the most popular driver in town.

After reading for a bit, I surrendered to a nap, and when Ryan got home that evening, he offered to take me to Wendy's for a Frosty. {This is a surefire way to fix any day, just in case you ever need to know.}

My view from the drive-thru pretty much crowned the day. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all:

Linking up with Tamar!

Just Thankful

Thanksgiving rolls around next week, and speaking of rolls...anyone looking forward to indulging in one of those during the holiday meal? My mom is a great roll-maker, and not surprisingly, it's one of the gifts I did not inherit from her. That...and pie making...and candy making. It's all very sad. So whenever she makes a batch of rolls, I like to save a carb up and have one. They're worth it.

But even though we're still a week away from Thanksgiving, it's not too early to be thankful, and I thought today would be a great day to do just that here on the blog!

A few things I'm thankful for...in no particular order:

* This house and the journey to get here. When I think that ten months ago, we had not even stepped foot on the property, and now it feels like we've always lived here, I think that calls for some major gratitude. Everything about finding the house, purchasing it, renovating it, settling into it, and now enjoying it brings about a major swell of joy in my heart.

* Our new city. I wasn't scared about moving to a new city, but I was curious how the transition would go, since I'd lived my entire adult life in Marion. But it's been such a blessing to be closer to our family, to be able to be involved in helping them when they need something, being able to be included in things that we were too far away to be part of before. This place suits us.

* Those who carry the baton. This year we said farewell to the Bekah-mobile and to our first home together. While we try not to be overly sentimental, those things did matter to us, and in both cases, we passed the baton to people who understood the love and care we had put into them and promised to carry that on. And we've heard that both are thriving under new ownership, and that makes us happy.

* Our new church. We have begun attending a church closer to home, and while it was hard to leave the place where we worshiped for the last 3.5 years, we've begun to settle in to our new church home. We're starting to learn names, we've found a seat to call ours, and we've been welcomed and embraced already, which is a huge answer to prayer.

* Phoebe. Since I still haven't convinced Ryan that Shafferland needs a dog, I'm grateful for Phoebe. We get to watch her semi-regularly, and she is such a fun little girl. We love how excited she gets when she sees us, we love how she adores cuddling, and Ryan particularly loves what he calls "joint custody." All the fun without the expense. Maybe that's why he sees no need for a dog of our own...

* New opportunities. This year brought about a host of new opportunities for me. Speaking in new places, writing new material, freelance work, podcasting, working from home, chasing dreams, releasing a new book...WOW! What's not to be thankful for there??

* Tuesdays at the Table. This little idea we conjured up and threw into motion at the end of the year has been such a blessing to us. We have loved actually having time to open our home and welcome in friends and family, and my goodness - do we ever have a growing list of people yet to invite! {And if you want to come visit, give us a holler!}

* Great friends. From those who pitched in to help us with all the aspects of moving, to those who have included us in their happenings this year, to those who keep in touch even though we may live a great distance apart, I'm reminded that we both have many wonderful friends. That is a huge blessing!

* You. Hanging out with you every day when you come to visit is a complete joy. I look forward to talking with you in the comments, hearing your stories, and sharing with you. THANK YOU for coming over so regularly and allowing us to be part of your days!

* Ryan. I can't close out a list (and this is by no means a complete list of what we're thankful for) without including Ryan. I am thankful for how hard he works to provide for us, how he supports me in my dreams and makes me feel like I'm making a difference in our home, and how he shows his love in a million ways. I'm thankful for the dreams we've conjured up for the future and for all the exciting things yet to come!

So that's a few thoughts from my head...now it's your turn! What are you pausing to be thankful for this week?

It's a Podcast-versary!!!

Can you believe it? Today we release episode 52 of Spill the Beans!

One whole year has passed since we started this fun little project we produce every week, and I wanted to spend today throwing a little blog-birthday party for our podcast! {And oh how I would dearly love to have a whole cake for the occasion too, but alas, it's not in the eating plan for today.}

Before I start the party, here is the 52nd episode for your listening pleasure!

Click here to listen.

Spill the Beans was born after I'd turned in my resignation at WBCL. Ryan and I loved radio so much and while we knew leaving was right, we hated to think of never having the opportunity to banter on air like we'd done upon occasion there. So we consulted with my friend Craig, who is quite knowledgeable about such things, and he wrote out a list of every piece of equipment we would need to start our podcast.

Ryan did the research online and purchased it all, and then Craig {BLESS HIS HEART!!!} sat down and created a video tutorial for me to show me how to hook everything up and how to use the editing software. I watched the video, took careful notes, and began practicing all the recording and editing. It felt like my first week at the station all over again!

Craig {are you seeing a theme here? Craig is the genius force behind it all!!} also created and recorded our opening and closing music, and my friend Ron {another station genius} provided the music for the middle of the podcast.

That was how, a year ago, Ryan and I sat down {very nervously, I might add} at our dining room table, and began to record. I haven't gone back to listen to that first episode lately, but I can imagine all the fear is right out there in front, and our scripted beginnings sound just like that: scripted.

We've found our groove in this past year, and this is one of the many things that I love doing together with Ryan. He makes podcasting fun!

Thanks for listening along with us for the past year, and we're planning to plow right into a second year starting next week. It'll be fun! :)

I also wanted to let you know that for those of you who have asked for daily editions {ahem...you know who you are}...well, you're still not going to completely receive your wish, but I do have some good news for you!

I've been given the opportunity to start doing a little interviewing again, like I did back at the station, and I'm excited to do more of it. I missed that, too! So starting next week, there will be occasional additional podcasts called The Conversation Cafe, featuring interviews with a variety of people. Ryan isn't joining me for this one {at least usually} but I'll be there with new friends to share with you!

Thanks so much for joining us for podcast fun each week. You brighten our days when you share what you love about Spill the Beans!

{And by all means - if you happen upon some cake today, EAT IT in honor of this auspicious occasion. I thank you for it.}

Fancy Dinner Dates

Ryan and I are not fancy kind of people. {Do I really need to explain this to you? Probably not.} Our eating out experience is more on the Subway/Wendy's level, with occasional splurges at Red Robin and Applebee's. We're not well-versed in multiple forks and courses. And we're okay with that!

But sometimes it's fun to get all dressed up and do the fancy dinner date thing. Just for something new and different, right?

Over the past couple of months, I've done some freelance writing work for a non-profit company based out of Huntington {about an hour from us}. They just finished celebrating their 50th year, and they wanted to compile a book of stories featuring people whose lives had been impacted by their services. They presented the book at their annual dinner and invited Ryan and me to be part of the evening so we could see a bit more what they're about and to celebrate the release of the book!

Ryan rearranged his schedule to get out of work a little early, and we made a date night out of the adventure!

It was a full suit-and-tie adventure! {Does this mean it was even fancier than our wedding? He didn't wear a suit to our wedding.}

I had to borrow a dress, and my friend Kari came to the rescue with a handful of lovely options. I picked this one:

We meant to get a full length picture while we were actually AT the dinner, but it was too busy to do that, so this was the best we got with full length. {Thank you, selfie stick.}

Isn't he so handsome????

The dinner took place at a location that often hosts weddings, so we got to enjoy this lovely piece! {And it reminded me of Cassie's wedding and the chandelier she had hanging in the reception hall!}

 {Sorry about the guy's head in the corner. He jumped right in there at the last minute!}

Found our table and even though we didn't know anyone else sitting there for most of the evening, we enjoyed hearing their stories. {It is so helpful that Ryan is GREAT at making small talk with complete strangers!}

Dinner was HUGE! No, I did not eat all of it.

And the cake. Can we talk about the cake!?!?! I mean look at this thing!

It was so delicious, but Ryan said he'd never seen me find a cake that bested me. It was true. I couldn't finish it. I hate even admitting that in print.

After dinner, we listened to their program, which honored many people who are part of their family, both from employee and client sides. It was really touching to hear all the stories! {Got a little teary eyed a few times!}

And best of all, I got to see my friend Sheryl, who did a great job making the evening all that it was, and I got to see one of the ladies from the last retreat I did! She and her family were there, and it was good to hear how she was doing!

As we left, we got a copy of the book, and this was fun to see!

It was really late by the time we got home, but it was a fun and memorable evening, and we were grateful to be included as part of it!

The Shafferland Shuffle

(Before we start peeking at the week, I wanted to let you know that the Ann Voskamp giveaway pack goes toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo: ASHLEY FEEMSTER!!!! I will email you, Ashley! Congratulations!)

* You would think that last Sunday would have been the happiest day of the year for me, what with the time change and all...but man, was I ever in a weird funk all day. I was not a fan!!! The day started well, though, with a leisurely breakfast together and church. We went to lunch with some people from the church we've been attending {which I think we can safely officially call "our new church} and that was fun! I love making new friends! It was such a pretty day that we took a walk that afternoon and wrapped up the night with podcasting!

* Monday was an equally lovely day. I am still reveling in all the beautiful, natural light we get in our house! :) Ryan had to run some errands after work, so I asked him to stop and get TP for us...and apparently he is expecting a digestive catastrophe to hit our house! :) He had to go back to work late at night to finish his notes, so I went with him and walked on the treadmill and watched Hallmark movies while he worked.

* Tuesday was election day, and since we'd already voted, it was just a Tuesday for us. We chose to spend our evening together with friends, hosting a Tuesdays at the Table taco night, and it was such fun. I'm thankful for chances to welcome people into our home. It is my happy place. After they left, we had to run to the store for butter so I could make a dessert for a carry-in at Ryan's work the next day, and I learned that apples sure look different from what they used to! LOL!

* Wednesday was writing day, and I had no intentions of leaving my jammies OR my laptop all day. And it worked that way until late afternoon when I found out we needed to go to a viewing that night. Whoopsie. I threw on blingy jewelry, tried to rock the pony, and hoped it would pass the test. And I was so emotionally spent from writing that when we got home, Ryan took over assembling our dinner, and I do believe it tasted even better because he did it.

* Thursday I baked pumpkin snickerdoodles for my friend Sheryl's birthday, and then that night, Ryan and I had a midweek date at a fancy dinner. I'll tell you more about it next week, but I borrowed a dress and Ryan pulled the full suit and tie out of the garment bag, and we had a great time at our dinner!

* Friday, Ryan was so busy at work that he didn't have time to come home for lunch, so I took lunch to him! We ordered a pizza that night, waited the appropriate time, went to get it, and found out the place was so behind, the pizza had just gone into the oven. So we came home, waited some more and went back. Ask me how excited I was to (literally) hang out in a dark alley while Ryan went in to wait for the pizza!! EEK!! Must have been a good pizza. He and Braeya both conked right out after dinner!

* Yesterday was CRAZY!! Started out early with  a trip to Sam's Club for a Christmas present. We had no idea it was like their Black Friday, and when we arrived 15 minutes before they opened, the line was already down to the end of the building. WHAT?!?!?? Ryan worked most of the day and then we had lots of errands to run, including a trip to see our dear Phoebe AND a birthday party for one of our friends. WHEW!

The Saturday Six

One.

I am SO STINKING EXCITED for my friend Allison Mills, whose home and decorating are featured in the November/December issue of Midwest Living. Allison was one of my youth pastors back in the day, and we've kept up our friendship lo these many years later. She is a treasure...the sweetest friend, and I am unbelievably thrilled for her that her work is featured! CHECK IT OUT!!!!

Two.

I am probably TOO excited that all the Christmas movies are back on Hallmark, around the clock. They have been for a few days now, so you probably already knew this, but in case you didn't, I wanted to be sure to tell you! I know it's too early for some of you to be on board with Christmas movies, but I welcome the lighthearted background noise for my days!

Three.

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Found this tutorial to make your own faux zinc letters/numbers. I have purchased these cardboard letters/numbers at Hobby Lobby before, but I have never seen this paint treatment done on them. Hmmm...thinking of some garage decorations...

Four.

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Last week, my friend Kari and I went to a craft show, and one of the women had several felt Christmas trees with ornaments for sale. She said that last year, she made one for her toddler age son, and it saved her by giving HIM something to play with while SHE was busy decorating the actual tree. I've seen them on Pinterest before, and I decided to add the idea (and a few similar ideas) to the board I blogged about a while ago: making gifts for kids. I think it's great to have play ideas for kids that actually require them to use their own imaginations instead of playing with electronic things, and these ideas help. Felt snowmen, Christmas trees, fall trees, even Mr. Potato Heads...all give kids something to do when you're otherwise occupied. And if you don't have a lot of room to store toys, felt folds up into a pretty compact box! This is also great for homes like ours, that don't have a lot of kid-friendly toys around. AND - you can make travel sizes, too, for the car or hotel room fun. Make them for your home, make them for gifts...whatever. I just like it that they don't require much skill! :)

Five.

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Oh. My. Word. This. All day long.

Six.

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Ryan and I finished reading a devotional book together this week, so I wanted to tell you about it! It was actually a housewarming gift from my parents, but when we received it, we were still working through another book, so we waited a little bit to start it!

Devotions from the Front Porch is part of a series of gift/devotional books published by Thomas Nelson. The chapters in this book were written by Stacy Edwards, and the greatest travesty, I think, is that her name is not on the cover! {WHAT!?!?!} But she wrote a BOOK, for Pete's sake, so I'm giving her some credit here. :)

Hands down, this is a stunning gift book. Every single page has full color photographs of life on (or as seen from) the front porch. (Hence the name...) The photos are well done and extremely pleasing to the eye, and it's not often you get a book with beautiful pictures to match, so that is definitely a bonus.

Each devotion begins with a Scripture verse, is followed by some of Stacy's thoughts, and ends with a little two-sentence prayer. {Those things are combined with the beautiful photograph to make a two page spread for each devotion.}

Is it the deepest devotional book we've ever read? Not by a long shot. In fact, we came into this book after having studied Beth Moore together, so it was a pretty big change of depth. But please don't misinterpret that as a criticism. I think there is a time and place for deep devotional reading that takes you through big chunks of Scripture and devotional thoughts designed to make you consider the message thoroughly within your heart. But I also think there is a time and place for lighter reading that sparks a topical thought within you and leaves you feeling hopeful and uplifted.

Some of us need a little bit of both of that in every day. Some are in a place where something light and short is all their hearts and attention spans can handle - and if that's you, that's okay!

This book may not dive deep, but it's full of scripturally sound thoughts that combine real-life experience, and sometimes even a little humor. Each reading is completely relatable and makes for a perfectly sized reading-on-the-go. The topics center around home, neighborhood, family, coziness, safety, hospitality, and all the things you would associate with a front porch devotional.

It really was a perfect housewarming gift, given the subject, and I love it that we were able to enjoy it together and can enjoy it together again later, when we come back to the book.

A hardback book with a ribbon bookmark, combined with the color photographs, makes this a great choice to give for a hostess or housewarming gift!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for choosing this for us. We enjoyed reading out of it every morning before work, and we'll enjoy it again, too! :)

10 Best Investments of 2016

Last week, during the last game of the World Series, I paced rapidly through the house, racing against the midnight hour to get my 10,000 steps in. As I did so, I said to Ryan, "I have to say, this Fitbit is one of the best investments I made this year."

And boom. A blog post was born in my head.

Friend Wayne, if you are reading right now, please accept my apology for all the things your wife might be about to buy because I'm about to say they were good investments. :)

This blog was never meant to be a review blog, and at the core, it still isn't. But I think when you find a good thing, you should tell other people about it, so Ryan and I put our heads together and came up with our best investments of the last year. Our thoughts...coming your way! {In no particular order, by the way.}

1. Garage Makeover. This one has several sub-points, but it's best summarized as the great garage makeover of 2016. It took us a whole month to clean out the garage {aka empty it} and clean the garage {aka scrub every inch of it multiple times}...and then add the insulation, the drywall, the ceiling, the paint job, and the Rustoleum floor treatment. There were several times in that month that I thought I might lose my mind. There were probably an equal number of times when Ryan was convinced I actually had lost my mind. It was not a fun month. It was not a low-stress month. But having a finished garage that functions as both a garage AND a spare room that we can use for entertaining, parties, projects and more is SO WORTH ALL THE HASSLE. {If you missed the recap of what all we did, you can catch it here.}

2. The Fitbit. Ahhhhh the investment that sparked this entire post. About a month before my birthday, my sisters came up with the idea to get Fitbits as an accountability tool. Never one to be left out of a party, I asked Ryan if we could get one for my birthday gift. So he did all the research {he is the BEST researcher, if you ever need one!!!} and we settled on the Fitbit Charge. I have worn it faithfully since receiving it, and it has definitely taught me a lot about how much I DON'T move!! {The life of a writer, right?} Because I have it, I am really dedicated about getting to my full 10,000 steps each day, and I do get up and purposefully move around more than I ever did before. {Mine does not calculate heart rate...and I didn't want that tracked, so it was by design that we chose this one. They do make ones that do track your heart rate, however. The only problem I've had with mine is that in six months, the band wiggled loose and I now have it held together by tape. Classy. But the device itself marches on!}

3. Rosie. You remember my post about Rosie, right? She's Ryan's early Christmas present to himself...an iLife vaccum that runs around and sweeps our whole house without any intervention from us. She's not loud...she does my work for me...and Ryan gets the well-swept house he likes to live in. Win, win, win! Call us lazy if you like, but this has been a huge benefit for us!

4. Riding lawn mower. When we moved to this house, we brought our trusty push mower with us. Both Ryan and I had push mowers when we got married, and it's all either of us had ever used to mow our grown-up house lawns. We fully intended to carry that on at our new house, because the yard is not THAT big. Ummmmmmmmmmmmm until we mowed it the first time. And that is when Ryan began to look for a riding mower. It's not that the yard is bigger than it looks. It's that the hill on one side is WAY STEEPER than it looks - especially when you're hauling a non-self-propelled push mower in 100 degree heat/humidity. Ryan's boss was getting rid of his mower and sold it to Ryan for a super reasonable price, and Ryan said that was one of THE best purchases of the year. It has saved him a lot of hassle. And I love that for him!

5. Battery powered leaf blower. When we got married, Ryan owned a gas powered blower, and I owned an electric blower. His was heavy to haul around and mine was always tethered to a wall. Annoying and annoying. Ryan saved up and bought a battery powered blower, and it was his first submission to this best-investment list. It's not heavy, it's not restricting, and it gets the leaves and grass clippings away from the lawn. He gives it all the thumbs up.

6. Lemongrass Spa everything. I was speaking at a retreat this year and one of the ladies in attendance asked if I'd ever heard of Lemongrass Spa. I had not, and took her catalog when she offered it to me. It sat on my desk for several days, and then I took a look. Lemongrass Spa makes skin care products and makeup that are over 95% natural, and they're also gluten free. {I'm not in need of gluten free, but it's a nice offering for those who are!} I ordered the basic skin care set, because I had come to realize the need to watch what I was putting on my skin, and immediately, I was hooked. I signed up with the company on the double, and I am not telling you about this for any sort of personal gain, but because I haven't found one thing yet that I don't like. And I feel good about everything I'm using, because I know it doesn't have all the creepy scary stuff in it! One of my favorite investments of the year. {And if you do have questions - let me know!}

7. Set of weights. We technically made this purchase in 2015, but it was still within the last 365 days, so I'm counting it! Last year, this was our Christmas gift to each other: a set of hand weights to keep in our home, so we could do our workouts to get healthier. We use those weights almost every day, and the physical changes we have both made in the last year are proof enough to me that this was a great and worthy investment. We don't have to worry about a gym being open when we want to work out or the weight we need being in use elsewhere. So glad we did this!

8. Our stone wall. Much like the garage makeover, the stone wall makeover was a time and labor intensive project, but Ryan declared it worthy of the list. And he is the one who did all the work, so he should know! When we moved into this house, we took down half a wall between the kitchen and living room, and Ryan installed this AirStone feature that looks stunning. It took him many, many, many long hours, more than a few frustrations, and many boxes of stone, but the end result is one of the most-complimented parts of our house. It really is an upgrade, and I'm so glad we did it. {And I'm so glad it's done!!}

9. New blinds. When we moved into the house, most of the blinds on the windows were custom shades that pull down {NOT the rolling kind} and then push up to the tippy top of the window. It's great because they don't have cords and rods and they don't block any view during the day. But the sliding door had an old fashioned vertical blind. I know some people really like vertical blinds, and that is completely fine, but I am not a fan. I was willing to live with it, but Ryan treated me to a new set of blinds that match all the rest. They slide up and down, they help with temperature control, and we love them. Definitely a treat, but one we're glad we sprung for.

10. And finally...the IKEA bed. We have a guest room now!!! A first for us! And while the room is devoted to being a guest room, it's not a room we use every day and I'm so glad we chose to get the bed we did. It came from IKEA and sits in the room as a twin bed. It takes up very little room, it doesn't have bulky head or foot boards, and sleeps comfortably, we're told. But it also has a trundle that slides out, so it can easily sleep two people if we have two guests. PLUS, it has large drawer storage, which is really helpful. I'm glad we don't have a huge bed swallowing the room. I'm glad we have space for more than one person. This bed was totally worth it.

So there you go! Our list of top ten investments from the last year!

Perspective

I decided many months ago that I wanted to write the Shafferland story. I think I was driven to make sure our story was committed to paper in case either one of us ended up forgetting who we were and how we lived. {Yes. Too much Notebook.}

I wrote the story of our first year a while ago and immediately launched into preserving the second year, but then life began to happen and I stopped writing. For some reason, this week, the writing bug bit {HARD} again, and I've been sneaking to the computer every spare minute to relive year two through blog posts, journal entries, and scrapbook pages so I can transcribe the story for posterity.

People, this is why I'm such an advocate for scrapbooking and journaling. So many things were hidden in those pages that I'd forgotten. I remembered much, but I'd forgotten much, too. Feelings and prayers, Scriptures and quotes, ups and downs, the funny and the heartbreaking - they were all waiting for me in words and pictures.

The particular part of our story I'm writing right now is exhausting me as I relive it. In no particular order, here were some of our obstacles in our second season:

* Double commuting
* Polar vortex
* Job stresses
* Double home ownership
* Low self-esteem {okay that one was just me}
* Plumbing replacement

Daunting enough in list form. But each point carried sub-points that added about 150 pounds of emotional weight to each of us.

Job stresses weren't just "job stresses." They were weights that made Ryan hold his breath to see if his very job would hold and weights that sent me home sobbing every. single. day.

Double home ownership wasn't just about the inconvenience of owning two homes. It was about drowning beneath betrayal from people who had committed to buying Ryan's old house and then moved out instead, leaving us not only stuck with a house, but spending spare dollars we didn't have to repair damages they left.

It was all-consuming. So many questions. So many decisions. So much unknown. So much hurt.

As I sorted through the pages of my journal, I stopped cold on these words, written on February 23, 2014:

Bring the right people for the {Greentown} house and bring the right house for us. Give us direction about where we should go. Bring us HOME.

Of course in my mind, all this bringing and giving would happen in short, orderly fashion. Isn't that ultimately the hope of all our prayer requests when we utter them?

In reality, it would be five more months before we received an offer on Ryan's house, and it would be another 141 days {five months, roughly} before we signed the house over to its new owner. But in that long, daunting, ten-month span, God would indeed answer the cry of my heart: the right people bought the house. We still smile when we drive by and see how they continue to make it their own. We are grateful it can bless them, and we are simultaneously grateful to be out from under the deep stress of owning two homes.

And in fact, exactly two years after I wrote this prayer in my journal {two years TO THE DAY}, we received word that the appraisal on our new house, our now house, was complete. And in less than one month from that day, we would own the house and be mid-renovation already.

In those two years, God did bring the right house. He did give us direction. He was lining up the buyer for the house we had shared the first few years of our marriage. He'd freed me to be a stay-at-home wife.

It wasn't short or orderly, but it was complete.

This is why I love to journal. I have, as Ann-Voskamp wrote in The Broken Way, "God-Amnesia." I forget what I know to be true. I lose sight of the journey we've walked together. I need to be reminded of His faithfulness - not just in the ANSWERS, but in the journey that LEADS to the answers. The journey matters as much, if not more, than the answers.

I sit here today, grateful for that hard year we lived. I'm not sure how we survived it with smiles on our faces, as I look back over the consistent crushing blows of that year. But we did survive it, and we are stronger and more unified as a couple and in our faith today than we were before the year began.

I'm also profoundly grateful for the answers. They came slowly, but God was faithful in the journey.