The Shafferland Shuffle

I feel like this last week has been busy, but not necessarily news-worthy. So it may not be the most interesting shuffle in the history of shuffles, but I shall soldier on and document!

* Last Sunday, Mom told us NOT to come out to visit. (She worries we spend too much time on her.) Her exact quote was, "I don't want to see you today." So naturally, we sent a selfie so she had to see us. Hee hee hee. Ryan was doing a big paperwork sorting project, but he paused for a nap, so Braeya "helped" by sitting on top of all the stacks while they were unoccupied. Me? Well, I just read blogs.

* On Monday, I did a full day road trip over to our old stomping grounds of Marion to deliver books to folks who wanted to use them for a Lenten study. It was like the days of yore, packing up my car for a day of commuting! While I was in town, I felt it only right to go to Poppy's Xtreme Donuts to get Ryan a treat! And after stopping to visit Mom, I discovered I had a treat of my own waiting when I got home...NEW SCRAPBOOKS ARRIVED!!!! Woot woot!

* Tuesday was crazy busy with all kinds of chores and errands, so I took just a quick second to sit and rest in the afternoon before hopping up to cook, because we had friends over for Tuesdays at the Table! This time we had friends from our old church in Marion. They hadn't seen our house yet, and we had a great time hosting them! :)

* Well Indiana proved the old adage true: March came in like a big old mad lion. Woke up at some ridiculous hour with weather radios going off and hail hitting the windows and the power going out. Whew! It finally calmed down, though. My sister came up to be with Mom that day, so I had the WHOLE DAY to work in the office. Braeya was so happy, she snuggled right up with me while I wrote! And it was the first day of the great spring capsule wardrobe project. More on that later!

* Thursday was our 51st monthiversary, and it was nothing but pure chaos and not much time together. Ryan didn't even get to come home for lunch that day, so I took lunch to him and we ate in his cloffice. By the time we got around to taking our official photo that night, we were both exhausted, I'd had a massive meltdown, and it took THIRTY TRIES to get one good photo. (And I don't even really like IT. I was just tired of redoing it!)

* By Friday, we were just pooped. I tried to cram in steps during the day, and Braeya kept high-fiving me whenever I walked by the bathroom. Ryan and I had plans for a double date that night, but we had to reschedule it, so we just stayed home and watched a movie. It was much-needed down time! And at the end of the night, Braeya played hide-and-seek with us. Do you see her?

* Ryan had to work yesterday, so I stayed home and did work there. We'd awakened to snow, but it melted off when the sun came up, and it was just a nice blanket/work/coffee/sunshine kind of day. We had to run some errands, so we went for coffee, and found out it was a BOGO day for macchiatos. SWEET! We went to visit Mom, and check out the amazing sunset we got to see! And with that...our crazy week was complete!

The Saturday Six

One.

Listen here...

This week I had the pleasure of welcoming my real-life friend Sarah Albert on The Conversation Cafe. Sarah is the one that coached me through the 21 Day Fix, and she is also the one who taught the canvas class at my mom's birthday party last summer! She is also an artist and has recently developed a 5 video series on cultivating a more meaningful prayer life. We talked all about prayer and she has great ideas for getting your kids fully involved in prayer time, even from a young age! Take a listen to her thoughts!

Two.

In the podcast, Sarah talks about the prayer beads her family uses to keep their focus on prayer and to help their minds from wandering to other subjects. If you like to craft, you can make one, of course, but if you don't have time or creative talent, Sarah does have those sets of beads for sale! 

Three.

I might be leaving this one here more for myself than for anyone else! {Hey, it's my blog! I can do that!} Found this handy post with a lonnnnnnnnnnnng list of tutorials for using PicMonkey. I use it for all the collages on the Shafferland Shuffle, and for any other photo that I edit beyond cropping. But I am certain there are a million ways to use it beyond what I know, so I'm going to check these out! But for those of you who also use PicMonkey (or who don't, but are about to start!), here you go! In related news, I'm so sad that PicMonkey recently changed a lot of free features to be paid-only features. Some of my favorites are off-limits to me now. Boo.

Four.

You know I love a good home tour!! Know what else I love? Home office tour! Author Deborah Raney shared this post this week that lets you peek into her writing space. And she's a coffee addict like I am! Beautiful little space. I always love seeing what inspires people to do whatever they do - whether it's writing or something else.

Five.

 A thousand times YES to this post by Lisa Bevere! While I continue to declare I AM NOT OLD, I will say I am old enough that I have a definite appreciation now for realizing that seasons that seem like a waste are really just preparation. Sure, I'm still eager to get to "the good stuff" of what I'm hoping to see realized in my life, but the steps that take me from here to there matter so much. I'm living IN the reality of how years that led up to now prepared me for now. Read Lisa's thoughts! Truth!!!!!

Six.

Source

This week, I had the chance to read a book that offered me the unexpected. It was a two-fer. I went in expecting to read a story about the life of an extraordinary young woman, and I did just that. The unexpected bonus was getting to read a gentle but clear challenge to change my perception of just about everyone I encounter. Hadn't expected that part, but my goodness, am I ever grateful!

Let me back up and tell you about the story part. A Different Beautiful is (in part) Courtney Westlake's story of her daughter, Brenna, who was born with a rare skin condition called Harlequin ichthyosis. Though they weren't sure she would survive long after birth, Brenna is now a thriving preschooler with a spunky personality and quite a zest for life. But that life has not been void of challenges.

Brenna's skin requires careful attention to make sure it stays hydrated and free of infection, which means all the things the majority of us take for granted as routine requires much additional work for Courtney and her husband. The laundry, the bathing, the application of particular lotions - even caring for her hair and nails - all of it looks different for them. Since I've never known anyone with this particular condition, reading about it and understanding what their normal looks like was very educational and interesting.

But although she does want to educate people and every writer wants to be interesting, those two goals weren't the end for Courtney. Brenna's birth changed more than Courtney's routine. It changed her perspective. She looks at beauty differently now, and I would dare to say she looks at it the way Jesus does. Before Brenna was born, Courtney dreamed about what moms expecting baby girls do: dressing them up, mani/pedi dates, prom hair, and more. Those things seemed to represent beauty. But now she sees beauty in a whole new way, everywhere she looks, and she aches for others to do the same.

And for this reader: mission accomplished. My mind is spinning with new thoughts that I'd never considered before. Understanding how my reactions affect those in front of me. Understanding how a change within my mind doesn't mean much if it doesn't change my interactions with others. Understanding in new ways the beauty of a soul and relationships and a mind focused outward. Understanding of the importance of treasuring God's gifts to me, even if they don't fit the world's "normal" mold.

I love stories. Courtney probably could have told me Brenna's story in the pages of this book and I would have walked away satisfied with the time I invested in reading it and encouraged others to read it too. But I am thankful she didn't stop with a story. I'm thankful she took time to gently teach through the means of the story. I'm thankful she challenged my thinking in how I view myself and everyone around me.

* The author provided me with a complimentary copy of this book , but all opinions are my own. *

Letting Go of Routine

Ryan and I are very structured people, and we don't apologize for that. People ask us how we "do it all," and, well, first of all, we don't, but secondly, we do as much as we can because we're organized. We plan way ahead, we keep a color-coded calendar, we tend not to waste time, and we work hard.

Sometimes I envy those who fly through life by the seat of their pants, because organized living is work. It's getting up every day and staring at all that needs to be done and sliding tasks into time slots so by day's end, the balance of work and fun has been accomplished. Ahhhh, to get up at will and lay on the couch and read a book all day...right?

I don't think there's anything wrong with being organized, just like I don't think there's anything wrong with being a go-with-the-flow sort of soul. I believe the Lord made us with a beautiful array of personalities, and if we all approached life with the same plan, we wouldn't end up with nearly as many good stories, now would we?

But I do think it's wrong of us (organized and laid back alike) to hold so tightly to "our way" that we can't try life any other way, even for a minute. It's been an area of conviction for me lately.

Yesterday one of my friends texted me early in the morning and asked if I would pray for her son, because his class had a substitute teacher, and the change in routine created anxiety for him. And as I stared at that request on my phone, God nudged me and reminded me I knew a measure of how that little guy felt. My own week, which had been carefully scripted in full color code, had been changed multiple times. Extra appointments. New responsibilities. Canceled events. Filling in, helping out, meeting needs: all good things, but all things that changed the plans for the days and caused me to push aside my own work. And some of that work really needed to be done.

Yes. I definitely could feel a bit of the kiddo's pain. I decided to use the changes in my schedule as a great reminder to pray for this little guy while I prayed for improvement in my own attitude. I prayed that we both would learn to let go of our needs for routine and learn to accept the missions and lessons God had for us throughout our day. Missions and lessons that perhaps could only come through a change in plans.

 Chances are good, I'll always be a scheduled soul. Ryan probably will be too, and the fact that we are like-minded in that approach to life is one of the reasons we work together so well. (In full representation, Ryan handles changes to the day with a bit more grace than I do.) But I'm learning to loosen my grip a little, and I'm trying to embrace the beauty God has hidden in those unexpected changes.

Amid the Chaos

Today we celebrate 51 months of marriage, and today I want to pause to honor Ryan with my words!

As you know, this has been a very weird year so far. Not a bad year. Just a weird year. (I'm looking at you, hospital visits!!)

This year we've been reminded in fresh ways that our best planning can be completely thrown out the window with unexpected emergencies.

This year we've learned to work well as a team, even when our normal best strengths are put aside for the needs at hand. (ahem: patient and nurse)

This year we've learned to pray boldly and hold our expectations and dreams loosely.

This year we've learned (again) how to power through utter exhaustion, as in the commuting days of yore.

(And the year has only just begun. EEK!)

But Ryan, you are the perfect fit of a teammate for me. I hope you know that. Thank you for being such a champion for Mom after the great surgery of 2017. Thank you for calling to encourage her, for making sure she got home safely, and for helping us arrange all the details that you instinctively knew about when we had no idea. Thank you for understanding the time I've needed to devote to helping and for not being mad when I've been tired or behind at our house.

Thanks for being the biggest champion of my work. Thank you for being excited when I get an invitation to speak or write and for always making sure I have enough time set aside in my schedule to do the prep work I need to do.

Thanks for studying the Bible with me, for our long theological discussions, and for praying with me every single day. Thanks for praying for me when you know I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Thanks for your huge heart for everyone. I learn so much from you and your generous spirit. Just the other day, when I asked about helping someone, your response (without hesitation) was "There's always room to help people in need." And you live that out. Always.

This has been a weird year, yes. But in the chaos, in the craziness, you continue to love well. You continue to set a great example for me and all those around you. I am so proud of you and thankful for you. I hope you know how much I've loved these last 51 months and how excited I am to see what God has ahead for us! HAPPY MONTHIVERSARY!!!!!

Grace is Greater

What? A book review in the middle of the week? Isn't that like a Saturday Six thing? Why, yes! It is! But today is different, partly because I had the chance to be on a book launch team, so I wanted to give a little more attention to this book. It's also different because today begins a new month and the Lenten season, and in honor of both those events, this topic is important.

Source

I first read Kyle Idleman's writing when he released Not a Fan. And I am a fan of Not a Fan. If you're not familiar with that book, it's a challenge to consider whether you're really following Jesus or if you prefer just to be His fan. Admiring what He does without getting too caught up in the demands and costs of discipleship. When I read that book, I did a lot of underlining and vehement nodding, and mental list-making of people I suspected could benefit from the truth of that book. (Just kidding on the last part.)

So when I found out about Grace is Greater, I knew I wanted to read it. And I want to say right up front, that I think the reason Kyle wrote this book is commendable. He shares in the beginning that after presenting the Not a Fan material (with much passion and holy-boldness gusto) at a conference, a gentleman came to his book table and handed him a scrap of paper with a Scripture reference written on it. Though normally such anonymous scraps would have been lost in the pocket-trash shuffle, he pulled this one out later and read it, looking up the verse to see what it said. Hebrews 12:15 - "See to it that no one misses the grace of God."

With that, Kyle felt conviction to make sure his Not a Fan message continued, but continued saturated in grace. Greater grace, less pulpit pounding. Yes. The message of Not a Fan is still true and important, but so is the grace of God. Grace that is greater than a whole passel of things we tend to put above it.

I'm pretty sure this is the exact message Satan hopes none of us ever fully grasp. When we realize the depth and fullness of God's grace, the devil loses a lot of ground, and that doesn't work for him. So he puts in a lot of overtime hoping we'll continue to believe that our guilt, brokenness, regrets, wounds, bitterness, vengeance, resentment, disappointments, weaknesses, and despair are all-consuming. Bigger than who we are. Bigger than God. And Kyle spends this entire book, refuting every one of those lies, chapter by chapter.

Maybe you never knew about grace. (It's not given much air-time in some churches.) Then again, maybe you have heard a lot about grace, but you've heard a misrepresentation of it. That happens in some churches, too. I appreciated Kyle's approach throughout the book, because he is honest about the bigness and freedom that comes with grace, but he's also honest about the repentance and consequences our actions require to receive that grace.

Another thing Kyle does well? Presenting truth beautifully with a trace of humor. He's just a flat out funny guy, and several times, I stopped to read stories to Ryan because they were just funny. But he didn't spend so much time trying to be funny that he sacrificed the truth of this important message.

A few of my favorite lines from throughout the book:

"Before we collide with the grace of God, we must collide with the truth of our own sin. I wonder what hard thing Jesus would say to you and me." - p. 39

"You may not be locked up behind bars, but that doesn't mean you're not a prisoner. Most of us are desperate to be free from the guilt and regrets that imprison us." - p. 54

"Stop thinking about what's been done to you and start thinking about what's been done for you." - p. 85

"Whining is the opposite of worship, and complaining is the rival of grace." - p. 138

(There were many more!!)

Since this is the first day of Lent, maybe this is a good time to give up some of those regrets and the bitterness and other such things, and make room to receive the grace that is greater than all of it. The grace for which Christ died to make possible. Perfect timing, don't you think?



 * Baker Books provided a copy of this book at no charge. All opinions are my own. *

What I Learned in February

It's podcast Tuesday! This week we pay tribute to some of the HILARIOUS things my mom said pre and post op. She's so funny! And a shout out to Ryan's fifth grade love..

Listen here!

Now...on to today's blog!

It may have been a short month, but it was not short on new insights! Here is at least some of what I learned in the month of February! I'd like to think there were more insights along the way, but this is a good list!

1. You really can sneak cauliflower into a soup in place of potatoes.

I didn't sneak them in to be sneaky to Ryan. I did it to see if it was true that you really can't taste the difference. My friend Allison gave me a cheeseburger soup recipe and told me she swapped out the potatoes called for in the recipe with a head of cauliflower {chopped, of course}. She said she mashed it up into smaller pieces as it cooked and her kids didn't realize she had replaced potatoes with a healthier veggie. So when I made the soup, I did the same, and Ryan didn't catch it either. I was surprised, too, as I ate the soup, that I couldn't taste cooked cauliflower. {It's admittedly not my favorite vegetable in its cooked state. I don't mind it raw.} Sneaky veggies for the win! I'll be sharing my modification of this one soon!

2. Social media has become such a happy place for me since I employed rapid use of the "hide post" button.

I love social media. And one of the things I love about it is that it serves a million different purposes. Everyone wants what they want out of it, and that's great! Know what I want out of it? Baby pictures and cute puppies and Bible verses and those sorts of things. So this month I made the executive decision that I would hide all political posts on Facebook. I would hide them whether I agreed or disagreed. Whether they made me happy or mad. Political? Gone. I don't unfollow the people. I just hide the posts. And oh my goodness! What a difference it has made. I'm able to go and just smile when I see Facebook now, and that makes me happy. I can still read the news articles in other forums, and I do. But on that one space, I just want to find real life info about real people that I know and their cute puppies and babies!

3. Weighted blankets just might be a little miracle.

I have a friend who has started making weighted blankets as a side job. She made one for her son to help with some of his issues {I have no idea what they are} and then people started asking her to make them for sale, so she did. I'd read various articles that talked about how the weight helps with restlessness and anxiety and such things, and I'm sure those of you parenting kids with any of those issues could speak much more articulately than I on the matter. Well! When I went to the dentist this month, I was due for x-rays, so the assistant put the weighted vest on me for that, and immediately I felt calm and relaxed. (And that's good because the x-ray plates get into my gag reflex zone and cause a good amount of anxiety for me.) I relaxed so much that I contemplated asking her if she could just leave it on me when the x-rays were done. But I didn't. However, I have to say, I can see how the miracle of the weighted blanket isn't just all talk. It's real!

4. You can buy wood wicks for candles.

My sister introduced me to WoodWick candles several years ago, and they are my favorites. Have you ever had one? The wicks are wooden and crackle like a fireplace, making the whole candle-burning experience extra delightful. But the candles are definitely pricey, making the much more of a treat than an everyday experience. But I learned (via the magic of Pinterest, of course) that you can actually buy wood wicks and use them to make your own candles! I've never been a candle maker but this absolutely intrigues me!

5. I don't like almond milk.

In a rather embarrassing turn of events at Starbucks this month, I accidentally grabbed someone else's drink by mistake. I didn't realize anyone was ahead of me in line and when my chosen drink was declared - except made with almond milk - I thought the barista just messed up the milk choice. I hated to waste the drink and have her redo it, so I grabbed it and started sampling. I. did. not. like. it. at. all. And right about the time I was insisting I would power through anyway, she called out MY drink. The same one, made with skim milk. THAT'S when I realized a lady over in the corner had just not claimed her drink and I'd grabbed it. The lady whose drink I stole by mistake was ever so gracious about it. The barista? Not so much. I had a very red face, but in the process, I learned I don't like almond milk!

6. Making freezer meals is a fun, yet exhausting activity.

If you missed the post last week, I'll fill you in by telling you I made freezer meals for my parents to have on hand following my mom's recent hip replacement. I wanted to make meals that were done and ready to eat, so all they had to do was defrost and heat them. No additional prep required. It took me an entire Saturday from morning to night, but I prepared and individually portioned out thirty whole meals and two kinds of cookies. It was a lot of fun to do, but my feet were killing me by evening.


7. If you need answers to your tax questions, check the scrapbooks.

Ryan's been working tirelessly on our taxes over the last few weeks, and he comes up with occasional questions of when we did certain things so he knows where to look for receipts or whatever. On more than one occasion, my too-detailed-for-most-people scrapbooks have provided the necessary answers. Scrapbooking for the win in a brand new way!

Alphabetical Dates: The Letter "C"

Welllllllllllll, here is one date that certainly saw more modifications than I intended! Just to catch you up real quickly, in case you're new here - we're mixing up our married dating life this year by going on alphabetically themed dates. You can read about the "A" date here and the "B" date here, and this week, I was bound and determined that despite the chaos of our week, we were GETTING the "C" date. And it turned out to be one of the most beautiful and welcomed parts of the week. That's for sure!

My friend Odie said we needed to go on a CRUISE for the C date, and we definitely agreed, but alas. We just bought a gallbladder eviction, so we lacked the funds to buy a cruise.

So the next best thing? A "coffee shop crawl." How fun is that? It's like a pub crawl, but we don't drink, so we went from coffee shop to coffee shop instead. Or at least we tried. It was a brilliant plan on paper. I spread the date over the course of three days, because I felt we could enjoy the coffee much more if we weren't trying to do allllllllllllll the coffee shops in one day. I mean, that is a lot of caffeine and sugar - even for us.

I found three coffee shops in Kokomo we hadn't yet visited, and I spent time researching when they were open and arranged the dates accordingly. (Can I just say that is my only complaint about Kokomo coffee shops? None of them stay open very late at all.)

So the plan was that Thursday morning, we would get up extra early and a little after seven, we would go to The Bind Cafe, which is a coffee shop downtown that I didn't even know existed until a few weeks ago when I saw it on a list of must-visit coffee shops in the state of Indiana. Their Facebook page said they opened at seven, so I thought I'd give them a couple of minutes to settle, but go early enough that we would still have time to enjoy coffee and breakfast before Ryan had to work.

We arrived at 7:10 to this.

Closed up tight. Not closed, but lights on and people milling about, just running behind. Closed, closed, closed. Dark inside, no cars outside, CLOSED.

I don't think I need to explain how disappointing that is for two coffee addicts who have already survived a significant chunk of their morning without coffee, waiting for this glorious moment.

Baffled and befuddled, I checked their Facebook page again to see if I had somehow misread it. Nope. It said right there in bright green: "OPEN." And yet clearly, not so much. So we drove away with much sadness, and headed instead to Big Ben Coffee, which is our favorite local shop.

Ryan got fresh brew and I got the same with a scone on the side. (He was having breakfast at work, so he didn't need food.) We thoroughly enjoyed watching the sunrise and talking together. A lovely, leisurely morning, and even though it was Plan B, it was wonderful. And we took some goofy photos.

Friday night, after the lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng week was finally behind us, we went to our second destination. There's a place in town called Coffee Junkiez that has several locations. Most are drive-thru only, but they have one full-sized restaurant that is both Coffee Junkiez and Pizza Junkiez. So we went for dinner and coffee.

The thunderstorms that rolled through central Indiana showed up while we were eating dinner, so it was nice to be inside where it was comfy and dry. It was actually quite a nice little place to eat. Quiet, calming music, lots of space, DELICIOUS pizza.

Ryan would like to point out that we got the Carnivore pizza, because it also starts with C. After we ate, we ordered lattes. Andes Mint for Ryan and Raspberry Delight for me, and we just kicked back, talked for a while, and watched the rain while we enjoyed our coffee. Delicious.

A keeper of a night, a keeper of a coffee joint, and the ONLY date that went as planned.

Saturday morning, we had plans to go to Main Street Cafe, because we had a gift card we'd been saving to use. It's hard to go to this place, because they have NO evening hours at all, and that makes it tough when you have a day job. (Plus, Ryan only gets 1/2 hour for lunch on weekdays, so eating out is not an option.)

I'd been there on a Saturday morning before, with one of my friends, so Ryan and I got up early on the only day we could sleep in, got ready, and drove in the snow to Main Street Cafe: Closed. Apparently they're not open on Saturdays. Not sure how they were open the day I went, but they were definitely not participating for our date day. Womp, womp.

So we drove to another part of downtown to a little cafe called Gabetta's, and ordered breakfast and fresh brew. It wasn't a true coffee shop, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

When we went to pay the bill, we discovered it's owned by Coffee Junkiez, too, so SCORE! It counts as a coffee shop!

So the winning part of our C date was that we had three opportunities to enjoy quality time together in the middle of a week that was totally chaotic and exhausting. Love that. And that's what really counts. The losing part of our C date was that 2/3 of our destinations were complete busts. Sadness indeed.

The Shafferland Shuffle

Well there certainly has not been a shortage of events this week!! Full, full week! Here we go!

* Last Sunday, Ryan had to work, which is a rare thing, but it does sometimes happen. (By Friday, he had worked 13 days in a row, and we were both exhausted.) When he got home, we went to an open house for a recently built house in our neighborhood. We love to see what's new! Ryan likes the light fixture and I photo-bombed. :) And that night, we began the first of allllllllll the visits to the hospital. That night? To see his mom.

* Monday I spent an hour and a half at the Goodwill, buying clothes for my spring capsule project (more on this later). I think that may be a record for the amount of time I've spent at the Goodwill in one day. That night, we went back to the hospital to see Ryan's mom again, and then out to my parents' house to drop off the 30 freezer meals I made for them. (They were surprised!)

* Tuesday was Mom's surgery day, so I hurried to get all my chores done in the morning and then we spent the whole afternoon and evening at the hospital with her. (And threw in some visits to Ryan's mom while we were at it.) We had Bible study that night and made minor pigs of ourselves on the snacks provided, because we'd never gotten around to having dinner!

* I'm sure it will surprise you that I spent part of Wednesday at the hospital, attending Mom's therapy sessions and delivering flowers. Ryan and I went back that night to see her again and to get our daily hospital selfie. We tried to get one every day this week, but this was the last day we actually remembered to do it.

* Thursday morning, we went on the first portion of our "C" date (more on this to come), and then while Ryan went to work, I went back to the hospital to be Mom's therapy coach. Even got to eat lunch with her! Ryan and I went back that afternoon to help with her release and to get her home and into the house safely. Quite a production!

* Friday morning, my dad had a previously scheduled appointment, so I went to sit with Mom while he was gone and to help when the home health nurse came. (Lots of questions and Mom was still pretty groggy from all the happenings of the week.) Came home, worked all afternoon and then that night, Ryan and I had part two of our "C" date. We were so tired, we ended up sleeping on Mo and I missed the entire end of the movie we watched!

* Woke up yesterday to SNOW. COME ON, INDIANA! Snow was so last month. Let's move on to spring! We went out for the third and final portion of our "C" date, and then I had to get back home for a podcast interview. It was Ryan's first day off in two weeks, so he enjoyed updating his phone and doing other fun at-home chores. Well-deserved. We paid a quick visit to my parents, and it's great to see Mom doing so well!