Things I Learned in March

I know we have a couple more days of March yet, but I kind of wanted to talk about Easter tomorrow, and then of course, it'll be Saturday Six day after that, so today I will tell you the things I learned in the month of March! I feel like I should have learned more than I did, but apparently I took a mental spring break during part of the month, so I'll give you what I have!

1. Tilapia isn't so bad.

When I was a kid, I ate "fish." You know. McFish and fish fry fish. Somewhere along the way, I decided I hated fish. Hated fish. So I've never eaten it as an adult. Even the smell of it makes me sick to my stomach. I don't hate seafood...just fish. Bring me shrimp, bring me crab, bring me lobster...but don't bring me fish. Well, Ryan has been such a good sport to try all my clean eating recipes over the past few months, even trying things he was pretty sure he wouldn't like. So when a fish recipe came up in the cycle, I decided I should try to be a big girl about it. Now, the recipe called for salmon, and Ryan told me it wouldn't go well. It's a super fishy fish, he said, and he doesn't even like it. So we did the same recipe on tilapia, and it was pretty good! It wasn't a hamburger, but it was pretty good! I can eat fish! 

2. I miss my nieces and nephews I never see anymore.

I went to Faith's birthday party this month, and my "niece" was there. I haven't seen her in almost a year, and the last time I did see her was in passing at a graduation open house. We had a good talk with many hugs. I miss her and I miss all my nieces and nephews that live far away. (Ones related by blood and ones related by love equally!)

3. Being Aunt-Bekah-the-Great is wonderful and sad.

My niece had a baby this month, and I've decided being a great-aunt sounds less elderly if I call myself Aunt Bekah the Great. (Note: I do not actually expect the baby to call me this. It just makes me feel better.) Little Miss Caroline is for-real cute (not the kind of cute that you fake your way through just to save face) and the whole thing is just so wonderful. Know what's not wonderful? Being 850 miles away from her! It's so sad! How in the ever loving world am I supposed to get a baby cuddling fix from that distance??

4. There is a Tetris version of Jenga.

I picked up the kiddos for school one morning and Brother had a whole game with him! (He often brings along a toy, but a whole game was new!) It was a Jenga game, but the blocks weren't the standard rectangles. They were shaped like Tetris pieces. I think this may be exactly the kind of game where Ryan could excel...

5. I kind of like cooking with real herbs.

I use a lot of herbs and spices in cooking, because that's how I get flavor when I don't saturate everything in butter! :) But I use dried herbs for almost everything, because I do not have a green enough thumb to grow my own and keep them alive. But this month I bought an actual bunch of parsley because I made a handful of recipes that called for a lot of it. I had no idea it had an actual aroma. The dried version sure doesn't! Impressive! And I felt so fancy. 

6. Don't hang onto that handle in the car.

So I've managed to injure myself in the dumbest of ways. I have a shoulder/upper arm injury on my right side, and it happened from excessive grabbing on that handle above the passenger door in the car. To be fair, it's not because of Ryan's driving. He's a good driver. It's everyone ELSE that scares me to death and sends me grabbing for that thing. But while I appreciate having a live-in physical therapist who can give me exercises to help it, it hurts! So let me help you. Don't overuse that handle!

So there you go! Things I learned in March! 

Welcome Sweet Springtime

Anybody remember good ol' 14A? (If not, here you go.)

Well, Ryan declared spring needed to come (for real) immediately, so last night before our small group members arrived, he moved all the porch furniture out of the garage and back to its rightful space.

What a beautiful sight that was! It's still not warm enough to use, but it's given me hope that the day is not far away when we'll be able to sit out there and enjoy some beautiful evenings! I can't wait!

So I decided to think about some of the other things I'm looking forward to about the return of warmer weather. Want to dream with me?

* Walks after dinner. Ryan and I love to go for sunset walks, and I'm so looking forward to the return of those walks! We have some of the best talks on those walks!

* Running outside. I'm so over the treadmill. It's been too many months. I'm grateful for that option, but I'm so ready for the scenery to change as I move along!

* Fire pit fun! Last year we didn't use our fire pit much and I missed it. Hoping for good evenings to sit by the fire and drink coffee.

* Naps in the hammock. The frame taunts me from the back porch. I'm eager to put it all back together and read books and take naps out there!

* Flowers in bloom. I have to wait a little longer for that at this house, since we don't have any tulips or daffodils. But the pear tree should be about ready to blossom and the roses will be greening up soon even if they don't have flowers yet!

* Ditching the coats. I feel like the migration to lighter clothing and the loss of coats is an instant diet. I'm ready for that.

* Pretty green grass. I was so excited yesterday when I looked out and saw the first thick patch of green grass. It rained all day, but even that didn't seem so bad when that promising first patch showed up!

* Spring and summer food! Salads and grilling and watermelon and more. Bring it!

I'm sure I could ponder this idea for hours, but I think this list is a fine start. What are you looking forward to?

Spring Break, Baby!

If you're on break this week, we have a little something to keep you company! The Quirky McQuirkersons (that would be the two of us) are checking in to tell you all the oddities that make up Shafferland. If you hang out here often, you probably have figured out a few of them, but it's still funny to listen to us admit our own strangeness. Enjoy!

Listen here!

Well, spring break has started around here, and I spent my first day having some fun! (Ryan spent his first day working. Health care doesn't get a spring break!)

At Faith's 40th birthday party a few weeks ago, we saw Savannah, who is one of my honorary nieces. She said she missed me and wanted to hang out with me, so I made plans with her mom for us to do just that during her spring break. (Wasn't it so kind of our breaks to line up that way?)

So yesterday morning, I drove over to my old stomping grounds in Marion and picked her up so she could spend the day with me. I really haven't hung out with her at all since Ryan and I have gotten married, so she's grown up a LOT in that time. I wasn't sure I knew what to do for teenage fun, but I gave it my best shot, and she said she had a fun day!

We got back to our house just in time for Ryan to come home for lunch. (I made our lunch Sunday night so it would be all ready to heat up and eat! Planning for the win!)

After lunch, we went to visit Ryan at work, so she could see where he spends his days! And then, of course, it was time for coffee shop visits.

I let her pick how she wanted to spend her afternoon, and it was all about shopping! (Of course!) So we made our way to a few stores, where I became increasingly frightened by current fashion trends. Here, though, is some of our fun!

Found some more sparkly shoe options, too.

We interrupted our shopping long enough to pick up Ryan after work, so we could all go to dinner together! We let Savannah pick the spot, and Olive Garden won!

We had just enough time for coffee and a quick run through the mall before we had to take her home!

She said she had a fun day, and I know I did! Aunt and uncle life for the win!

Throwback Monday

Yesterday I took a three hour nap. THREE HOURS! Oh my word. It was so glorious. It's also my last chance to nap on Sunday for a while, so I didn't feel guilty about it. I viewed it as an hour for today and an hour for each of the next two Sundays, too! (Seriously, come to me if you need anything rationalized. I'm pretty good at it.)

Anyway! Three hour nap = glorious, but three hour nap also = boring to blog about. So today I thought I would do something I've not done in a while! A blog throwback! Looking back over this date (or pretty near to it) from the years I've been blogging to see what I was up to on that day. Kind of a manual Time Hop of sorts! I'm also eager to revisit a plethora of hairstyles. That's always fun.

So without further ado...

2007: I did not blog on this day that year, but two days earlier, I'd blogged about hosting a movie night a church. I remember that night! I was the women's ministry director at church and we had a movie night for the ladies. Pretty sure we watched One Night with the King (a movie about Queen Esther) and the focus of the post was my success in running the big popcorn maker!

2008: Oh how fun! This was right after I'd starting having game nights with my high school buddies (which are still happening, by the way) and I'd spent an evening losing more rounds of games! I don't think I realized we'd been having game nights for this many years! This post also featured that year's Easter dress and my sock tan line from the year before that. Oh, Bekah.

2009: I went to meet my friend's new baby, and of course my visit took place after a visit to the gym and a meltdown. So I continue to admonish you to look at the baby! Fun fact: this sweet girl's mom and I are still friends, and I have watched her blossom into a lovely young lady.

2010: No pictures from this post, but this really is a classic Bekah story. This was the year the power cord to my laptop died, and I had to order a new one from the manufacturer. It took over a week for it to arrive, and I felt cut off from the land of the living. I soooooooooooo remember this! Shiver! (I also noted how much times have changed in the last eight years, because clearly I did not have a smart phone at the time of this post. The computer was my only link to the web!)

2011: On this day I was in the middle of recapping my first ever trip to Florida! My friend Ronda had invited me to go along with her (and her daughter and two grandsons) to Florida for spring break, and it was SUCH a fun trip! This particular day had some rain involved, but we didn't let it stop us from having fun! And my first beach weeds picture. :)

2012: Sometimes I have actual spiritual depth in my posts, and this day was one such day. I had learned an important lesson from a text I'd received from a fire-fighting friend, and I shared what God taught me. If you're going through a fire-of-life right now, you should probably read this one. Sorry...no pictures!

2013: The year I was utterly baffled by what was going on in the land of fashion. I still sometimes feel this pain. I will probably feel it a lot this week because guess who doesn't have an Easter dress yet?

2014: I was in the middle of a blog series of alphabetical Bible verse studies, and this particular day focused on the letter G. If you need a devo for your day, check it out!

2015: Another blog series! I wrote about some people who had made an impact on my life, and this day featured a random man I didn't even know. I encountered him during a Burger King lunch, but his words about his wife left a lasting impression. (And there's a little tribute to my own husband at the end!)

2016: Some of the first glimpses I gave you of our new home - from the very first day we stepped inside the door as its owners! Two years ago now! How exciting!!!

2017: And that brings us to last year! We had a day with our Pheebs, and it was (of course) much fun! Love that girl! I think we need another day with her soon!

So there you have it! A throwback to various March days much like this one! Hope you had fun! :)

The Shafferland Shuffle

So...did you get snow? We didn't get what they predicted, and I am not crying about that! Maybe now we can have spring! :)

* Last Sunday was our last day at the East Central Conference retreat over in Ohio. We thoroughly enjoyed our last day with the ladies, and then we packed up and came home to a very agitated cat. I was exhausted from the weekend, so I was a bum most of the rest of the night.

* I really like to rest as much as I can the day after any speaking event, but Mondays are my busiest day, so I didn't rest quite as much as I'd hoped. I had to unpack, do laundry, edit the podcast, do follow-up paperwork from speaking, redo my book inventory...all the homecoming chores! And have I told you that I've injured my shoulder? So now I'm getting part time PT from Ryan to see if we can make it better. Monday's treatment involved "washing the wall." It hurt!

* Tuesday was the first day of spring, which means it was also free ice cream day at Dairy Queen! We had just enough time at lunch to scurry over there and cash in on the deal! That night we were in Upland, where I spoke at a women's evening at a church. Ryan went with me and helped me get all set up, and then we both really enjoyed meeting the ladies after the event ended!

* Wednesday was NUTS. We live just over 15 miles away from my parents and that morning, we had green grass and my parents had an inch of snow. Oh, Indiana. You slay me! I met up with one of my mothers-in-law (Ryan has a step-mom and a mom, so I have two mothers-in-law!) for coffee and catch up. We hadn't seen each other in forever! And that night we stayed home, which was wonderful. Braeya especially thought so.

* The schools around here are on spring break now, but I still had volunteering duty on Thursday. Such a pretty line of lunches waiting on kiddos! I did some walking and some running on the treadmill that night. Decided to try hills on the treadmill. EVIL. And then I came home to read while I rested my sore legs!

* Friday was a low key day around here, which was wonderful in every way. Braeya and I put clean sheets on the bed. (She's SUCH a helper!) Ryan was gifted some BBQ ribs, which was an unexpected blessing to our menu plan! And I knocked out a whole bunch of writing and scrapbooking!

* Ryan worked yesterday, and Braeya took advantage of my writing/researching day to sit on my feet and nap. She and I also worked on cleaning out the DVR by catching up on all the Bates, Duggar, and Fixer Upper shows we hadn't watched yet! We had the ribs for dinner, and Ryan decided cornbread and macaroni sounded good with them, so I fortunately had the stuff for both and made him some! And best of all, we did NOT get the predicted snow! YAY!!!!

The Saturday Six

One.

If you were at the retreat where I spoke last weekend, you heard me talk about how capturing your story doesn't have to be complex. It can be done in a bunch of different ways. I found this beautiful post by Kristen Strong that does this very thing in a unique way. She remembered a bunch of her dad's favorite sayings, and I loved reading them. (And if you weren't at the retreat, this is still a touching post to read!)

Two.

I do love some fresh flowers. (I had the chance to enjoy some just this week, in fact!) The season of tulips is upon us, and I found this post with great tips for how to choose and care for fresh cut tulips.  Since I tend to not always have the greenest thumb, I needed these tips!

Three.

I'm not sure when spring break falls for you...in our county it's actually a two week even that starts now! (And wouldn't you know it...snow in the forecast.) So if your kids are about to be home and therefore likely to be whining about being BORED, here are some fun, low-to-no-cost activities. Enjoy!

Four.

This year marks 25 years since Tricia Reitler disappeared from the Indiana Wesleyan campus. If you're not from around here, you might not know that story, but Tricia was a freshman at IWU (yes, the same college where I went and also worked) when she disappeared during a walk to a grocery store just off campus. The case remains open, and I saw this interview this week, where her parents talk about their hope that the case will one day be solved. (If you are interested in knowing more about the case, you can Google her name to find a number of articles.)

Five.

A lint roller to dust lamp shades? Why didn't I think of that??? Sure beats the method I use, which basically disperses all the dust into the air and down onto the table below. Eyeroll.

Six.

Source

As you know, Ryan and I are reading through the Bible chronologically this year, and we just finished up Deuteronomy, where we said our final goodbye to Moses. Kind of sad to think about not reading about him anymore, since we have been studying his life for four books now!

I think it was our trek through the beginning of his story and the book of Exodus that made me take notice of a new book that just released, called Imagine: The Ten Plagues. It's young adult fiction, and normally I don't read that since I don't have kids to screen books for, but this one caught my attention.

Written by Matt Koceich, this book is the second in the Imagine series. Matt is a school teacher and father of four, and his desire was to create a series that took modern day kids back in time to monumental Bible events. The first book took a little boy named Corey back to The Great Flood, and this book takes fourth-grader Kai Wells back to Egypt as the plagues are about to begin.

Kai is a typical modern day kid struggling with a bully at her school, when she suddenly finds herself in ancient Egypt, surrounded by Israelite slaves and angry Egyptian leaders. With her modern day understanding of the Bible, Kai knows what the plagues are as they begin, and her knowledge makes her an asset to the Israelites she meets, but a threat to the Egyptians. Kai runs for her life, trying to help a sweet little Israelite girl along the way and wondering if she will ever get back to her life in Florida.

I was skeptical but hopeful as I began this book. I really wanted it to be well-written, Biblically accurate, and exciting, and I was so pleasantly surprised to find it to be all three. I thought the writing was well-suited for a juvenile audience, though I wasn't bored at all as I read it from an adult perspective. The plagues were well represented and made me think about them in new ways through the detailed descriptions of what it might have been like to live through each one. In fact, I think my only disappointment in the whole book was that the descriptions of the plagues seemed to speed up as the book went along. The first few were described more fully than the last ones.

Kai lived through plenty of action in the pages of the book, and she was able to tie together the common bonds of core issues between modern day life in Florida and ancient life in Egypt. (Bullying takes on many forms, after all!)

I didn't find anything in the book that seemed off in accuracy, and I thought the author's fictional liberties were well-applied.

If we had a young reader in our house, I would have no issues suggesting this book as a good read, and I'd also be interested in reading the first book in the series (and any that follow). The concept is intriguing and the delivery is well-done. Well done, Matt Koceich!

** I received a copy of this book from Barbour at no cost to me. All opinions are my own! **

Upland Community Church

Happy Friday, friends!

I realize I really have no room to whine about forecasts when Tamar has been trying to train for a marathon in between bouts of nor'easters, but what in the ever loving world is up with the Indiana forecast this weekend? Significant snowfall? NO!!!!

When I took the kids to school yesterday, I mentioned there was a chance for snow this weekend, and Sister piped up rather loudly, "BUT I PRAYEDED FOR SPRING TO COME!" I prayeded for it too, Sister.

So happy Friday, happy spring break to those of you enjoying some time off, happy snow day to those of you who have to shovel, and I think that pretty much covers the greetings I can offer this fine day.

Can you handle one more peek into the speaking world this week?

Last fall, a church about an hour from us reached out to see if I could speak at one of their women's events. It was supposed to take place in January, and I was all excited about serving them! As the day approached, so did questionable weather forecasts (imagine that, Indiana!) so they decided to postpone the evening until spring when the weather wouldn't be an issue.

I thought it was very wise of them. And I was certainly glad about it, because when the original evening came, I was flattened on the couch, shivering with the flu. (That was right before my weird bout with pink eye.) God knew, and He had the whole thing orchestrated for us!

So they rescheduled the evening for the first actual day of spring. And wouldn't you know, a couple of days before the evening arrived, they started predicting snowfall! (It did happen, but not until late at night after everyone was safely home.)

The evening started out a bit on the interesting side. We left home and got about fifteen minutes down the road when Ryan realized he didn't have his phone with him. We were going to be gone long enough that we both felt like he should have his phone on him, so we had to drive back home and start over. Then we got stuck behind a huge tractor. (I'm not complaining...Ryan's family farms, so I have respect and understanding for slowing down for famers. It was just comical at that point.)

We finally arrived with a few moments to spare, and Ryan helped me get all moved in and set up. He's the best!

My topic for the night was Your Story Matters, so it was a heavily condensed version of the retreat I just did!

Ryan got a bit artistic with his photography. He calls this one coffee cup with crowd.

(Made me giggle when I saw it.)

The ladies were very sweet, and so was the dessert spread!

Such a fun night, and I feel we should both get extra points for not stopping by Ivanhoe's for strawberry shortcake. (Because oh yes, that is back!!!)

When Adulting is Fun

Two nights ago, we didn't get home until almost midnight. (I know. We live on the edge.) I'd spoken at a church for their women's event, and by the time we stopped a few places on the way home, it was past our bedtime on a school night. 

Ryan's dinner had worn off, so he rummaged around for some chips and salsa, and while he did, I found a TV show to watch. And I told him this was the part of being an adult that was every bit as much fun as my childhood-self dreamed it would be.

I was such a weird kid. I declared a curfew for myself when I was a seventh grader, and I stuck to it pretty religiously (on school nights, anyway) until I went to college. I put myself to bed at 9:45 and turned out the lights at 10:15. For the half hour in between, I journaled, did my devotions, and read in a book if I had extra time. Came up with the whole plan myself. (How lucky were my parents?) (Don't worry. I am sure I gave them headaches in other areas.)

But even then, with rules I could blame on no one but myself, I dreamed of adulthood when such rules did not exist. I could stay up as late as I wanted. I could have a late-night snack if I wanted. I could watch TV at midnight (from my bed!) if I wanted. I could stay up all night if I wanted.

And I have done all those things. Don't misunderstand: Ryan and I still try to get to bed at a decent time because there is that evil alarm thing that happens every single morning. We try to be responsible adults. But we also occasionally cash in on the freedom to break the rules because we make them and therefore we can break them.

So sometimes we stay out until midnight. And when we come home, we eat chips and salsa. (Just Ryan this time, but I've been known to do it!) Sometimes we start a movie at 11:00 and fall asleep watching it. And while we don't really pull all-nighters, we could. (And I frequently did when I was single. I still remember one night when I started writing before I went to bed and stayed up until 4:00 in the morning. I slept for two hours and went to church!)

Adulthood comes with its fair share of headaches, doesn't it? I'm looking at you, tax season. The whole bill-paying, appointment-keeping, job-reporting can sometimes annoy us, but I believe adulthood isn't all bad. There are fun liberties we get to take that are every bit as delightful as they seemed from the childhood perspective.

Some of my personal favorites have included:

* Getting up at 4 in the morning to go to the donut shop, eating a donut on the way home, and then going back to bed for a few more hours.

* Having a slumber party on the living room floor and falling asleep watching movies.

* Eating cake for breakfast. (Or any other non-breakfast food.)

* Going for a late-night walk when the weather is too pretty to miss, even if it's too dark to see.

* Driving all night to start a vacation early. (We can't handle it anymore, but it was fun when it happened!)

* Spontaneous trips out of town for shopping and fun.

* Napping in the hammock.

These are the moments that make up (mostly, anyway) for taxes and oil changes. :)

Anything you do that we should try? I'm turning 40, you know. Time to maximize my adulting experiences. 

Having a Little Fun

Thanks for looking at the behind-the-scenes glimpses of our retreat weekend over the last couple of days. We worked hard and did our best to be available to the women while we were together with them, but it wasn't all work and no play. We did have some fun, too! Wanna see?

Friday night, after the opening session, the ladies played Let's Make a Deal. One of the women served as the game show host ("Chuck") and Ryan played the announcer. They were both SO GOOD at what they did. I laughed and laughed and laughed at Chuck! "He" was so good at staying in character and rolling with all the unexpected moments. I could never do that with such grace. (Even funny things can be a gift...and that's a gift I don't have, but I sure do appreciate those who do!)

Here I am with Bob the announcer (who looks suspiciously like Ryan):

And here are Bob and Chuck.

Seriously SO funny.

I have a couple of tiny clips of Ryan in action. The sound might be a bit low...I was pretty far back in the room.

In other news...check out the size of the sugar cookie from the Doughbox Bakery!!!!

We went to a diner for lunch on Saturday, based on the recommendation of my friend Trudy and her mom. (They even ate with us!) It was SO GOOD, and Ryan was super excited about his coconut cream pie. He wanted his picture with it. (He is always a good sport about me taking his picture, but he does not often ASK for a picture with food, so when he does, I figure it's a big deal!)

A couple of friend pictures. My friend Trudy grew up in this church conference, so she and her mom were there and it was fun to talk with her. And I made new friends, too!!

So it was a great weekend, with learning, praying, crying, fun, conversations, hugs, and so much more. Thanks for coming along for a virtual trip! :)