Pictures Worth a Thousand Memories...January

I did it! 

This past weekend I ordered three scrapbooks, cashing in on one of the best sales offered by the company I scrap with - and they don't run the sale that often!. I've been knee (neck?) deep in pictures for the last week, preserving memories from the end of 2019. I'm not tired of looking at them yet! 

So today I'm going to share with you some of my favorite pictures from the month of January! Some you may have seen, and some may be new to the blog, but these have been my favorite memories of 2020 so far!

This was from our first date in 2020. I had worked hard to prepare an at-home indoor picnic date, and setting it up before Ryan got home from work was so much fun. That was a great evening, and this picture makes me smile!

I have loved our winter decorations so much, and this tree has been one of our favorite parts of it. It sits in the corner of our living room and brightens every early morning and late night. It's made for a cozy start to the year.

We had the most perfect New Year's Day! We had the day off together, we had beautiful sunshine all day, and even ran our first 5K of the year outside! I am sure it's all in our heads, but when we can begin a year in a purposeful and meaningful way, it sets an important tone!

Does your cat not give high-fives? That's too bad. You're missing out!

Earaly morning coffee date before work...that was a fun day!

We haven't seen them lately, but for a while, we had some of the most gorgeous sunrises. I savored every minute of them as I drove to work. (The best part was usually done by the time I arrived.)

The pre-haircut struggle was real. So, so real.

So was the Sunday morning when we had all the medical emergencies at church. 

Then there was the day when I looked up at lunchtime and saw Ryan standing in the doorway, latte in hand. I sure do love this man!

Am I allowed to talk about sunrises twice?

Matchy-matchy at the gym! We cracked ourselves up!

When the server at the next table dropped everything right when I took the food picture. (This picture makes me laugh more than any other one this month!)

Dreamy little sighs (From the big girl and the little one.)

Plumb tuckered out.

It's been a good month with great scrapbook fodder!

She Paints!

It's been almost a year now since a whole new phase of women's ministry began at our church. I was invited to be part of the planning team at the beginning, and then when the pastor over the ministry left last summer, I was asked to fill in as the full time leader of the ministry at large.

I have loved this chance to serve.

There are several ministry capacities that make my heart leap, and this is one of them. It's a huge task, and I take it extremely seriously, but I still love it. In fact, I miss being able to devote the time to it that I did before I had a full time job. Last week I had two days when I worked full office days and then spent the whole evening on our ministry, and those were two very long days!

Our ministry is called She, and one of the outlets of it is a craft/creative ministry named She Creates. Last fall, at our final leadership meeting of 2019, our team decided we wanted to kick off 2020 by hosting a canvas painting party open to all the women/girls of the church. We wanted to make it a fun night of fellowship where we provided snacks and supplies, and the ladies could just come and enjoy a low-stress evening. We also hoped this would give the women of the church a chance to get to know the leadership team better - and give us a chance to get to know some ladies we may not have met!

So last Monday night, after our leadership team meeting, we had a trial run as a team, painting our project and learning the fine points of this particular painting. Our teacher for the night (one of our team members) did a fantastic job, and even though we are clearly not all overly skilled in painting, I was proud of all of us for making a unique masterpiece! Here were the leadership team paintings at the end of Monday night:

Friday evening, we covered tables in our church gym, arranged nametags on canvases, distributed paint and brushes, set up two tables of snacks, and prepared to meet the women who signed up to hang out with us! We had about 50 women sign up (really great for this ministry!) and when it was all said and done, I think we had 40 show up.

Ryan even came by the church after work to help us get coffee going and make sure we had enough snacks (and didn't need an emergency grocery run) before we got started!

My favorite part of the entire night was watching these ladies have fun together. We had older women, middle aged women, young women, and girls, all mixed in that gym together. We had grandmas painting with granddaughters. Aunts painting with nieces. Moms painting with daughters. We had women I've never seen at a church extracurricular event sitting in the crowd, trying something new. We had people who had never painted before giving it a shot. Longtime friends caught up on conversations and brand new friendships formed right beside them.

I. Loved. It.

The entire night, I wove among the tables, watching, listening, and documenting, and it was so encouraging! I knew some of the ladies didn't think their paintings were masterpieces worthy of display, but even the non-artists said they had great fun and would do a night like this again without hesitation.

Here's a sampling of their work - just one of the group pictures:

After the night was done, the team worked hard to clean up, and Ryan came back to help! (He's such an amazing ministry support. I appreciate him and love him for how he shows love to me!)

I was so happy to see the women having such a great time, and I can't wait to see what other fun projects come about in the remainder of the year!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Can you believe we're headed into the final week of January?? It has been a full and rich month here in Shafferland, but I can't quite believe we're already to the end of it!

* I've already told you about last Sunday, so I won't go on and on about it here. It was our new pastor's first Sunday at our church, and we enjoyed a wonderful service! We appreciated his sermon and the music was amazing...an all around great day. We were able to be home and rest the remainder of the day, and that was a great thing, because the week ahead of us was busy!

* I worked all day Monday and then stayed around for a meeting with the leadership team for women's ministry. Here's what my desk looks like when I'm prepping for a meeting. (I ran out of desk space, actually!) We had a good meeting and at the end of it, we practiced painting a canvas for a church painting party at the end of the week. We (the leadership team) hosted the party, so we all tried our hand at the painting, so we could be helpful hosts later! I didn't get home until almost 10:00 that night - a very long day! Ryan did an amazing job of helping me out with things at home - that night and all week - to keep us afloat.

* Part of it was from being tired from Monday and part of it was just life, I'm sure, but Tuesday was one of those terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad days. Nothing major or life altering. Just a rough day. I made it through the day (not without crying) and that night, Ryan got me a 4 for 4 from Wendy's, because that is the best thing for a bad day. We canceled our plans for the evening and stayed home so I could rest and get my thoughts in order. It absolutely helped, and the rest of the week went very well.

* Wednesday night Ryan and I showed up at the gym in the same outfit. Cracked ourselves up! It was my next 5K for January, and it ended up being my best one yet in time and inside my head, too. I was so busy that evening, trying to get ready for the canvas painting party, that Ryan helped me out by making a pot of chili for us to carry us through the end of the week!

* Thursday was a busy day at work, including working on writing the women's ministry newsletter! I always love it when work includes writing! Ryan taught a gym class on Thursday, and I did my own workout at home. My workouts this month get progressively longer as the month goes along. The planks and wall sits are getting rough!

* Friday was the big canvas painting day! We had about forty ladies come to church and paint together, and they seemed to have a really great time! Ryan came at the beginning and end to help us set up and cleanup, but the leadership team did all the rest of the work, and they were so diligent! I walked 18,000 steps in boots, and by the time I got home, my feet were screaming! A huge shout-out to Ryan again for helping make this entire week go smoothly. Looking forward to a week where I can be more present with him!

* So yesterday I sat on the couch and scrapbooked alllllll day long. I am almost done with the second of three scrapbooks I'd hoped to complete this week. The third one won't get done, but that's okay! Ryan took me on a date last night! We had a gift card to Applebee's, and Ryan really wanted to enjoy the bottomless wings, so that's where we headed!

The Saturday Six

One.

We don't have stairs at our house, but I do have some dreams of adding board and batten to our foyer. (Just keep reading, Ryan...) This blogger posted about sprucing up her stairs, and I loved the way it looked!

Two. 

When Ryan's mom died, our church gave us a potted plant, and it's still alive! This may be a record for me on keeping a plant going! I found this article with a list of some of the best plants for darker spaces. (Our house isn't really dark, but it doesn't have unending natural light.) If this is your year to become a plant person, check it out!

Three.

I wanted to get a Valentine's shirt to wear to work during Valentine's Day week. Decided on this one!

Four.

There are some great tips in here for meal prep for the busy person. If you struggle with menu planning/meal prep and some of the practical aspects of how it all works, take a look!

Five.

I found this post to be convicting in a beautiful way. Sometimes discomfort is all for our own good!

Six.

Need some ideas to repurpose old t-shirts? Check it out! (I'd heard of some of these, but not others!)

Thoughts on the Back-to-Work Life

It's been a month now since I returned to the regular work force, and it has been quite a month of learning and adjustment! I've made a few observations that I want to remember down the line, so I thought I'd process them here with you. Hope that's okay!

1. It really is fun to have co-workers again.

When I worked in Financial Aid, my co-workers felt like family. I was single at that time, so I went home to cats. Having co-workers gave me a daytime family. When I worked in radio, my co-workers felt like family because I worked so much. Even after I married Ryan, I still spent so many hours at work that the work crew got the bulk of my day. These last four years of working from home made me realize that one of the things I missed most was the chance to interact with people throughout the day. I often visited Ryan at work just for some human interaction! So having co-workers has been one of my favorite things.

Some of the guys have already figured out how easily I scare and how fun I am to pick on, so I end up becoming their target, but I still think it's fun having co-workers again.

2. I love having a different sort of purpose and contributing financially to our family again.

I loved being a stay at home wife. I really did. I know some women wouldn't find a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment in it, but I did. I loved pouring hours of intentionality into our home and marriage. But in the most recent months of being home, I'd sensed a restlessness in my spirit. My freelance work opportunities had slowed down, and I struggled with feeling like I wasn't serving the greatest purpose I could. And I desperately wanted to be able to contribute financially to our household again. I felt guilty (my own issue, not anything Ryan imposed) for every dollar I spent, because I knew I wasn't bringing in a dollar to replace it.

Returning to work has given me a renewed sense of purpose. I love helping my friend by holding her seat until she returns from maternity leave. I love getting to know the people in our church and serving them. And I enjoyed my recent hair overhaul so much more knowing I had helped pay for it!

3. I miss Ryan.

Hands down, this has been the hardest part of the adjustment for us both. We were both absolutely accustomed to seeing each other throughout the day - whenever I'd run to work to see him or when he would come home to spend the lunch hour with me. Though we text throughout the day and spend our lunch hour on the phone with each other, it's not the same. I really miss him, and he really misses me. He has been so wonderful to come visit me for lunch a couple of times when he's had lunch flexibility, but we are still "that couple" who prefers to be together all the time. We're not tired of each other!

4. We've had to revamp our entire way of doing life.

When I worked from home, I took care of all the chores throughout the day while I worked. I did laundry in between working on other tasks. I cooked fresh meals in the day and in the evening. I got my steps in by the time Ryan got home so I could spend the evening with him. I tried to make sure the housecleaning chores were done during the day, too. Now we have had to re-divide who does what, and all my things have to be done in the evening after I get home. And if it's an evening I'm not home, I have to either stay up late, ask Ryan for help, or do those chores on a different day. We're figuring out a new routine, but that has probably been the second most challenging part of this adventure. We had such a smooth rhythm down and now we'll have to find a new one. (Teamwork for the win!)

5. I'm learning my strengths, weaknesses, and passions in a fresh way.

This job is varied enough in its requirements that I am learning what sorts of things allow me to thrive and which ones present challenges. (Some of those weren't surprising to me, since I have done this kind of work before. Others have been a bit more unexpected and have showed me how I've changed in gifting and passion over the years.) It has confirmed for me some of the things I know I'm called to do and which things I'm capable of doing even if I don't find them to be a specific calling over my life. I had no idea this opportunity would end up becoming a season of definition, but it certainly does seem to be working out that way!

I'm sure I'll learn a dozen more things before I hand the job back over to its owner, but these are the observations I've made so far!

Three Things Thursday

Thank you, Natasha, for this fun post idea! I always love finding random "just for fun" ideas, and this one is new and different for me!

Songs that make me think of high school...

Well here's a fun fact for you! High school was when I got my first CD! Left that world of cassettes far behind and branched out into the newfangled contraptions. So when I think about high school songs, I have to think about some of those first CD purchases.

* I was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge Point of Grace fan, and I liked every single song they released. I knew every single word for every single part, and many of them were particularly special to me for one reason or another. But one of my all-time favorites was Jesus Will Still Be There.

* I was also desperately in love with Mark Lowry at that time (David Phelps hadn't come on the scene yet) so anything by the Gaither Vocal Band (or Mark on his own) was a winner for me. Mark had a solo release called Rest in the Arms that was a big favorite of mine.

* And Avalon had just come on the scene, right before I graduated from high school. A little Testify to Love, anyone??

(Also...as special shout out to all the 90s hair represented in the songs above.)

Things I like to give...

* Real mail! I try to send notes or cards in the mail now and then (and I'm trying to make it be more now AND then, rather than just OR). We all love a good non-bill in the mailbox, and I want to send a smile whenever I can! Back when first class stamps were still just a quarter, I had multiple pen pals around the United States and regularly wrote long, long letters to all of them.

* Photo gifts. I love pictures so much and whenever I find a fellow photo-appreciator, I try to make sure I help them document their days and get the photos to them in some way. I've made a few albums for other people and have even just sent photo files now and then so they have them.

* Food! I love giving little snack gifts - and I have to figure out how to make this still fit in my new working life. In the last four years of working at home, I've enjoyed making cookies and other things during the day to share with friends, Ryan's co-workers, etc. (And who are we kidding? I love to give myself a sample!)

Things I like to receive...

* Real mail! And just the mail at all. When I worked from home, I was known to rush out to meet the mail carrier. She probably thought I was crazy. Most mail carriers deal with excited dogs. Mine had an excited Bekah on her route. But I love getting the mail!

* Coffee! Most people know coffee is one of my major love languages, so I tend to receive coffee in many forms. (Beans, grounds, K-cups, fresh hot coffee, you name it). Last week, when one of the pastors made me a cup of French Press coffee, he said he had a feeling I was the most appreciative coffee recipient he had ever met.

* Flowers! I have always loved them. I remember the first time Ryan ever sent me flowers at work after we got married. I nearly lost my mind with joy.

Things I hate that many people like...

* Gum. I hate the look of it, the smell of it, and the sound of it. I can't write any more about it, because I even hate thinking about it.

* Mint. Again - the smell. I just can't. So yes, this means I'm out on candy canes, peppermint patties, and Girl Scout Cookies.

* Nicknames. Ironic, I know, since I go by one. But I don't like them. I call people by their full names.

Clothes I find uncomfortable...

* Heels. I've never been graceful in heels. And they make me incredibly dizzy if I wear them for long periods of time. I own a few, but most of the time I stick to the low stuff.

* Belts. I own one. I wear it about three times a year. I don't need them to hold up my pants, so I see no point in wearing them.

* Tights. I do wear them when it gets really cold, but they're still a wrestling match. Getting dressed shouldn't have to be a workout.

Things I love seeing other people post...

* Anything that isn't sponsored. It's getting especially bad on Instagram, and anymore, I pretty much skip right past those posts.

* Cute babies and puppies. Anything that makes me smile and say awwwwwwwwwwww.

* Vacation ideas! I am still always looking for ideas! My list is so lengthy, and I know I'll never make it to all the places, but a girl can dream! And dream I do!

How about you?? Anything to add to the lists?

What's Up Wednesday

If you're a regular participant in the What's Up Wednesday posts, then you know that I'm all out of kilter. The hosts for that link-up do it on the last Wednesday of the month, I believe, and this is definitely not the last week of January. But it's a busy week around here, and I needed a little something fun for today, so I'm early to the party (that I hardly even attend, usually).

1. What we're eating this week.

This is a strange, strange week in Shafferland eating. Lots of just plain meat and veggie meals, because I am busy almost every single night and don't have time to cook proper meals. This is the first time we've encountered a week quite like this since I went back to work, so it is different for us, but we'll be just fine! I am throwing in a pot of chili later in the week, just to mix it up. And I guess we did have tacos, so it wasn't a total cooking fail. We've also enjoyed a couple of pieces of mouth-watering Texas Sheet Cake that one of Ryan's co-workers made. I won't lie; I could have eaten the entire pan.

2. What I'm reminiscing about.

Christmas. But only because I'm scrapbooking. I found out this past Saturday that Picaboo is running a free-extra-pages sale until next Monday. I have two books completely done and ready to order. I have two more I would like to finish between now and then so I can cash in on the best sale they run. So right now I'm barreling through the busiest photo month of the year, trying to knock out that final quarter of 2019 for one of the two books. (I would be much closer to being done if I hadn't taken a three hour nap on Sunday.)

3. What I'm loving. 

My new haircut! As I mentioned in the Shuffle post on Sunday, my hair was so long and thick that it was taking me 30-45 minutes to dry and straighten it. I don't have that much time in the mornings just for hair! So I'm excited for the shorter, healthier version of my tresses!

4. What we've been up to.

Finding our new year's routine! We're getting back to much more consistent clean eating, workouts every day, new Bible studies, prepping for the return of our small group, and figuring out how our days run most smoothly now that I'm back at work. We've had to make a lot of adjustments on who does what at home so we can get everything completed without either one of us utterly burning out.

5. What I'm dreading.

I'm not gonna lie: my 5K tonight. I made a goal to run one every single Wednesday, and the first three have been BEASTS. The last one was a crazy uphill mental battle, and I don't imagine I've improved in the last week. Hopefully tonight will go well, but I'm a bit scared!

6. What I'm working on.

Two talks for speaking engagements. Ryan and I are speaking together next month at a Valentine banquet and I still have a lot of work to do on that talk. I'm speaking at a women's retreat in March, and though the bulk of the work is done on the talks themselves, I need to finish up discussion question lists for them.

7. What I'm excited about.

Our church's new season! As I told you yesterday, our new pastor is here and working, and we are all filled with much hope and joy to have him after so many months of being without a pastor. I have no idea what is ahead for us, but it's so refreshing to feel the air of excitement!

8. What I'm watching/reading.

I had hoped to squeeze in a second book this month, but with the talk prep and the scrapbooking, it's probably not going to happen. So I read The Gray Chamber by Grace Hitchcock earlier this month and really enjoyed that! We are behind on almost all the shows, but Manifest...New Amsterdam...Undercover Boss...

9. What I'm listening to.

I discovered that the office can be a very quiet place if the furnace shuts off for a while. (ha!) I've actually been listening to my former work buddies from the station! It's like old times again!

10. What I'm wearing.

I didn't have a lot of work appropriate clothes when I took the job. When you've lived in jeans/yoga pants and graphic tees for four years, going back to work is kind of a closet shock! I was very fortunate that my shopping-loving sister retired from her job and had a closet full of clothes she didn't need anymore, because she is knee deep in a yoga pants and graphic tee season of her own! She sent two big bags of clothes for me, and I've had fun trying them out!

11. What I'm doing this weekend.

Scrapbooking. See point #2.

12. What I'm looking forward to next month.

Valentine's Day! I have no idea what we're going to do, but I do love a good date!

13. What else is new?

For some weird reason, our house is super dry lately. We've lived here almost four years and have never noticed this as a major issue before, but we've been waking up with dry noses and sore throats. So we bought a humidifier! It's so cute and little - and I'm just hoping it doesn't end up making my hair all tropical in size.

Celebrating a New Season

You've been there, I'm sure.

You've lived through a season that went much longer than you ever imagined, and when you finally reached the end - and the threshold of what was on the other side - you realized in a fresh way how true the saying ignorance is bliss actually can be.

If you'd known at the beginning you'd have to wait so long, you might not have survived.

I felt that way in my single days. All those nights when I stretched out on the bed, crying out to the Lord to find my husband and bring him to me, I told myself the answer was just around the corner. If I'd known how far I stood from the corner, I'm not sure I could have made it.

My friend Trudy felt like that in labor. When I went to her first childbirth, we kept telling her every contraction was the one. This is it. If you can push through this one, you're going to see that baby. At last, in the meekest and most apologetic voice she could muster, she said, "Can you not say that anymore?" She didn't bank on a 21 hour labor.

Waiting with no end in sight can exhaust a person, body and soul.

And as I've written about a few times, our church has been in that very season for the last eighteen months. The longtime pastor was suddenly gone from our church sooner than any of us thought he would be, and we sat in the land of waiting for eighteen months while the board prayed and searched for a replacement. (Apparently our city is not a sought-after destination for most people, so we didn't have a long list of people aching to join us.)

Last fall, we had a visit from a kind man named Pastor Tim, and he sat through interviews and meetings before preaching a sermon to us one Sunday morning. And then the church voted. And we heard it was good news. And we waited to see if he would think it was good news too.

He did.

So we've been waiting, preparing as best we could in our final days of what felt like the ultimate floundering without a leader. Our dear interim pastor (who really kept us together in amazing ways throughout those 18 months) headed back into retirement at the end of 2019, and we've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new pastor.

Sunday was that day, and the atmosphere in our sanctuary was a beautiful mix of joy and anticipation.

Photo Credit

The church held a meet and greet prior to the service, where we enjoyed homemade cinnamon rolls - the handiwork of a very talented man in our church. While Ryan and I hunkered in the corner and enjoyed our breakfast, a long line formed - people eager to shake hands with the new pastor and introduce themselves. A line of weary people, hopeful for a fresh start.

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

We assembled in the sanctuary and sang songs - new and old. They formally welcomed the pastor into our church and charged him with the care of our people. We gathered around him to pray, and then he preached a challenging sermon.

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

And then came the ugly cry. Not his. Mine.

At the very end of the service, he asked all the people ages 45 and below to stand.  (Can we pause for a moment to mention how profoundly relieved I was to still squeak into the "and younger" category?)  He reminded us all that we have important jobs ahead of us. We are the future. Whether our church is thriving or closed fifty years from now will depend in part on whether or not we serve well and heartily. We need to step up and do our part.

Then he asked those still sitting to look around at the rest of us. He encouraged them to encourage us. He asked them to let us do what God calls us to do and not hold us back. He asked them to pray for us and lead us well and let us lead them well.

It was somewhere right around that part where I felt the ugly cry gathering behind my eyes.

He asked the 46-and-up crowd to stand and find those of us already standing - and pray for us right then.

We weren't sitting in the area where we usually sat, but people found us anyway. A couple I didn't even know slid down the aisle and the woman grabbed my hand and prayed. Another couple came alongside us and prayed over Ryan. And then - and this is when the ugly cry got REALLY ugly - a dear woman I got to know last November on our Nashville trip showed up in front of me. She wasn't sitting anywhere near me. I knew that. But she had come from her seat across the way to find me and pray specifically for me.

(This is a picture of the two of us from that conference last November.)

I had an ugly cry at the conference, too, and she was the one who found me and prayed for me then. She did it again on Sunday. And after prayer, she told me that she was excited about what God has ahead for me - for Ryan and me together.

There's a lot of joy to be found in knowing someone believes in you, isn't there?

And so we wrapped up the morning service and left the building. I was wearing significantly less mascara but significantly more hope.

Will all the days ahead be neatly wrapped with a bow? Absolutely not. We know that. But we have great hope that, as the pastor said in his sermon, our best days are always ahead of us.

(All the photos except the last one were shared on Facebook by a talented photographer in our church, Jason Graves. He did waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than my cell phone photos sneaked over the top of the seats.)