All the Pretty Flowers

Hello!!! I'm back! Hope you all enjoyed Ryan's guest posting yesterday. He does such a great job with his annual posts. (I try to get him to pop in more often, but he insists it's just not his gift.) I appreciate all the wonderful birthday wishes so very much and can't wait to tell you all about the big birthday bash.

Actually, as I'm writing this to you now, I'm sitting in our office, listening to him cook up the official birthday dinner out in the kitchen. He suggested that I write the Friday post about the flowers we finally planted, because apparently the birthday extravaganza will take the rest of the evening, and there will be no time for blogging later. So come back next week, and I'll fill you in on the party.

Meanwhile, let me tell you about our pretty flowers! We have always purchased our annual flower selection right before Mother's Day and then planted them just in the nick of time for Mommapalooza. And this year we did purchase all the flowers prior to Mother's Day, but alas, winter returned just short of snowman-building levels, so we did not actually plant them until this week.

And now it's done! Or mostly done, anyway. We are adding one little corner of flowers that hasn't existed before. It all started when we bought a hummingbird feeder. Does that make us old people? I'm not really sure what the line is there...but if we crossed it, we crossed it. We got this darling little feeder and hung it on a hook just outside the windows to the sunroom. I have some red flowers to put in pots and planters around it, but we ran out of potting soil and I'm not sure we have enough pots to put them in, so we'll finish that corner this weekend.

There's something beautiful and satisfying about the arrival of the flowers each year. It makes me feel all fresh and alive inside, and after this long (and very cold) spring, I'm so happy to see some color dotting the landscaping!

Before I show you all the fun, let me tell you about the outfit. I posted this picture to Instagram after I finished my planting-palooza, and a couple of my friends said they never look this good while planting flowers.

I laughed so hard after that, because first of all, I realized this looks like a terribly staged and fake Instagram photo, and it most certainly is NOT. I really was planting flowers right there on the ramp to the shed. I had dirt everywhere. Secondly, I never look this good planting flowers. It's usually so hot out, and I'm dirt-smeared in a tank top with bedhead - because I roll out of bed and plant. But I had gone in to the church office for a little bit that morning, so I had on a nice t-shirt and my pretty hoodie. I'd straightened my hair and put on my blingy, dangly earrings. Before I went out to plant, the only thing I did was change into workout pants from my jeans.

So please don't think I staged all of this, and please oh please don't think I'm some sort of planting model. Ha! Far from it. But I do think next year I might bring back the earrings. I feel like if I'm going to decorate the yard, I should decorate myself too!

So with all that said, here is a peek at our flower display this year!

Ryan took a couple more of me planting...he mowed the yard while I worked in the landscaping.

 It turns out we don't have many non-Easter spring flags, so we just went ahead and started observing Memorial Day. (Doesn't Ryan's landscaping around the tree look nice? I loved how it turned out.)

 Front porch love!! A few years ago, we purchased furniture for our porch, but then we moved it all to the sun porch last year. Our regular porch was awfully big and empty-looking, so we found a small, budget-friendly glider and coffee table. And of course, we still have our coffee cup planter, because it is so appropriate!

 Our little ferns. Actually, the ferns in the red pots are the big ferns. The other ones (not pictured) remind me of carrot tops sticking out of the ground. We can usually coax little runt-like ferns to life, so we're hoping to do so again this year!

 These little barrel planters came with the house, and I just love them.

 This planter was an anniversary gift from Ryan several years ago, and I love it.

 My tricycle and wagon from my childhood. (I'm not sure how to interpret the rust...ha!)

 Another planter that came with the house...

 This wishing well frame came with the house, and we added a little basket we already had.

 Window box planters for the deck!

 We had a few extra pink flowers left, so I found this basket in the shed and added it to the landscaping.

 Two tiny little clay pots for the patio table.

And that's it! (At least until the hummingbird feeder display is finished.)

Have you planted flowers yet??

Look What Day It Is!!!

It may not be on most calendars, but today is a national holiday.  Any guesses???  Well since I (Ryan) am the author of today's blog it can only mean one thing...we have made it another year (barely) to Bekah's birthday (insert happy dance and shouts of joy)!

Things have started to partially open up here, but like my birthday, we will mostly celebrate it in quarantine.  The plans I had originally were cancelled, but no biggie! I will push forward with Plan B.  I'm sure you will find out all about it soon.

My dearest Bekah,

Ever wonder what life was like before you?  Well let me just say, it wasn't pretty.  It was sad, boring and pretty much uneventful.

It didn't matter that the blinds were closed.  I rarely noticed. 

Life was pretty dreary and lame.  I really didn't even need an umbrella in the rain because sickness, sorrow and despair were all I lived for.

And worst of all, I was aging at an incredibly rapid rate.  It wasn't good.  Not. At. All!

And then you entered my life!  All of the sudden, I had joy and excitement!

There were coffee dates!  I'm telling you there has been a lot of coffee over the last eight seasons.

And OH the adventures!  Too many to count!  Between hiking, county tours, weekend getaways, speaking engagements, concerts, coffee shops, vacations, and pushing you well outside your comfort zone as much and as often as I can, we have been blessed with so much fun and enjoyment.

Of course there have been some tears along the way because sometimes life is hard.

But we have had way more laughs than tears!  

There are so many things I love about you, but I especially love how you study the Word and use your gifts to share Him with others.

 I love your smile, all your funny faces, and all the ways you make me laugh every day. 

So gotta tell ya, that this guy ↓↓↓ loves you with all his heart and wakes up every day amazed that God has allowed him to spend this wonderful life with you. 

 I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge one of my all time favorite memories.  After all these years, it still brings a huge smile to my face!  Good Ole Bekah Grace 😄.

So we're excited to celebrate this day - your 42nd birthday - with you.  This is her excited face, BTW.

So Happy, Happy Birthday, my Love.  Thank you for loving me so well and showing that to me every single day.  You are a true blessing and bring much joy and encouragement to so many.  Today we all  celebrate you!

        So Great is my Love for You!                        

-Ryan                         

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things!

Happy Wednesday to you! Hope you're all having a good week so far! I'm switching things up a little bit on the blog today to show you some of our favorite things that we've discovered (or done) during these quarantine days. Maybe you'll find a thing or two to try!

1. Elevate those curtain rods!

When we made over the guest room during quarantine, we took everything  off every wall and filled in all holes before we painted. This allowed us to start completely over with wall art placement, but it also allowed us to start over with our curtain placement! We elevated the rods to hang next to the ceiling and purchased longer curtains. I think Ryan was a little skeptical about the idea, but he went along with it and ended up loving it. The change helps make the ceiling look taller! We ended up doing the same thing in the living room when we started our little upgrade project in there.

2. Buy some spray paint.

This was another one of our cost-effective upgrade tools in both the guest room and the living room. We spray painted a wooden shelf, a decorative window pane, a handful of picture frames, and some curtain rods. All of it was much easier and cheaper than buying all new pieces for the room!

3. Matching spice jars and racks from IKEA - with labels from Etsy.

We didn't get a regular spice rack when we got married, so our spice jars have always been a mismatched mess in the cabinet. Because I love to cook and use a lot of dried herbs and spices in my cooking, I've always wanted a pretty, matchy-matchy jar collection. About a year and a half ago, we bought several sets of these empty jars from IKEA so I could fill them with the spices we use the most. We also bought a few of these spice racks, but we never got around to assembling or painting them. We got them before Ryan's mom got sick, and in all of that, spice jars just weren't a priority. And then they just became the project we never finished. But we finished it during quarantine! Ryan spray painted the shelves (which were a natural wood finish when we bought them) to match our cabinets, and then I purchased these labels from Etsy so every jar would have a sleek, clean label on it. The finished product is beautiful! (I also alphabetized them because it makes my nerdy word-loving heart so happy.)

4. Our tiny mulch border.

Last summer, after we added the sun room to our house, we finished the rock landscaping that had only been halfway done when we purchased the house. Only two of the four sides of our house had a rock border, so we carried it on around to give it a finished look. Ryan wanted to give it a small mulch border to set it apart from the grass. I confess I wasn't too sure about it, but he got a truckload of mulch and finished it during quarantine, and he was totally right! A little bit of mulch made a big impact!

5. "Amen" Bible study.

Several months ago, I was introduced to The Daily Grace Company, via social media, and I've been continuously impressed with the work they do in providing quality Bible study and encouragement material in print and online. I purchased the Amen study to do on my own, and I am absolutely LOVING IT. This particular study is basic in that it shows the big picture thread of the Bible accounts from Genesis to Revelation, but even though it contains material I know - and know well - it's allowing me to see the big picture in a new way. I do a day's worth of study in the book each day after I read my Psalms passage, and it's providing a beautiful addition to my study time. I've already ordered the next study so I can move right into it when I finish this one. (They have many studies, so if the topic of this one doesn't fit where you are right now, you can pick a different one!)

6. Guard Your ID stamp roller.

This was actually a birthday gift Ryan received from my sister, but he said it's one of his favorite things. Neither of us had ever heard of it before, but it's really handy! It's a little stamp roller that you run over your address or any other identifying information that comes in the mail or is reflected on documents. If you don't have a shredder or can't shred something (like a label on a cardboard box), this is a perfect solution! We had previously used markers to cross out information on boxes, but this is much faster and darker. Works much better!

7. Command Strips for the win!

As we have given a facelift to a few of the rooms in our home (guest bath, guest bedroom, living room, kitchen) we've tried to take full advantage of Command Strips when possible. Obviously heavy things like mirrors and curtain rods have required the use of secure screws, but for lighter picture frames and pieces of wall art, we've tried to use Command Strips to preserve the walls. This helps, too, if we decide we want to reconfigure how things hang at a later time. We won't have big holes in the way! (We've only had one thing fall, so that's a pretty good track record!)

8. See the space with fresh eyes.

As we've cleaned, organized, and spruced up the house, I've tried to remove everything from a space and then put it all back with a fresh perspective. I've regrouped some things, shopped the house to move items from one room to another, and removed things that made an area feel cluttered. And in some spaces, I haven't fully redecorated yet. I'm still thinking about where I want to put everything so I can do it right the first time. I am typically the person who takes a picture of an area before taking it all apart so I can put it back together "correctly," so being able to see it all with fresh vision has been fun and different for me! (Since shopping has been challenging over the last few weeks, I've made the majority of the changes through merely moving around the things we already owned!)


Well, we've been in quarantine for about eight weeks, so this list landed at one thing for each week of life at home. Hope you find something in there you can try!

Quarantine Mother's Day

I had planned a lovely post for today to show you the pretty flowers we bought last week. We were going to plant them Saturday when Ryan got home from work, but alas, winter returned to Indiana. We had to leave the flowers in the flats so we could hide them in the garage until the sub-zero temperatures passed.

So I'll hit pause on my regularly scheduled programming and instead tell you about our very strange Mother's Day!

For the last six years, we've hosted Mother's Day for both sides of our families. If you've been reading here very long, you are familiar with the event we came to call Mommapalooza. We loved hosting it and always looked forward to the chance to serve the moms in our family literally and figuratively by making a special lunch for them.

We knew after last year's Mommapalooza that the event we loved so much had come to an end. It's a long story that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of life, but we knew that when Mother's Day rolled around this year, we wouldn't be hosting the big party we've always had. As it turned out, we wouldn't have been able to host it even if we wanted to do so. Our state has lifted gathering restrictions enough that we would have been able to invite the full crew and not exceed the maximum group numbers. But since the majority of our guests would have been in the age-risk category and Ryan works with COVID patients, it just wouldn't have been a good idea.

I wanted to do something, though, so I spent a big chunk of Saturday making no-bake cookies, monster cookie bars, butterscotch blondies, and triple chocolate cookies to make little gift boxes for all the moms in our families (and a couple of friends).

It was so much fun to put all those together!

A couple of weeks ago, we received an invitation to attend our nephew's baby dedication at the church all of Ryan's family members attend. Their church meets in the parking lot each Sunday. The cars pull in facing the church building, and the pastor and worship team stand under an awning and conduct the service. Everyone stays in vehicles, with windows down, listening to the music and preaching. It was our first time to attend a drive in service, since our church does live streaming instead.

I was a bit worried we wouldn't be able to hear, because the weather forecast was TERRIBLE. It was supposed to be super cold, rainy, and windy, and I wasn't sure how we would hear if we had to leave our windows all the way up. It did rain a little at the beginning, and it was most definitely windy and cold the entire time, but the sun ended up making an appearance! We were able to leave our window down far enough to hear, even though we couldn't see very well.

After church, we dropped off the gifts to the family members scattered around the parking lot and then drove out to my parents' house to drop off Mom's gift. We got her some phone accessories to make her staying-connected life a little bit easier.

We did get a quick masked photo - and then we sanitized.

It felt strange to walk out without having a Mother's Day meal together. I think that's a first in 42 years! But I did take her some of the goodies. I think she enjoyed the ones Dad didn't get to first!

By the way, several of you have sent messages asking me how my parents are doing during this quarantine time, and I'm happy to report they are doing well! We've seen them through car windows a handful of times throughout the last couple of months, and they've stayed healthy - as far as we know, anyway. They haven't shown any symptoms, anyway. They have been pretty good about staying home (except for store runs) and wearing their masks when they're around other people. Their neighbors have been good to check on them and help out with things that need done quickly and easily. They seem to have a good handle on being smart about reentry to society, even though I know they really miss being able to be on the go all the time!

After we left my parents' house, Ryan and I came home, fell asleep and woke up at dinner time! Whew! That getting up and getting ready for church really wore us out, I guess! (Our church won't be meeting in person yet for a couple more weeks, so this was good training, I think.)

It was definitely different, but it was still a good day in its own way. And maybe one of these days, Indiana will warm up, we can plant flowers, and you can see all the pretty blossoms!

A Virtual Mother's Day Breakfast!

This time of year is usually my busiest for me in my speaking life. So many churches hold Mother's Day-style banquets and breakfasts, and it has been a privilege to be invited to speak at them. I've met many friends at events like these, and it was a bit sad to think about not getting to do that this year.

Before quarantine days hit, I'd been invited to speak at a Mother's Day breakfast for the church I went to back in my single days in Marion. I've spoken at their breakfast before (a couple of times, actually) and was really looking forward to going back to see all my friends again. Since we didn't plan to host Mommapalooza, we also planned to stay and worship with them...and then...quarantine.

I kept the event on my calendar, but I figured it would be canceled along with the retreat I was supposed to speak at back in March. But it wasn't! 

They ended up contacting me to see if I'd be willing to speak via Zoom, and I said yes! This was a first for me, and I was so curious to see how it would go. They actually moved the event to Saturday, rather than having it on Mother's Day, and they encouraged husbands and kids to make breakfast for the moms (something they would normally have provided at the church) to enjoy during the Zoom event. 

Ryan was at work during my speaking hours, so I was on my own for documentation. Everything about every angle is not great, but I can still show you what a Zoom speaking event looked like!

Before I get to that, though, can we just stop to appreciate that I dyed my roots, put on an entire real outfit (not just the top half) and did makeup and jewelry and the whole bit? I barely recognized my own self! Also...I do not think I will EVER get the hang of a mirror selfie. You do not even want to know how many attempts it took to get this one. Good night, Irene. 

I logged on to Zoom, and they had a whole screen for the event and everything! So official. 

This was my setup in my office. I propped up the laptop so they weren't getting the under-the-chin view. No one needs that. :) Water? Check. Coffee? Check. Notes? Check. 

Since I used to go to this church, I knew almost all the people on the Zoom call, and it was so much fun to see them again! I was so proud of them for doing a creative, outside-the-box event. They even had some fun conversation games at the beginning. They also had little gifts for all the moms that they would distribute after the fact. 

They liked my book background. After I finished speaking, I found a chat question waiting for me asking if the book background was virtual or real. Oh, it's real! 

I did manage to grab a video clip while I spoke (to use in our one-second-per-day video documentation of the year) so I took a still photo of that. That was the best I could do on my own for photos of speaking!

They were so very kind and receptive, and it was certainly the quietest audience I've ever had! (They all muted their mics.) 

Thanks so much for having me at your breakfast, friends! And thanks for pushing ahead to make this event possible! I love it that you did so!