Just for Fun on Wednesday

Yesterday I gave you heart thoughts, and today I bring you random thoughts. I need some light-hearted midweek fun. Maybe you do, too!

* In fun Bekah-trivia, yesterday marked twenty-four years since I graduated from high school. I stared at this photo of that day (with my friend Phats) and realized I don't actually feel any older than twenty-four, so I am not entirely sure how this whole thing has happened. I do think that not being a parent contributes to feeling younger. If I had a teenager mini-me growing up in front of my eyes, I might feel older than I do.

* One of my friends posted on social media that she recently walked a marathon. That's a thing? I did not know this! But it intrigued me so much that I started researching it! I've run a 10K and a couple of 5K races, but those are my limits on running. (Ryan and I once started training for a half marathon and hated it. We were so relieved when the race organizers dropped it back to a 5K.) I'm not a natural runner and don't love running. I do it because I know it's good for me. But walking a marathon sounds like something that's actually feasible. I'm going to ponder this one. 

* As you know, I've been archiving all the old posts on this blog, so I have them safely preserved, should anything ever go wrong with the blog platform. It has been so much fun to read about life at a much faster pace than I lived it in real time. I'm relearning lessons from the Lord, grateful for the seasons that are done, and laughing at some of my only-Bekah stories. It reminds me all over again why I'm such an advocate for preserving story. Right now I'm reading through my weeks of saying goodbye at the radio station. It was such a time of stretching, obedience, growth, and heartbreak. (And how has that been five years already?)

* Ryan has absolutely perfected his breakfast game during quarantine. He's always made great breakfast foods, but his omelet skills have gone to the next level. They are perfect in presentation and in taste. I think he's ready to open his own breakfast cafe, actually. (We are going to miss our Sunday morning breakfasts when we return to live church!)

* I still have a dream of one day traveling Route 66 from Chicago all the way to the west coast. I want to do it over the course of 3-4 weeks so I can fully appreciate each mile. I may or may not have already started planning a daily itinerary, complete with websites, hours of operation, time zones, and more. (Fun fact: Ryan and I have eaten at Dell Rhea's Chicken, in Chicago, near the start of Route 66. It was part of our second anniversary trip!)

* When I get back to normal shopping, I'm most excited about returning to Hobby Lobby. Ours is open again, but I haven't been back just yet. I'm not avoiding it because I'm afraid of germs. I'm avoiding it because other than the one trip to Lowe's with Ryan, I haven't been to a store in over two months. I'm afraid I won't know some unspoken code of virus rules and will inadvertently do something wrong. Hobby Lobby is a place I go to browse, not to be stressed out about shopping rules. 

* Braeya has a fascination with our tomato plants. I think I told you that we are trying to grow tomatoes for the first time this year. A guy from our Sunday School class had some spare plants and gifted us a couple. I planted them in pots on Saturday, and on Sunday, we had hard rain for HOURS. We were so afraid they would drown that we pulled them back into the sun porch. Braeya declared herself their designated guard and sits between them for hours on end. It's the strangest thing. I guess she's our resident plant guard!

So there you have it! A few random and fun things for your Wednesday!

More Alive Than We May Think

I love the water.

When Ryan and I were looking for a new home a few years ago, a property with a water view was very high on my list. I told him I didn't even care if it was a retention pond. After all, back in my heart-desert days, I was known to park by the retention pond at work and pray for long stretches of time.

Well, when it rains heavily, we do have a temporary river in the little trench behind our house, but on sunny days...not so much. (For the record, we love our home; it's okay that the water view didn't work out for us.)

But there are a few ponds scattered throughout our neighborhood, and we thoroughly enjoy them when we go on our evening walks. One of them has a tree line behind it and often makes for a beautiful sunset view if we arrive at just the right time.

Sometime last year, a wind storm took down a huge tree beside the pond. Fortunately, it fell into the pond, rather than into the home it would have hit if it had blown the other direction.

And it remains in the pond. No one has ever done anything with it. To be fair, it's a huge tree that stretches into the water, and the pond isn't the cleanest body of water in the world. I wouldn't want to wade into the deep part to cut up the fallen tree. And apparently neither do the people whose yard runs closest to that tree.

So the tree sits, with half its roots pushing straight up out of the ground and its limbs floating on the frog bog of a pond.

The other night, I paused by the pond to take a picture during our walk, and Ryan mentioned the fallen tree. I looked at and said, "Well it may be down, but it still has leaves!"

And indeed it does. There it is, all sprawled in the water, with fresh green leaves dotting every visible branch.

I stood still a bit longer, studying the tree with its spring growth.

"It's probably a faith lesson, you know," I added. "We may be fallen and uprooted, but we're not dead. Kind of appropriate for quarantine, actually."

We have fresh life.

These weeks have changed all of us, whether or not we recognize it. For some, it's been a really wonderful season of slowing, resting, evaluating, and discovery. For others, it's been a really painful season of halting, anxiety, uncertainty, and loss.

But we all have two things in common. We've all been knocked down, and we all have fresh life. Maybe you can't see the new growth in yourself just yet. Maybe all you can see is the mess of roots and the murky water.

I believe, though, that you're more alive than you may think.

I hope you can catch a glimpse of a little sprig of new life in your heart!

My Birthday Bash!

I am so excited to tell you about all the fun I had on my birthday!

I was the final birthday in the quarantine celebration trio from our home. Here we are with our signs on our respective birthdays:

Ryan has had something special planned for my birthday since back in January, I believe, but in the end, it didn't work out. I still don't know what it was supposed to be, but the virus canceled it, so he had to formulate a plan B.

And I loved it.

The day began with a donut. I love donuts, but we haven't had them at all during quarantine. We normally get them at the grocery store, but they shut down their bakery and stopped making them. Our backup local bakery went out of business in January, and our other favorite is only open in the middle of the night, and we never went. So to find out the grocery store is baking again was a GREAT start to the day! (Excuse the bedhead and bleary eyes.)

We both worked that day, but during the morning I had two porch-drop gifts from friends. It was fun to wave at them!

About 11:00, Ryan texted and told me the doorbell was going to ring soon, and I would want to be sure to answer it. (I'm know for ignoring it if I don't recognize the person out there.) I was so intrigued by this, so I parked right by the door so I wouldn't miss it! While I waited, my sister video chatted with me so I could get a happy birthday/entertainment from my little great niece!

When the doorbell rang, it was a food delivery service! We never indulge in things like that, so this was a MAJOR treat! Ryan had ordered lunch for me from Chipotle! I love Chipotle, and we do have one, but it's one of those places we just never think to go. So this was a huge treat!!

(I also love Chipotle because it's easily two meals in one.)

We had ordered some curtains for our living room, and they arrived that day, so I was busy hanging them up when I heard honking outside. I ran out, and there were my parents!! My little birthday parade!!

They brought balloons (one of my favorite things in life) and cupcakes from my favorite cake place. (It's open for curbside delivery, so they brought them out to their car!)

Mom and Dad hadn't even been gone five minutes when the biggest rainstorm unleashed. I was so glad that didn't happen while we were out there talking!

When Ryan came home from work, I went to work in the office so he could put the final touches on his little party. He had been working on this plan B party for about two weeks. I'd been banned from the guest room for a full week, because he was busily working on something in there! And he had been printing a lot. I told one of my friends I think he printed more things in the two weeks before my birthday than the rest of our marriage combined. I was so intrigued!

I was also intrigued by this hiding in our fridge:

While I sat in the office, I could sure smell something delicious cooking out in the main part of the house! He finally came to get me and unveiled my beautiful surprise!

He started with the guest room, which set the theme for the party. It was an Anne of Green Gables party!!

Look at the makeover he gave to our guest room!

He had scoured Pinterest for Anne quotes and printables and displayed them in the room! He said there were supposed to be 42, but he found a few more, so it was more like 46. I loved them ALL!!!

AND he had the TV all set up to watch the movie. (If you've never seen the original movie, it's three hours long, so as you can imagine, this was a gift in and of itself.)

I was thrilled! Our Anne of Green Gables room transformed by Anne herself!!

And then he unveiled dinner!

 He made every single one of these things by himself - from scratch.

Raspberry cordial - made from scratch with real raspberries! (If you know the book and movie, you know about raspberry cordial.)

 Doesn't this sign just crack you up?

 Yummmmm....

 More yummmmm....

 He made this from scratch, too. Like the actual cake. Isn't that amazing? It tasted amazing!

 And then we had a birthday dinner for two!

Ryan's dad and step-mom stopped by after our dinner to drop off a gift, which was so sweet of them!

Then I opened the gifts and cards that had arrived throughout my birthday week. I LOVED THEM!!!

And then it was time for the movie! Ryan had made a little nest with the bed, and we hunkered down for our movie!

I don't know if he would admit this or not, but several times throughout the movie, Ryan would eagerly ask what was about to happen. He was hooked!! And the moment the movie was over, he said, "There's a sequel, right?"

YES!!!!!!

After the movie, we just stayed right there and had a staycation in our own guest room! It was delightful.

Thank you, Ryan - and all my friends and family! - for giving me a wonderful birthday! I loved every single minute!

The Shafferland Shuffle

I almost hesitate to say this out loud, but I feel like a hint of summer has finally found us here in Indiana. Could it be??? :) I hope it's finding you where you are, too!

Here's a peek at the final quarantine birthday week in Shafferland!

* Last Sunday was Mother's Day, and we visited the church Ryan's family attends so we could see our nephew's baby dedication. We hadn't been to a drive-in service before, so that was interesting! We stopped by my parents' house to give Mom her gift and to see them for a little bit! Oh! And I made biscuits that night! First time for everything!!

* Things are opening back up around here, and one of our first returns to normalcy came on Monday when Ryan went to the eye doctor! A masked visit. :) Our Starbucks was also closed for most of quarantine, but it's open again, so that evening we stopped by for Ryan to get his birthday drink before it expired. It took us forty-five minutes to get through line! And with just enough time before dark, Ryan added a mulch edge to our landscaping. It looks so nice!

* I went in to work for a bit on Tuesday - a meeting first, and then my first actual day to work in my office space! I had to vacate it for quarantine before I even ever opened all the desk drawers to find out where everything was hidden! That night, Ryan and I both had Zoom meetings, and I think Braeya was utterly confused about which one of us to hang out with!

* The big news from Wednesday came in the evening, when I planted our flowers! We'd gotten them the week before, but winter had settled back over our state, so we hadn't been able to plant them. I loved how they turned out! Even if it was still cool outside, it started to LOOK like summer!

* Thursday was my birthday, and I had so much fun all day long! I still haven't been able to tell you the whole story, but it will come tomorrow, I promise! My parents stopped by with balloons and cupcakes for me, and Ryan made a beautiful party for two that night. I seriously can't wait to tell you all about it!

* Friday was a super rainy day, but it was still delightful. Work was pretty normal for both of us, but that night we got to enjoy the cupcakes my parents brought over, and we saw the most stunning sunset on our evening walk! 

* While Ryan worked yesterday, I planted my first ever tomato plants! I feel like such a grown up! I also finished planting the flowers in the yard. And I put our house back together after we'd spent a couple of nights "staycationing" in our guest room. (If you haven't taken a staycation in your own house, you should try it! It's pretty fun!)

The Saturday Six

One.

This bedroom makeover is really cute - and it reminds me of the very kind of thing Ryan and I would do. (No, we are not redoing our bedroom. Just the style of it reminded me of what we might do!)

Two.

This isn't the first time I've linked to a book challenge on the Saturday Six. This particular one is a list of 140 classic novels, and I was just curious how many I've read. I could say for sure I've read sixteen, which is actually pretty pathetic for a writing major. In all fairness, there are a few more I may have read, but I just don't remember them. I have a few chunks of high school/college classroom memories that are lost to me now. How many of these have you read? Are you a classic book reader?

Three.

My non-social-media-participating husband has recently developed his first social media love: Tik Tok. WHAT?! When he first told me about it, I couldn't quite believe it, but he's quite into it! He doesn't post anything, but he loves watching all the videos. So even though this link I'm sharing with you is not from Tik Tok, this is something he learned from a Tik Tok video! I had no idea you could juice a lemon this way. Did you know this?? Seems so much cleaner than the messy way I know!

Four.

It seems like around here, most e-learning years are wrapping up, but for those of you who enjoyed the chance to learn at home and aren't ready to be done yet, here are some ideas for having a gardening-based classroom. If you're planning to grow some things this summer anyway, you might as well take advantage for the extra chance to officially learn!

Five.

I don't think it's any secret to those of you who have been reading for a while that the RV bug has bitten me. I started out wanting a good old class C, and then I became enamored by camper vans (class B), and truth be told, I still love them. But our budget aligns more with a pop up, which I've never liked...until I saw this makeover. Don't look, Ryan. Except...LOOK!!!!!

Six.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a vintage story from the blog that I'd found when archiving old posts. I found another one that I thought you might like revisiting. A little classic Ryan and Bekah for you!