The Saturday Six

 

One.

I'm not a gardener (as you all know) so it didn't surprise me that I'd never heard of seed tape before. But I found this whole post fascinating...both about seed tape itself and about the DIY version made from...toilet paper! Also...aren't we all so glad to be able to find that out and about again?? 

Two.

Teaching our tenants to appreciate and care for the living space they have is one of the life lessons we try to instill in them. I think this post speaks well to the importance of caring for your home (whether you own or rent it) and taking pride in making sure your space and possessions stay in good repair! 

Three.

Maybe the inflatable pool in this post would be a good meantime choice for us until we can get our stock tank version that I linked to a few days ago! - LOL! (Is it bad that I'm such an overgrown child?)

Four.

I have posted a link or two to this YouTube channel before, but I'm mentioning it again because there are many more options to choose from now! My friend Brent Vernon started these soundtracks a year ago - all to help people relax! Some are even ten full hours long, so you can play them while you sleep if you want. Whether you like the sound of falling rain, nighttime in the woods, an airplane cabin (yes, please!), leaves, streams, and more, you can find just about any sound that pleases you here! And yes, some have piano music. 

Five.

I have not tried any of these recipes myself, but I am intrigued by the idea of freezer meals for two people. Interesting! I feel like most freezer meals are huge, and sometimes one or two people get tired of slogging through 9x13 pans. I might have to explore this idea!!

Six.

I don't have six hundred grand hanging around, but if I did, this home in North Carolina could tempt me! It was built by Billy Graham back in the 1940s and has remained in the family until now. I do think the home is beautiful - especially those bookshelves on the top floor!!!! - but the mere history of the house would win me over, I think! Check it out!

When You Run Out of Words

This doesn't happen very often on the blog, but today I am completely out of words.

This week has been an extra long one, and yesterday was a particularly hard and draining day. We are grateful that God knew this was coming and ordained it that we have a couple of days off to rest completely.

But in the meantime, I don't have anything of value (or even just for fun) to share.

Thanks for your grace for a day of blogging failure. The Saturday Six will march on as usual tomorrow!

Much love,

Bekah

National Personal Chef Day

Tomorrow is National Personal Chef Day.

Today is National Give Something Away Day. So which one of you is going to give me your personal chef? :) 

Just kidding. Mostly. 

I actually really enjoy menu planning and cooking, so if I had to pick the personal service I wish I had in our home every day, I probably wouldn't choose personal chef. I'd pick a driver. (But I have one! His name is Ryan.) Maybe I'd pick someone to come in to do my hair every morning. Ryan only knows one style: his!

But because I've never looked at what a personal chef even does, I did a little research. 

* They learn your food preferences and do all your meal planning for you.

* They do all your grocery shopping for you and then put the food away.

* They prepare your meals, package them for storage, and then clean up after themselves.

* They do not chew your food for you. That's on you.

Okay, so if you literally have no time and hate shopping and cooking (and cleaning!), this could all be really appealing. But how much does it cost? The article I saw estimated that in Ohio, which was the closest to our home I could find, the cost is about $260 per week PLUS the cost of ingredients. That's about $1000 per month plus food. 

It's not in our budget. 

But it makes me wonder....what service would you pick to have at your house, if it fit into the budget?

* House cleaner?

* Massage therapist?

* Personal Chef?

* Hair stylist?

* Nanny?

Seriously! What would you pick?

That Apartment Life

 For the past couple of days, I've been reflecting on all the things about our year in this new season of life, and I feel like I can't step away from my reminiscing party without nodding to our first year ever in an apartment. I know I've written about apartment life a couple of times before, but I'll touch on some of the highlights and lowlights of our entrance into apartment living (in our forties...ha!).

* We still dearly miss having a garage. I know some apartments do come with a garage. This is not one of them. Ha! The lack of garage is still one of the top five things we miss, for sure. We miss being able to get into our car without getting wet on rainy days. We have to worry about hail now. And we miss the storage that comes with a garage. It's definitely a first world problem and nothing that is a deal-breaker, but we do miss it. A lot. 

* This apartment is, in some ways, fancier than any home we've ever lived in. The provisions in our apartment were mostly donated or purchased at a discount, but still, there are some fun things we've never gotten to enjoy in any home we've ever owned! Our refrigerator, which was a scratch and dent purchase (dent barely noticeable) has a light that comes on when you knock on the door. So you know...we can knock and say hello to our water pitchers. Ha! And the cabinets and drawers are soft close, which we've never had before. So fancy!! And as a side note - we so appreciated that the walls came painted in homey colors. It has been a joy to settle in to a place that already felt like home!

* We love open concept floor plans. This is the first time we've ever lived in a place that is truly open concept in the main living area, and we LOVE IT!! We tried to achieve this in our Kokomo house by taking down the partial wall between the kitchen and living room, and it definitely helped, but this is even more open than that. We love having all the living/cooking/eating spaces meshed together. I know it's not for everyone, but it is our favorite, and we consider it a true gift that we get to enjoy it. 

* We miss our sweet porch space. Next to the garage, it's the thing we miss most about our old home. We do have a nice backyard here - that we share with the tenants. It's a lovely space, but we still miss having the private porch area that we had before. I think whenever we purchase a home again, having some sort of porch/patio space will be high on our list. 

* Apartment life really can be loud. I'm sure we don't even know how loud it truly can be, because we haven't had a full house yet! But we do definitely hear all the doors opening and the laughter and sneezes and kiddo temper tantrums! It doesn't really bother us (unless we're trying to sleep, and then it can be a little rough) but we do notice it! 

* We love how we've been pushed to evaluate stuff - and downsize. Fun fact: we don't know how many square feet our apartment has, but we guess it's probably somewhere around 1100. We did downsize to come here, and we would be okay downsizing again. We've learned that something in the neighborhood of 700-1000 square feet is probably perfect for us! 

* We are grateful to have this provision in this particular town. We love Grabill. We would love to live here (or someplace like this town) for always. But Grabill almost never has homes for sale, and when there are homes for sale, they are not anywhere close to our price range. Because of that, having this apartment as part of our job has been one of the biggest blessings. We are so very grateful for it. And we're hopeful that if we ever do come to the place where we're in need of a permanent home, the Lord will bring along just the right place!

* I love having an actual laundry room. Who would have thought that after owning three homes (between the two of us), it would be an apartment that would give us our first actual laundry ROOM?!? I love having the washer and dryer (and Braeya's litter box) tucked away in a room all to itself. It's spoiling me!

* I miss big windows. This building used to be an office, so the windows are still office-style windows. I do miss the big beautiful windows of our old home and think that having tons of natural light will be high on my wish list for whatever home we have next. 

* It's no less of a home. We definitely consider this Shafferland 3.0. Just because it's an apartment doesn't mean it's not HOME. We call it home and think of it as home and will always, always treasure the memories we've made here - and the ones yet to come, too! 

The Challenges of the Year

Yesterday I shared about some of our best moments and most favorite things over the past year. But there have also been bits and pieces that have been challenging, and I feel it is fair - even important! - to mention those, too. It has been in these pieces that we have found the growth we listed yesterday as one of the best parts of the year. 

So again, in no particular order...

* Living and working in the same space. Yes, I know, this one was on yesterday's list too. It comes as a blessing and a curse, really. There is a lot of joy in being able to toggle back and forth between work and home. Quite honestly, this job would be impossible if it worked any other way. But the flip side of that joy is that we are always here, and that makes it equally impossible to disengage when we're off duty. It's the main reason we purchased Abby. At least we have a chance during warmer months to have a home away from home. Our building is beautiful, but it is an apartment. We do hear lots of noise, and that carries over to our days off. It can make it challenging to rest or nap. And it can make it hard for us to mentally step away when we can see and hear so much of what is going on. 

* Being part of a new program. WillowBridge celebrated its first birthday last fall. So even though we walked into an already-functioning program, there were (and still are) many things that are undergoing tweaking. We're learning what works and what doesn't. We're revamping forms. We're trying different ways. Ryan and I find this exciting, for the most part. We are creative and love being on this end of formation. But there are definitely times when the error part of trial-and-error can be frustrating! 

* Being part of a new program in a new town during a pandemic. I mean...do I really need to elaborate? (But I will!) Starting a new program is challenging enough. Learning to do this (which involves making community connections) in a place where we knew no one - in a time when people weren't out and about like normal made this past year super challenging! It was hard to come up with creative community events when most places weren't doing things like normal. (Zoo, restaurants, etc.) It was hard to find drivers to transport tenants to work when most of our volunteers quit. It was hard to know who to ask when we didn't know anyone. This was definitely a unique set of challenges for us! 

* Learning to relate to a population with which we've never had any experience. We had never before worked with the foster care program...or those who came from a poverty mindset...or a hundred other things about the population we work with. We had so much (everything!) to learn about how they process information, about what motivates them, about what terrifies them...and so much more. We had great training and are still blown away by how much we learned in a year's time. And we know we have probably barely begun to learn. Rob was so gracious to take a chance on us, and we hope we didn't let him down. But my goodness. How much there was to learn!

* Others' choices impacting us. We could teach and encourage all day long, but at the end of those days, the choices remained in our tenants' hands. Sometimes they chose as we hoped, and sometimes they didn't. The choices were theirs to make. But there were times that their decisions broke our hearts. I don't know that I have ever cried as hard as I have a few times this year - just because of choices they made. (And kudos to Rob for listening and caring so well, one particular night, when I called him at 11:00, sobbing and telling him I was not cut out for this work and I didn't think I had what it took. He was so kind and though he didn't have a solution to my hurt, he encouraged me in all the things he perceived I had done well. And we got through it, stronger in the end.)

* Living far from our family in times of sickness and death. People have asked us if it was hard for us to move away from the place that had always been our home, and in truth, it really wasn't. We felt called here and rested in that nudge from God. But for sure, trying to manage trips home after Allen's unexpected death - and in other family illnesses this year -  did present challenges. We drove two hours each way back and forth all those days in planning his funeral, attending the services, etc. Ryan has driven back and forth for estate stuff since then. So that was unexpected!

* Working holidays. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who loves holidays more than I do. They are dear to me. For lo these many years, I've watched Ryan work a lot of holidays, and I've celebrated when he had some off. But this year, we worked every single holiday except Christmas Day (when I got a cold and felt miserable anyway) and Valentine's Day. I didn't mind at first, but as the year went on, I missed having holidays off. We're working on making a better calendar this year so we get a chance to have a few of those off! (To clarify - someone always has to be on duty, so one of the two couples will always have to work each holiday, but at least we can try to alternate a bit better!)

* Long hours. Hands down, it's the hardest thing about the job. Ironically, Ryan and I are not sure we can ever go back to a standard 8-5 job, so I suppose the flip-side of that is working long, unpredictable hours. But it's true that most days go beyond eight (okay, ten) hours, and that has been the biggest adjustment we've faced. We're getting used to it and trying to work in more time for personal things, but this type of work will just always have long hours. 

* Finding a new church home. We have, at last, found home, and we love it. But finding a church (in a pandemic) was a long journey. It was made harder by knowing we wouldn't be able to get involved in the way we've always gotten involved in churches in the past. But the place we now call home understands our work and loves us well. We appreciate them!

* Surviving the staff change. I know I said the long hours was the hardest thing about the job, and in an ongoing way, that's true. But the hardest thing about this first year was handling the loss of Tim and Justine and then working alone for a long stretch, and then continuing to shoulder the lion's share of the work while training Sean and Sarah. Looking back, I honestly have no idea how we did it. (Well...God, obviously.) But we did it! 

So here we are! One year on the other side of our employment and one year past these challenges. Some of them will continue to challenge us in the days ahead, but we are grateful to have more of an idea of how to handle them. (We hope, anyway.) 

Happy one year to us - today!

The Best of the Year

If you missed yesterday's post, you can catch it here. This week marks a full year since we've been at Gateway Woods/WillowBridge, so we're looking back at some of our year's memories!

Today I'm looking back at some of the best/our most favorite things about our year here. (And these are in no particular order.)

* Our commute to work. Ryan thought his commute couldn't get any better after working at the hospital, which was less than a block from our house. I already knew how great working from home could be...and now he knows it too! There are for sure things that are challenging about living and working in the same space. But I adore being able to duck into our apartment for a moment's rest, a switch of the laundry load, the start of dinner, or some other little detail - and be right back out to work in half a second. I especially love our commute on bad weather days. No worrying about slipping and sliding in the winter or drippy hair in the rain! 

* New relationships made in our community. This is the first time either of us has ever lived outside of Grant and Howard counties. This was the first time we have ever truly had to establish ourselves in a community where we knew NO ONE. New church. New stores. New restaurants. New everything. And I realized even just this past weekend how many people we've met and come to know and call friend in this past year. Friends at the coffee shop. Friends at church. Friends at Gateway. Home is more than just the four walls where we live. It's the community in which we live, and this is indeed a great one. 

* Living in a small town. We have both lived out in the country and in small cities. Ryan even lived in a small town for a few years of his life. But Grabill is my first time living in a small town and I. Am. Smitten. Small town life is THE best. We have almost ever single thing you could possibly need within walking distance. (Including a coffee shop!!!) It's the perfect town for nightly walks. Some of its buildings are cute as a little button. I love it here. 

* Working together every single day. It was our dream, and it has proved to be as wonderful as we always dreamed it would be. We love doing every part of this job TOGETHER. We love dreaming together. Organizing together. Driving together. Processing together. We understand the joy of each other's victories and the agony of each other's hurts. Together is our favorite. I don't know that we would ever want to do it any other way.

* Days off together every single time. After an entire marriage full of each of us working multiple weekends without the other, one of our most favorite things about this job is having all our days off together. I absolutely ADORE it. Our work days are long and demanding, so being able to spend our days off together is the greatest reward! I don't think we even realized what joy we were missing all those years that we had to be apart on our weekends.

* Growing and stretching in more ways than we can count. We knew we didn't know what we were getting into when we came here. We knew we would grow, change, and stretch. We didn't know what it would look like in practical ways, and we certainly had no idea how profound it would be. Ryan has learned to depend on the Lord in new ways. He has gained new skill sets he didn't know he could achieve. I have gained courage I didn't know I had. I've learned a boldness I didn't have before. We've both learned a capacity for love we didn't even know could exist. 

* Growing as a team with each other. We are in this together. No one else truly understands what we face day-to-day, unless they've lived here and worked this job too. (And not too many people can say they've done that.) Living away from everyone who has always been our support and working a job in a brand new field has pushed us to be each other's number one in ways we've never known before. We both feel like this has strengthened our marriage and helped us become a better team. 

* Making lasting relationships with tenants that go beyond their time here.  We knew when we came here, we would make some sort of relationship with the tenants, because it's nearly impossible to live in the same building together and NOT do that. We did not know how deeply we would come to care for these new-to-us people. We didn't know they could come to feel as dear to us as family. We didn't know some of them would want to continue having a relationship with us even after they leave. That has been a bonus and a joy!

* Seeing sprouts of seeds beginning to grow. I've said before on here that this work is more about planting and watering seeds than seeing a harvest. But sometimes we do see a little bit of a harvest, and it is such a blessing!! One of our tenants said the other day, "I know...early is on time and on time is late." I could have stood on my chair and shouted!!! We've had little moments along the way that show us they've grasped onto some things, and we are always SO EXCITED when that happens! Such a joy!

* Variety! It's the spice of life, you know. The other day, Sarah and I worked to put together a bunch of flower bouquets to deliver, and as we walked home from a delivery, I said to her, "See why this job is hard to explain? You just never know what you're going to do in a day's work! And it is THE truth. We've done everything from study for permit tests to fix technology to search for cell phones that flew off cars and into ditches to watch babies to dig glass out of the bottom of a foot to calm panic attacks to explain the Bible and a hundred things in between. Every day: something different.

Sunday Sentiments

A few months ago I wrote a piece, mostly for my own purposes, describing what it was like to come here to Grabill...to Gateway Woods...when we first arrived. I don't know that the words of that particular piece will ever be for anything other than my own purposes, but one of the phrases I used as I wrote was that I unfolded from the car after the drive here.

Unfolding best describes this past year, I think.

My heart has unfolded.

My mind has unfolded.

My life has unfolded.

Today marks one year (in days) since that first unfolding. It was a Sunday, one year ago, when we last went to the church that had been our home for three years. The place where we had served, grown, and I had been employed. We walked out of the building that morning knowing full well we were leaving behind something that had become very comfortable for something completely unknown.

We went home and crammed as much as we could into our car. So much, in fact, that my seat was shoved forward and I managed to squeeze three big bags around my feet and in my lap for the drive. (No wonder I felt like I unfolded when we arrived!) 

On the way to our new home, we stopped at Ryan's sister's house to wish her little boy a happy second birthday. We drove away not knowing for sure when we would see the family again. We knew many of them didn't understand what we were walking toward, but we also knew we'd been called to walk that way.

I tried to memorize every moment as we rolled into town. I was acutely aware that we were arriving in our new home. I even tried to be conscious of my word choices starting that day, calling even our temporary apartment "home" and our life in Kokomo "our old home." 

We committed to this place fully and without reserve. We knew we had no idea what we were getting into. We knew we had no idea what all the job description would require. We knew it would be fun. We knew it would be hard. We knew it would be confusing. We knew it would be liberating.

And over the last year, we've unfolded. We've done so together and also in our own unique ways.

This Tuesday, by date on the calendar, we will celebrate one full year of employment here. One full year of unfolding.

Throughout this week, I think I'll share some of my thoughts on this past year and what it's meant to me - to us.

This weekend we had a new tenant join us in the building, so we won't be heading back to our old home to celebrate birthdays. We'll be on duty here, watching a new unfolding begin, even as ours continues. 

She'll experience her own blend of fun, hard, confusing, liberating unfolding. We'll continue with ours.

Because that's the thing about this place. We're all unfolding here. Team and tenants alike. We're all learning to leave behind what was before to reach for what is ahead, leaning on the Lord's guidance for each step! 

The Saturday Six

 

One.

A few years ago (back in the land of owning our own home) Ryan and I tossed around the idea of getting a pool. Nothing huge - just something to enjoy on the hottest of days. We never did it, but I gotta tell you...THIS is tempting!! I'm saving it in case we ever get a house again!

Two.

I have long been on the hunt for the perfect white tee. I found a post last year that said the Gap v-neck was the ultimate, so I bought not just a white one, but black and gray also. I've been wearing them for a year now and will continue to wear them until they wear out, but I disagree that they are the ultimate. The neck has stretched out terribly, and they've sort of lost their shape over time. But THIS blogger claims she's found the perfect white tee. I don't know if she's right, but I'll pass along the info, just in case you're on the hunt, too!

Three.

You remember that scene in Father of the Bride when George goes to the grocery store to buy hot dogs and buns and ends up losing his mind and "removing the superfluous buns" before purchasing the package? I quote that scene often, actually. Life is full of superfluous buns (of many varieties). Anyway. Here is an article that explains the for-real reason why hot dogs and buns are not sold in equal count packages. Who knew? And if you haven't' seen the hot dog scene in a while, here you go!

Four.

You know I love a good Christmas decor theme. If you're thinking about switching it up this year, here's a post with some great ideas. (She ran a whole week of Christmas in July posts and this was the final one.) And yes, I'm ready to think about decorating! 

Five.

Somehow I missed this post from a blogger I started reading a while back. You guys, she moved to Prince Edward Island!! And then she wrote this post (which was the one that I found that made me realize I missed the news) about life on the island. I absolutely drooled over all the beauty!!

Six.

If you're not hungry now, you will be after you look at this post! I want to try one of almost everything on this list. Today.