Lake Livin' is the Life for Us!

We are home and my pictures uploaded successfully at last! Thought I would show you some of our latest Abby adventures!

This time we went to the KOA Holiday in Angola, which is just about a 45 minute drive from our house. I really love being able to go some places that are close, because we don't spend half our day driving! This was the place we had reserved for early August, but we ended up canceling after Ryan's ankle injury. He didn't think it was wise to be up and around on it so soon, And he was right! So we decided to try again this time, and it was perfect. 

One of the best things was that we arrived on Labor Day after everyone else went home. The whole time we were there, there were never more than two other RVs in our row. It was blissfully quiet and empty and beautiful! I am sure it is MUCH more of a madhouse during the regular season, but not this time! (In case my pictures make me look like a liar...there was a whole row of empty campers across from us. We were next to the seasonal lot, so those RVs and trailers stay year-round. But all their inhabitants had gone home!)

Anyway! Let's back up.

Phoebe went with us on this trip, and since it was her first ever camping trip, we thought we should document that. Sarah so kindly took this before we left WillowBridge on Monday.

She was SO EXCITED! She loves that RV so much. (Took this one while we were packing up.)

Funny story: We could check in at 1 p.m. so we decided to leave around noon. I had packed up all our food, so we decided to  eat our lunch in the RV in the WillowBridge parking lot before we left so I didn't have to drag a bunch of stuff back into the apartment. Ha!

We had a gorgeous day to drive, and it felt like no time at all before we arrived at our destination! One thing I do love about KOA campgrounds is the golf cart escort to the camping site. Ryan had requested a spot on the lake, and we seriously got the best spot!! I found out that since we aren't KOA members, we can't request a specific slot, but they sure picked a good one for us! I stood right behind the RV to take this picture:

We were able to set up our site fairly quickly, with a little help from Pheebs:

We put Phoebe's bed in the front seat after we parked, and she thought that was so cool. I thought it looked like she was driving! LOL!

But this is really what she was doing. :) 

We took it easy that first afternoon. Smoothies. Naps. Rest. So needed.

Toward evening, we pulled down the bikes and took a quick spin around the campground, and then it was time to make dinner! Campfire nachos and s'mores.

We enjoyed a GORGEOUS sunset from our perch, and we had another walk with Phoebe. 

And when it got dark, we moved inside. Ryan prepped breakfast for the next day, and I scrapbooked. 

Eventually, Ryan went out and brought back the campfire, and we sat out there together, watching the stars and listening to the fish flop in the water.

Just delightful.

Lake life is indeed the best ever. 

Asking

First up, happy birthday to my mom!! Remember a few years ago when we had that surprise party for her? Those memories popped up for me a few days ago and I loved watching the videos all over again. That was such a fun day. Anyway! Happy birthday, Mom! I am sorry I don't have a party for you today, but I hope you have a delightful day! 

We are heading home today from our adventures in camping. We have just had the best time. We were smart to come right after Labor Day. The campground has random signs of life, but for the most part, it's completely empty. (So empty, in fact, that when someone dares to walk by, Phoebe feels that they are intruding on her space. I guess we own this whole road!) 

Know what this trip has done for us? (Besides the obvious of rest, of course.) It's reminded us of how dearly we love lake life and how our dreams are split between being able to travel in our RV and come home to a lake. 

Yesterday we kayaked around this sleepy little lake. Most of the lake is actually surrounded by trees, with no homes in sight. As we paddled, we saw old, broken down piers now and then, but they led straight into the trees with no sign of life behind them. Across from the campground are a few small houses that look like year-round homes, and we fought against the wind to get close to them, but none had a for-sale sign in the yard. Sadness.

I may or may not have peeked on realtor.com to see if there's anything for sale in the area. Not a ton, but I did find a few options. We aren't in a place to buy right now, so we just dream about someday, when we can have a winter landing point for our days off to match our summer landing point of Abby.

Lake life offers such a gift of quietness. It is quite literally the only place on earth where I don't feel guilty for merely sitting and watching. Anywhere else, it feels like I really should be up and doing something. But the lake, with its rippling water and breeze in the trees, just beckons us to sit quietly and listen for the Lord's voice.

I welcome the invitation.

God has been reminding me lately that I haven't been good about asking. I have so expected a string of no answers that I just haven't asked. I haven't asked like I should about things with our work. About things with our future. About our dreams. And so much more.

So I'm working on asking, and this "weekend" has reminded me to ask for things that may not truly matter in the scope of life, but they matter to my heart. 

And so yesterday I sat to ask. Of course I'll submit to whatever answer He gives, but I'm learning again how to ask. 

Peace

We hadn't really fully unpacked Abby from our last trip, but we spent yesterday morning repacking the things we'd taken out. (I told Ryan that maybe in five or six seasons, we'll have a full set of everything we need that just lives in the RV permanently and all we'll have to add is food. Ha!) 

A little before noon, we drove off, and in two shakes of a lamb's tail, we were at our destination. We made the best decision in arriving at the campground ON Labor Day...the same day everyone else went home. We drove past all the permanently placed campers and found our spot all by itself, nestled up against the lake.

Did you hear me? THE LAKE!!!! We are right on the water, my friends. 

I have so many pictures, but I couldn't get them to transfer to my computer, so I'll circle back to show you more later. Meanwhile, this is our view. We backed Miss Abby right up to the lake and parked our camping chairs right there where we can look out over the water.

We cooked over the campfire, took bike rides and walks through the park, and when the sun set, we had this beautiful view:

Ahhhhh.

Because this is more of a resort campground the WiFi signal is strong (vs. being off the grid entirely like we have been the last couple of times) and I was able to sit down and scrapbook for a while. It was so heart-filling.

And late at night, Ryan stirred up the campfire, and we sat by the water, looking at a dark sky full of bright stars. We listened to fish flipping in the water and frogs somewhere in the distance.

So peaceful. So needed.

Sitting beside the water reminded me of all those years I had the chance to enjoy lake life each summer. It reminded me of all the lessons I learned while studying my Bible beside the water. It reminded me of the refreshment I always felt when I went back home - peppered with sadness because I was going back home, of course. 

Looking forward to more of that in this weekend of ours. Looking forward to lake-life-peace. 

Abby Accessories

 Today is quite possibly the first Labor Day that Ryan and I have ever had off together. All the years he worked at the hospital, he worked Labor Day (or at least it seems that way in my mind) and last year we both worked it here at WillowBridge.

I am thrilled to have today off - and the next two as well! We are taking our September outing in Abby, and yes, we know it comes just a week after our August outing. Phoebe is coming along with us this time, so we'll see how it goes camping with a dog! 

But, I have a fun new little Abby-decoration to show you today! We haven't installed it yet, but we are super excited!

My friend Amber made this for us! (Hand painted...not a vinyl cutout.)

We LOVE IT!!!!

As a nod to the former Shafferland Shuffle here on the blog, we decided having an RV should be called "The Shafferland Shuttle." Of course, then we named our first RV Abby, but we know we probably won't have her forever. So we asked Amber to make us a sign we could hang in whatever RV/camper we have at the time, and she left room for future names to be added, if we ever switch up rigs!

This is going to hang over the front door to Abby - and we can't wait to have it fully installed. We picked it up from Amber last week on our way home from our last camping trip, but there was no time to actually install it this week.

We've also been adding patches and stickers to our little "places we've been" wall. 

We think for all the limitations we've had this year with not being able to be gone as much as we hoped, we sure have been LOTS of places! 

I still haven't figured out what I want to hang in the bedroom. I thought about pictures from some of our trips, but I'm not sure. (And I don't want to do anything until I'm sure.)

We think Miss Abby is going to look pretty spiffy, and we sure have loved having her this year. We're learning more and more with each trip about what we love and what we would want to do differently with a future RV. (We even stopped to talk to a guy at the campground who owned a type of RV that intrigued us. He was super kind and gave us lots of information!) 

So here's to a few days of rest, a few days of fun-with-Pheebs, and a few more memories made in the Shafferland Shuttle known as Abby! 

Sunday Sentiments

I love to journal. (You know that about me.)

Last night I sat down to journal and found the words slow to flow. The long, creative sentences that usually fill the page just got stuck in my head and my offering bordered on most lame journal entry ever.

Then I did something I rarely do in a journal entry. I just wrote short sentences...little questions and thoughts I had for the Lord. Each one started a new paragraph, and none of them were followed with any conclusions or answers.

And in no time at all, I had filled a page with questions, fears, thoughts, ideas, and prayers.

It was a good reminder for me that my prayers don't have to be elegant. The sentences don't have to be complex to be meaningful. 

They do need to be honest. 

The same is true for you. Maybe your brain is jumbled and you wish you had elegant and profound things to pray - or to share with those around you. 

But you don't.

Your briefest thoughts still count. Embrace them even in their brevity. Even if all you have are questions and fears to offer up to the Lord, offer them.

Say what you can. Ask what you need. Trust Him from there.

I shared a quote with our tenants this week that said this: "Trust God more than you trust your feelings." (Jennifer Rothschild)

This weekend I trusted Him with my jumbled feelings and short sentences. My feelings remained and were just as untrustworthy as before. But my heart was strengthened in giving God what I had, meager as it may have been.

I encourage you to do the same! 

The Saturday Six

 

One.

These are not new, by any means, but they're new to me! When Ryan and I were on vacation this summer, we stopped at a little boutique in Casey, Illinois to look for a dress for me to wear to the Gateway Auction. (Found it!!!) While we were there, I found a pair of workout pants on clearance and bought those too. You guys? THEY HAVE POCKETS FOR MY PHONE!!! I've never had pockets in workout pants, and it has absolutely revolutionized my life. How am I just now learning this?!?!!?!?

Two.

I confess I'm posting this one mostly for my sister, who IS the world's coolest Nana. But for any of you with kiddos in your life - isn't this a cool handmade Christmas gift??

Three.

I know that every week, I keep saying I've found the perfect house plan. Maybe there really are THAT MANY perfect house plans. Have I shared this one before? If not, here's another perfect one!! (LORI!!!! Could you get on board with this one?) 

Four.

A few years ago, we visited Letchworth State Park, which is known as the Grand Canyon of the East. Oh, how we loved that visit!! It was beautiful and still one of the trips we talk about the most! Whilst scrolling through Pinterest, I found this post about Georgia's version of the Grand Canyon, and now I want to see that! (For the record, I also still want to see the ACTUAL Grand Canyon!) Anyway - Lynnette, have you seen this one?) 

Five.

I don't have a link for this one, but I want to say that next Saturday marks the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. If you've read the blog very long, you know I always spend the day watching documentaries and honoring the stories of those who lost their lives that day. This year I work on 9/11, but I plan to try to still watch as many as I can! I know there will be a bunch of new ones since this marks 20 years. Are any of you fellow documentary watchers? If so, and if you have your eye on one, let me know! (Side note: One of our tenants was talking with me about 9/11 this week and he said, "Oh yeah! I was a year old then!" Thanks for that. I'm officially old.) 

Six.

If you're struggling with the difficulties of EVERYTHING right now (and you're sure not alone if you are), I encourage you to read these words by Barbara Rainey. I needed them! Maybe you do too! 

105 Months!

 

Yesterday we celebrated 105 months of marriage! 

We've given a marriage talk a few times (Valentine's Banquets, wedding showers, etc.) in which we've shared the difference between a difficult marriage and difficult days. Before we were married, we had a lot of people tell us how hard marriage could be. But we've learned that for us, anyway, marriage hasn't been hard. Life has been hard sometimes. We've worked consciously at not mixing up the two. 

This last month has been a hard life month. Ryan's been healing from that severe ankle sprain, work has had multiple extra challenges, Ryan's still working through estate stuff, and of course, the world in general seems to get harder every day. 

But I can say without any reservation that this 105th month of marriage has been as sweet as the rest. As we've navigated things like hosting Jeremiah for 4 days, welcoming Phoebe for a bit, bringing a new tenant into the mix, prepping for another new tenant, and pulling long, long work days, shouldering the load with Ryan has been sweet.

He has listened well when my heart has been overwhelmed. He has picked up extra work when I need a moment to rest and collect myself. I've picked up extra work when he was still trying to heal from his injury. We've had long talks. We've taken specific, active steps to make investments in our mental and physical health so work stresses don't overcome us.

I am so grateful for him. I am so grateful for life we share and the work we do together. 

Yesterday we were on duty alone, so our ability to get away was minimal, but we were able to pause to breathe a bit after a couple of particularly extra-long days. That was pretty wonderful!

I made cauliflower nachos for lunch, and they were delish!

Know what would have made them better? Remembering to add the avocado after they baked. #fail.

We hung out with Pheebs...

And then we sneaked over to the coffee shop for some fresh brew and a piece of shared carrot cake. GORGEOUS day to sit outside for a date!

And then we went back to work! 

It was a low key day, but not low key in the gratitude of my heart. 

I love you, Ryan!

Thank you for being present and invested for each of the 105 months, but especially this last one!