Sunday Sentiments

 

Today is Father's Day, which I know can bring about a mix of emotion for everyone. I know there are many who hurt over fathers who have passed away, fathers who never showed up, and fathers they long to be, but they don't have children in their home. 

For those of you who hurt on this day, I hope those around you see and acknowlege that and give you support and room to grieve your losses! I hope to do that for those around me who are in that place.

But I also want to acknowledge some fathers in my own life who have impacted me and helped shape my life!

There is, of course, my own father, who will be turning ninety this year. Can you believe that? In one of my writing prompts this week, I was supposed to explore memories of my childhood with my dad, and one of the things I noted was that as ridiculously busy as he was during those years, I can't remember him being absent from time he could spend with me. He was a school teacher, which meant he had lesson plans to write and papers and tests to grade. He had a radio program that took dozens of hours each week to produce from start to finish. He answered every letter every listener wrote to him. He had a lot of property and our house to care for, and he did it well. And he was very active in church, plus he often filled in for other churches when pastors were gone. He was busy. But he was always there for every meal, for playtime, and to teach me about the Bible. I appreciate that so much more now that I see and know what a sacrifice it was!

I also had a fantastic Grandpa! My Dad's dad died before I was born, but Mom's dad was an active part of life! (He died when I was in junior high.) I spent many nights at their house and he would always take me to McDonald's and tell me to order whatever I want. He would line up dining room chairs (at Grandma's direction) beside the couch I slept on so I didn't roll off in my sleep. And it was their home I lived in the first 16 years of my adult life. Grandpa had a quiet humor about him, and he always had a sweet twinkle in his eye. I miss him!

When I married Ryan, I gained TWO fathers-in-law...one in his dad, Gary, and one in his step-dad, Allen. I think most of you know Allen passed away a year and a half ago, most unexpectedly, but I have appreciated both these men and their acceptance of me as a true daughter. Both have been as kind and and supportive to me as they are to Ryan, and I'm grateful!

And last, but certainly not least, I want to give a big shout-out to Ryan, today. No, we do not have any children of our own, but Ryan is for sure a great father. 

When he married me, he took on Braeya, too, and she loved him from the minute she met him. I have been significantly old news since he arrived, and he is still her favorite today. He does a great job caring for her and making sure she is always comfortable. (Diva, you know.)

And even though it took me NINE YEARS to talk him into getting a dog, he has been an amazing dad to Lexi. He has watched literally hundreds of hours of training videos, works hard with her on her skills, fixes all her meals every day, gets up with her in the morning so I can sleep a little longer, and loves her more than ever thought loving a dog would be possible. (See? I was right!)

And beyond these two, Ryan does an incredible job being a great fatherly influence in the life of our little godson. He is not his dad and doens't pretend to be, but he spends so much time making sure he's safe, loved, and cared for when he's in our home. He helps with EVERYTHING. He prays for him, loves him, and invests in him over and over again, and it is a joy to behold.

So today I am grateful for all these who have invested in my life and in the lives of those who are dear to me. 

Today I celebrate all of the men who invest as fathers or father-figures to those in their lives. Your work matters!

The Saturday Six

 

School may be out for the summer, but that doesn't mean we have to stop learning! I was hunting around online this week for some capsule wardrobe inspiration, and that ended up inspiring this week's Saturday Six topic. I'll get to that one in a moment, but let me say first that there are tons of free classes out there (and I'll mention some) but there isn't anything wrong with paying for classes too! I have a little birthday money that I am holding back for just the right thing, and this week I thought about putting part of it toward a class. Why not learn something I can carry throughout the years rather than buy something that wears out? 

One.

This is the one that sent me hunting for topcis on learning. I'm trying to corral my wardrobe again after filling it fuller than I've had it for a while. I have way more than I need. As I looked around for inspiration ideas, I found a couple of gems from Audrey at Putting Me Together. (That's a blog I look at pretty frequently, and I appreciate her style, which is both modest and similar to my style.) I noticed she has a free masterclass through her website that talks about style mistakes and how to fix them. But she also has a wardrobe staples styler you can purchase (for $29) to help you understand how to fill your closet with basic mix-and-match pieces that work well with each other. BONUS! She helps you know how to use items you already own so you don't have to buy an all new everything! If you are getting frustrated trying to figure out what looks good on you and makes you feel good about yourself AND allows you to do more with less, this investment might prove more effective than endless shopping for pieces that don't end up working for you!

Two.

In full disclosure, I have not actually purchased anything from this site, but I found it recommended and confess it does look VERY interesting to me! It's a site called Creative Live, and it offers online classes for all kinds of creative outlets: photography (all things from using particular cameras to editing software and everything in between), podcasting, writing, money management, time management, hand lettering, floral arrangements, interior design, cake decorating, and music (songwriting to recording and everything in between). It appears you can purchase an annual subscription for access to their library of classes, but some classes do look like they are free to take. Might be a great one-stop shop for dabbling in a variety of hobbies if you're looking for something new to try but aren't sure what might fit you best! 

Three.

This one is a little more expensive, but it caught my eye because it seems very comprehensive! I am fascinated by sourdough bread, and over the last year, Ryan and I have learned it is our favorite kind of bread. I would love to try making it, but the whole idea of keeping a starter alive and working with it (without destroying it) terrifies me. This course is just under $100, but it says by the end of the course you'll have your own starter (and understand it!), and you'll learn how to work with the dough and use different flours for different breads. If you're serious about learning bread making, this one might be worth the investment!

Four.

Back when we lived in Kokomo, I started taking online Bible classes through the Bible Broadcasting Network online. I spent hourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssssss listening to the audio classes and taking so many pages of notes. Each course has a different topic and number of sessions. There are quizzes at the end of each class session and then an overall test at the end of each course. They do offer certificates of completion. I was about halfway through level two when I went back to working at the church and no longer had time to take the classes. If things work out here that I am able to return to a class or two per week, I really would love to finish it. They are all completely free to take! (Note: some of the class teachings are very old, and I only know this because the bios from the teachers sometimes mention that the person died several years ago. But the content of the Bible doesn't change, so the teachings are still good and relevant!)

Five.

Though I am not a gardener, herb gardens to interest me, and this site has an herb garden online class with two levels of intensity (and price). You can enroll in a more expensive option to get more personalized attention and feedback, or a less expensive group class. Both of them seem to cover the same territory of information, including the many ways you can use herbs, from ornamental plants to cooking to medicinal purposes. 

Six.

And, of course, YouTube is a great place to find tutorials about just about ANYTHING. One thing I need to be better about doing is styling my hair in something other than plain-old-normal.  (In truth, I don't do this usually because my roots are so white, so I have a small window of time after each visit to the salon when I can pull UP my hair, and the rest of the time, I leave it down to cover the white.) Anyway. I really like Josie Balka (she was a Bates from Bringing Up Bates) and her cute tutorials! Here's a link to some of her haistyle ideas, but if you aren't into her style, you could check out someone else! 

Take Your Family to Work Day

Yesterday was a unique day here in Shafferland!

We had a first in our hospitality life, and it was SO MUCH FUN! We had the incredible privilege of opening our home to our church staff so they could have a retreat day away from the office. It was so much fun to get the house all sparkly, stick a berry trifle in the refrigerator, and let them enjoy the space for the whole day! But, of course, that meant Lexi and I needed a place to go for the day. 

So...we went to work with Ryan!

In typical Shaffer fashion, we didn't pack light. We had Lexi's bed and litter box, her bag of everything she could possibly need in life, and her meals. We had Ryan's work bag and mine. Lunches. Coffee. Water. The whole bit! But we were up, ready, and out the door EARLY, which we found to be a particular miracle, given that Lexi and I are not used to being anywhere EARLY!

She was so excited to meet Ryan's office manager and could barely contain herself. I got a picture of that, but I didn't ask about posting it, so I won't.

We set up her bed in Ryan's office, and she hopped right in to hang out for the morning!

I didn't have a bed, but I did have a chair to hang out in for the morning, too! I worked on some things for his work and also some of my own computer chores. 

 

Lexi took many breaks to walk around with Ryan. Sometimes she found them exciting, and sometimes they made her yawn.

And there was not a single shortage of head scratching the entire day - from EVERYONE.

She made herself quite at home. She worked at Ryan's desk and served as head greeter.

And the whole thing led to an afternoon nap.

Sweet girl.

She had the best day, and I'm sure she will want to go to work with him EVERY day now. (Can't blame her there!!!)

Thanks, Ryan, for letting us work from your office for the day. We sure loved being with you!

Note: Please excuse the ridiculous title photo. My computer is on life support and will no longer download pictures from ANY browser I use for editing. I literally had to take a picture of my screen and transfer it from my phone. This computer has been good to me and has served me MANY years beyond what standard computers operate. (Add to that the extraordinary number of hours I work on it every single day, and it basically lived two lifetimes in one.) I appreciate all it has done for me, but I am limping along until the new one arrives! 

Praying the Commonalities

 

The Lord has been working on my heart in the world of intentional prayer. I've always loved to pray (in general and for people, specifically) but this is an area where He is teaching/moving/changing me fairly thoroughly right now.

The new planner I got actually has a whole focus on prayer, which is helping me keep track of requests, and I love that. But I wanted to talk about prayer today with you, because it really matters!

How many times have you said "Oh yes, I'll pray for you!" - and then you totally forget? I'm not here to judge you if the answer is embarrassingly large. I've done it SO many times myself over the course of my lifetime. I'm always looking for ways to keep requests in front of me so I remember to pray intentionally often!

I thought I'd share with you one thing God has been teaching me about prayer that has really helped!

As you know, we just had our yard put in, and we have a new full time job of WATERING. Nothing like having a yard put in before a 100 degree heat wave, right? It's a whole process, with a mix of sprinklers and hand-watering, and I'm fairly convinced that right about the time we perfect our system, the yard will be grown and we can stop. :) 

But watering lawns is such a first world problem, isn't it? A few nights ago, as I stood in the street with the hose, reaching the far corners the sprinklers missed, I thought about some friends I have in a couple different corners of the world that are facing legitimate droughts right now. Their drinking water supplies are drying up. They need rain. And there I stood, with my hose, coaxing grass sprouts up from the dirt, feeling a little guilty that I have water for my lawn when they hope to have enough to drink for survival.

God pushed my heart to use my lawn-watering time to pray for them. So every time I hear the sprinkler spray water on the window, or every time I stand in the street to water the edges of the yard, I'm praying mightily for my friends who need rain.

We had some decent storms here this week, and although our town didn't get hit too badly, Fort Wayne took a big blow, and so did several areas in Ohio. I've been reading posts on social media from friends who are trying to find homes for their frozen food since their power is out - or they're staying with friends because they don't have air conditioning, and it's so hot here right now. 

So when I open the freezer to prep our meals or walk inside to a blast of cool air after being outside, I'm praying for my friends to find provision and for those working out in the heat to restore power to them. 

I'm following along with the story of a young man fighting aggressive cancer. He's a teenager. Everything happened so fast. His family serves on the mission field, so he and his mom are here in the States for his treatment while the rest of the family carries on the work thousands of miles away. So much to pray for! I saw in an early social media post that someone had gifted them a MudLove bracelet that says "Hope." I have the same bracelet and wear it every single day. So when I glance down and see my bracelet, I pray for them and all the many needs they face.

There are more examples, but you get the idea. Look around for things that remind you of people in need and let the sights remind you to pray. We're told in Scripture to pray without ceasing, and for me, this is what that looks like! I still make my lists and cross off requests when they become answers to prayer, but praying the commonalities has helped me stay consistent!

Top Ten Projects Before the End of the Year

 

Now that I have my beloved new day planner, I find myself truly all about the goal-making. I'm sure this is mostly because I dearly love to cross things off my list. :) Can't do that if I don't have a list, now, can I? 

My pinnning game has been strong lately, as I mark things for here or there that I really love and hope to someday do in our home. But alas, we can't do it all at once, either from a time or money perspective, so yesterday I decided to look over everything from the perspective of a little distance, so I could figure out which projects are most important to me. 

We have six months left in this year, which means it feels reasonable to pick ten things I'd love to do between now and the end of 2022, project-wise in our home. Now, becasue I'm sure my mom's head just fell straight into her hands at the idea of TEN PROJECTS, I would like to quickly submit that these are not huge projects. They're just finishing touches that sit at risk of never being completed if I don't make them a priority.

Also, some of these may be a surprise to Ryan. SURPRISE, RYAN!!!!!!!! Also also...these are in no particular order.

1. Pretty up the mailbox.

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Ryan laughingly pointed out the other day that of the new houses on our street, the mailboxes get progressivly plainer as they go, and ours wins for most basic. That is, in part, because we had to buy our mailbox in a fat hurry after we closed on the house. Our build did not come with a box (sometimes they do, depending on the neighborhood, but ours did not) and we needed to be able to receive mail right now. We chose a very basic, bland, boring (you pick the word you like) standard box that would win ZERO design awards, but it functions at 100% in its main job of receiving our mail. 

We talked about ditching it and getting a fancier box, but I told Ryan that seemed so wasteful to me. It's practical and not ugly, in my opinion, so let's keep it. We already took the first step of ordering a cute little address vinyl cutout for the sides, and we installed those a while back. (We ordered from here.) Now that the yard is done, Ryan can fully and permanently set the box, which is currently shoved in the ground, mostly straight. Maybe someday down the road, we can splurge on a fancy box, but in the meantime, I think some sort of small and minor landscaping around it will go a long way in making it lovely. It will be a quick project with minimal material needs, but I think it can pack a big punch. I need to do quite a bit more research on this one, but the photo above shows the basic level I'm looking for. 

2. Pretty up the lamp post.

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Similarly to the mailbox project, we have one other little quick outside landscaping project that would not take much time or money in materials, but it would make a big difference in the look of things. We have a Narnia-esque lamppost in our front yard, and the landscapers didn't do anything to it. We noticed they mulched around the neighbors' lamp, but perhaps they asked for it as an upgrade. 

The post itself is thin enough that trying to mow/weed around it would be kind of a pain. But I think it wouldn't take too much in time or effort to decorate it and maybe even tie it in to whatever we do to the mailbox! 

This is a project that I also haven't researched in great depth to see exactly what I want to do, but the idea above shows the simplicity I'm after. I don't need it to be major!

3. Figure out how to effectively decorate the front porch.

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There isn't much about this house that falls on a "don't like" list, but there are a couple of things we perhaps would have chosen differently if we had been around for the design portion of the adventure. One thing is our front porch. It is not a sitting porch, unless you like to sit on the welcome mat. That is literally the only room we have for sitting. 

Our front porch is basically a little cove that holds the front door. There aren't steps. In truth, there's barely an inch or two of room to the side of the door with which to decorate at all. Other than throwing out a wreath and welcome mat (which we have done), I have not yet been able to figure out how to make it a cute and welcoming space. I've tossed around the idea of painting the door to make it brighter, but that seems silly, since its existing color is brand new. 

From there, I've spent quite a bit of time on Pinterest, looking for ideas to incorporate plants (to an area that gets very little light) or other forms of texture and color. I have a few ideas, but I would like to make it a point of focused work before the end of the year. I've seen some ideas for hanging signs on the side of the actual house, for incorporating faux plants, and for using a very slender bench to create depth. I like all those ideas and will see what I can do using what we have. 

The photo above is one of my inspiration pieces. 

4. Finish the foyer wall hangings.

This one should, hypothetically, be fairly easy to do. I've showed you the part of the foyer that we have completed, and I simply adore what we've done. It's one of my favorite corners of our house, actually. But the opposite wall is blannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnk. I have a plan. I just haven't finished it.

The opposite wall is where I want to hang the watercolor paintings of our Marion and Kokomo houses, and I've commissioned my friend Amber to paint WillowBridge (when she has time) and this house (after it has a yard and we can take pictures of what it might look like) to complete the wall of homes where we've lived.

Because the project is only half done, I haven't put ANY of those paintings up yet, so that wall is just big and blank. The two completed paintings are framed, and I have a frame for what will be the WillowBridge picture. So I need to get one more frame and then go ahead and hang up all four. I can put "coming soon..." in the two empty frames and at least that wall will look a bit more polished. I can insert the paintings as Amber is able to complete them! 

5. Stencil an accent wall.

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A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this post of a foyer accent wall that the homeowner freehanded above her board and batten. It inspired me to combine that idea with a paint technique I saw once and really liked. The technique I saw used the idea of painting a wall in either matte or glossy paint and then using the opposite to stencil or paint geometric lines. They used the same color in both parts of the project. They just used glossy for part of it and matte for part of it. It made the design more subtle, and I liked that.

So I'd like to use a simple stencil to make an accent above our board and batten in the foyer area and maybe on that clock wall I showed you last week. I know it would take a little bit of time, but the end result would be worth it, I think. I have this idea for a stencil, but I'm not sure I'm completely sold on it yet. 

The photo above shows the painting technique, and here is a bigger description of how to achieve it. I actually like the design in the picture, too. Very flowy.

6. Figure out how to decorate the laundry room.

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This is the first time ever that I've had my OWN laundry room. I've been slowly moving up the laundry-room ranks in my adult life. In our Marion house, the washer and dryer were in the main bathroom. After Ryan and I were married, we redid things a little to get a stackable/washer and dryer, and that changed the whole look of that room and gave us so much more space! In our Kokomo house, the washer and dryer were in a hall closet, and I loved that. It was so fun to have laundry in its own space. 

Then we went to WillowBridge, and we had an actual laundry ROOM for the first time. It was every bit as grand as I imagined it would be, but it wasn't ours, so we couldn't do a ton to it. Then we came here, and we have an actual laundry room! 

It's perfect in its functionality, but it's very small. Pretty much only has room for the washer and dryer - and Lexi's litter box and water bowls. I have held off decorating it, because I can't figure out which direction I want to go with my decor! I've scoured Pinterest and made a few ideas, but so far, it's just still very utilitarian. I'd love to have SOMETHING up on the wall in there by the end of the year. (We have some laundry decor, even. I just haven't put it up yet.)

The photo above shows about how much room I have to work with, though nothing about the room is the same in colors of cabinetry or appliances. Still. That's one dreamy room. 

7. Hang those back porch lights!

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If you read the Saturday Six this past week, you saw I did a little dreaming for our back patio and yard areas. I know that realistically, all that combined space will take months - years, even - to grow into a mature-looking space. I'm completely fine with that. I think that's why I want to do the little things as I can - like the mailbox landscaping, prettying up the light pole, and making the back patio area look a little more cohesive.

One of my favorite ideas from the back porch list on Saturday was the hanging light display. I found some similar to the inspiration piece (seen above) and hope we can hang those before the end of the year. It's far too hot this week to sit on the porch, but come fall -which I am not hurrying along - it would be grand to sit beneath them!  I also think something so (seemingly) simple would make a big statement!

8. Finish decorating Lexi's corner

Lexi has her own little bedroom corner in our house, and I have ideas for decorating it, but it's not done yet! We purchased a sign on clearance at Hobby Lobby several weeks ago, and I need to get it hung above her bed, but I also want to print the picture I made for her bedroom area. (It's pictured above.)

I made it intending to get it on a canvas from a company I've ordered from before. They often run free-canvas-just-pay-shipping specials, so I watched for one, but alas, the shipping was MORE THAN THE PRICE OF THE CANVAS!!! Uh no. So now I'm trying to figure out how I want to print instead. But I love her little corner and want to finish it up so she has a proper bedroom. Is it overboard to add a rug...and stuffies...and more? :)

9. Figure out the guest room lamp situation and add the window candles back into the mix.

Fun fact that you may not know about me: I hate overhead lighting. Absolutely hate it. I appreciate that we have it as an option, because when there's a spider on the loose or something, I want as much lighting as possible. But in general, I much prefer soft lamp light throughout the house to harsher overhead lighting. And we have it everywhere...except the guest room. 

It's not that we don't have any. I actually think I have about six lamps sitting in the garage, awaiting further instruction. I just haven't figured out what I want in the guest room - or where. But the other night, Ryan took some pictures of our house - outside, from the road, after dark - and it was all so lovely, except the guest room, which was so dark, you couldn't even see it. Well, that's not going to work, is it? So I need to figure out my lighting in there, and I also need to see about finding rechargable batteries that fit our window candles! We received a whole set of window candles as a Christmas gift, and I LOVE THEM. But the batteries tank in them so quickly, and we don't really have the budget to replace them as often as they wear out. Ryan did some research and saw we could get rechargables, so we need to do that. I would love to see the candles in the window here. I think it would be the crowning touch!

The photo above is our guest room in Kokomo, before the Anne of Green Gables makeover, but it does show my love of lamps!

10. Find a cute and comfy office chair.

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Finally, on my list, is to find a cute and comfy office chair (or pair of them!) for our home office. We are currently using short wooden stools from IKEA that I would prefer to repurpose as plant stands. They work fine, but if I have a day when I get to spend hours upon glorious hours at my desk, my back is a bit achy by the end. Ryan has the same problem on his side of our shared desk.

I don't like the look of true office chairs - the big and clunky ones - and our flooring in the office is carpet, so there's no real need for the chair to roll. I want something comfortable, cute, and relatively small, since there isn't a ton of real estate for a big chair. 

I like the chair pictured above, and if you just want to see the cutest she shed ever, you can check out this post that goes along with it. I'm sure that chair is not in my budget AT ALL, but it's an inspiration piece! 

So there you go! My goals for the remainder of this year. I'll try to remember to check back in toward the last week of the year to let you know how we did on meeting them! 

A Friendship Garden

 If you missed it, on Sunday I wrote about our neighbors who pitched in to help us water our new lawn. It was such an encouraging moment for me to witness, and I figured we could all use stories of hope and encouragement, so I shared it.

I also wrote a post about it on Facebook, and one of my longtime friends from the Marion days commented to ask if we needed more trees for our yard. She said they had some in their yard that had sprouted up, and she would be happy to share. I replied that I would check with Ryan and see what sort of yard design we were going to put together, because we very well might be able to use more trees!

Her comment, though, started the most delightful brainstorm in my mind. Her offer made me think about another friend of mine (also from the Marion days) who nearly every year posts that she has divided her hostas and has plenty to spare if anyone wants any. I told myself I should watch for that post and take her up on that offer next time she shares it. 

I remember one year when my sister gifted me a bunch of seeds she had harvested from her own flower garden along her fence row.  (All those stayed with the Marion house.) 

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became.

What if the bulk of our eventual yard design came through the sharing of friends? 

It's economical, of course, and that is appealing, but what excited me the most was the idea of the stories. I mean, it's already started in our yard.

We already have a weeping cherry tree named the Miss Juanita 2. It was my gift to Ryan for his birthday this year, in memory of his mom and in honor of the weeping cherry we planted at our Kokomo house and had to leave behind. 

We already have the Miss Phoebe - a hydrangea tree gifted to us by Phoebe's people. They brought it as a housewarming gift the day they came to have lunch with us and see our new home. 

We have the Miss Braeya Jo and the Miss Lexi Grae, the two maple trees the builders planted. We felt it was only right and proper to name one after each of our own fur babies.

We have a little daisy out front that my mom gifted me on Mother's Day. The landscapers planted it for me when they did the whole landscaping layout. 

What if we just kept going like that? What if we found people who had extra to thin out, so we transplanted their extra here and could tell the story of who grew them first and how our friendship with them grew and blossomed at this time or that? What if the plants and trees we looked out upon every day weren't just fun finds at a nursery, but they were stories of people and moments in time?

What if our whole yard became a friendship garden? 

I hope it happens this way. I hope we can find a way to plant pieces of our life story in tangible ways in our yard. I hope the living, breathing, beautifying parts of our property tell the story of the living, breathing, beautifying parts of our story who made us who we are today. 

Home Away from Home

I've been doing some vacation planning, which means I've been perusing Airbnb options lately. (The trip I'm working on is one in which we won't be able to take Abby, so I'm going back to all the old school searches!)

Do you know how strange it is to pull up Airbnb and find the first suggested home listed in Marion, Indiana? I lived there twenty years and never imagined it to be a first chair destination location on a travel site! Of course that piqued my interest, so I had to take a look. 

They seemed to be featuring several homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, so if you're a fan, you might want to check out the home he designed in Marion and then book a stay! It's $500 a night, and you get access to the entire house and grounds. (And you can bring pets!) I'm not really drawn to that style of architecture, but I confess I did drool over the commercial-style kitchen. I wouldn't hate that!

I may not love that style of home, but I do love an A-frame. I saw this one on the site, and it caught my eye, because I just saw it on Instagram this week. The windows! The outdoor scenery! That third floor loft!! So, so pretty! I miss getting to drive past the little A-frame near WillowBridge that I loved so much. 

Then I started looking at some unique homes. 

This one looks amazing...and terrifying. Could you do it? It's a treehouse in Kentucky, which sounds harmless enough, right? The tree house is bolted above the Red River Gorge. You access it by a suspension staircase, and then there is a separate spiral staircase that takes you up to the master bedroom. I won't lie: my hands went cold just looking at the picture of the staircase going down from the highest deck. And yet...it looks intriguing! 

This one is an earthen home, which also totally intrigues me. I think reading about the sod hous in Little House started my intrigue for earthen homes. Then the idea of living in something that is basically a basement (at least during tornado season) won me over. This one is super cute, with its little round door! (And fun fact: if just staying in an earthen home isn't enough for you, there is this one that is actually for sale right now! I told Ryan I think the best part of living in such a home would be running the lawn mower over the roof!)

I guess if I really want to tap into my love of the pioneer days, I should just check out this covered wagon stay. And then wait for the pioneers to laugh at me, because the inside is about the farthest thing from primitive you can find! I don't think the Ingalls family had WiFi and USB ports. :) But I think this is the only way the covered wagon would work for me!

I could get lost for hours finding fun places to stay. Abby is still my top choice. Carrying your own home with you wherever you go can't be beat. But if we need an alternate place to stay, I'm all for finding fun and unique options! 

Any of you have a dream kind of vacation home you'd like to try if you had the chance? 

Sunday Sentiments

 I made a quick post about this on Facebook on Friday, but I thought it warranted a longer post here, so I'm writing about it today.

As you might remember, the hunt for and purchase of this home was a MUCH faster adventure than we Shaffers like to embark upon. Such is the housing market right now! Long after we settled on buying this house, we learned that prior to the house being built, our property had been a small wooded area. It made me sad to learn they had cleared it out just to build a house, and it made me sadder yet for the neighbors behind and beside us, who lost a beautiful view and gained a noisy and dusty building project. We've promised both neighbors that we will do our best to restore some pretty views to them.

It's silly of me to have twinges of guilt over this, I know. When all those decisions were being made, we were busy at WillowBridge and didn't even know we would be living in this town or that a house was being built for us. We had no clue. But I still feel sad for our neighbors. 

Since the writing of the last Sunday Sentiments post, the last of the outdoor projects have been completed by the builder (except for the replacing of the driveway, but we won't go there). We have landscaping up next to the house. We have trees. We have grass seed! We no longer have a mud mountain. It's been a very exciting week around here, for sure. 

But what happened Friday night took my breath away and made my heart so full. I wanted to share it with you today.

Ryan (and our other new-house neighbors down the road) went outside to start the new full-time job of watering the baby lawn. He had purchased some sprinklers, which we have since concluded are not the most effective options, so they're being fired and new ones are en route. I was inside with Lexi, and he was out trying to strategically arrange sprinklers and hoses. 

I looked out and saw that both the neighbors beside us and behind us - the ones who lost their pretty view because of our house - had pulled out their own sprinklers and hoses, and they had placed them at their respective bordering edges to help us water. They were using their own water supply and both did this of their own accord. We didn't ask.

I hurried to ask Ryan if they were helpling, and he said yes. He said they wanted to. We have budding friendships with both neighbors, but we're still the new kids on the block. We are still the reason they've had an interesting and disquieted year in the neighborhood. The fact that both of them would offer to help was such a gift.

We hear a lot about the awful in this world, and that's probably because there's a lot of awful to hear. But there is also so, so much good. There are kind people who CHOOSE to be generous when they don't have to be. I want to celebrate those people today. I'm so thankful. 

Being new can be hard. Finding your place among people who have long had a place can be hard. Being accepted and shown grace and mercy is such a gift. 

I hope we find many ways to repay their kindness in the years to come, because they certainly blessed us immeasurably this week! 

The Saturday Six

 

This week's Saturday Six is inspired by my recent searches for back patio and backyard ideas. Now that our landscaping, trees, and grass are in place, I'm ready to start dreaming about what might come next! I've looked both at immediate small patio plans, since we already have one of those, and then I've looked at long-term ideas for a yard. Want to dream with me today?

One.

This post is actually about using rugs both inside and out, but if you scroll down to the sixth picture, you'll see my inspiration piece. Our back patio is basically the same size and shape as an apartment balcony, so I have looked up a lot of ideas for those. I love the hanging lights on the one in this post. Soft lighting is my jam anyway, but these icicle lights are next level. I may or may not have some saved on my Amazon wish list. ;) 

Two.

This post actually had two ideas I liked! If you look at idea #1 in the post, I really liked the use of the little window-box-esque planter boxes to line the railing at the edge of the porch. We don't have a railing on ours, because it just empties into the yard, but I like the idea of making a boundary of sorts at the corner with a long, narrow flower box. It would be low enough that it wouldn't obstruct the view from the chairs or glider, but it would bring in color and create a boundary line. Then if you scroll down to idea #7, you'll see my other fun idea. A planter wall! We have one wall at the end of the porch that is just the side of our house, and I think bringing in some plants/dimension there would be fabulous. 

Three.

I loved it that the designer of this yard took her sweet time in making it all that she wanted it to be. Life isn't an HGTV show that's done in an hour. Slow and steady wins the race, as I need to remind myself! We don't have pavers to need to do this, but her stenciled pavers are AMAZING. A lot of work, but stunning results. What I loved most about her design that could potentially work for us is the little path out to the fire pit. We don't have a fire pit anymore (sold it with the Kokomo house) but I for sure want one eventually, because we love them. I like the idea of making a little stone area off the back patio, up near the house, where we could enjoy a fire pit without going into the recesses of the yard. It looks like a fairly easy-to-design idea! And though we will have grass, of course, if you like the idea of a no-mow yard, keep reading her article, because that's what they did! 

Four.

This idea might not be needed right away, but I tucked it away for down the road. We have a little cove area that we would love to someday make into a hot tub retreat. While we don't plan to put up a privacy fence all the way around our yard, we would absolutely want a little extra privacy for this area if and when we ever do it, and I love the barrier these people made for their dining area in their yard. This sort of thing would be perfect! 

Five.

I'm not sure how it would work here - meaning where we would want to put it - but I did love having a pergola (remember how we called it a perogi?) at our Marion house, and this post made me remember just how much I loved that kind of a covered space. We'll have to brainstorm and see if something like this is feasible here, and if so, where we should put it! Side note: I loved this yard as a whole, because it seemed like a "real person" put it together, rather than it being curated and staged for social media. 

Six.

And while this is not an outdoor design plan, I do think this little grill shelter is super cute! Our grill is relatively small, and while Ryan enjoys grilling, it's not something he does SO regularly that there needs to be this huge, overdone production of an outdoor kitchen. Still, if he's out there in either the heat or the rain, it would be nice to have some protection over the grill!

So there are my ideas so far. If you find something fun I should see, send it my way!!!

The Clock Wall

 

A couple of months ago, when we were first settling in to our new home, I told you that now and then, I might feature a little corner of the house that is particularly meaningful to me and tell you the stories behind what lives there. 

And then I forgot about it for a while. But yesterday, as I sat with Lexi, I saw a corner I wanted to talk about, so here I am with some stories for you!

This little wall is just around the corner from our foyer and serves as a bridge of sorts between the living room area and the kitchen area. Originally I had planned to hang our mirror here and put my little foyer table underneath it, but I decided it would look too weird to have two tables of similar height around the corner from each other, and I wasn't sure how I felt about sunshine reflecting off the mirror if it hung there. No need to send a blinding glare to anyone on the couch. So I changed it up and made this space instead, and I love how it has turned out. 

Can I tell you about the story of us that this corner tells?

First, a fun fact: So far, this is the only wall clock we own. Most of our clocks are on appliances or alarms, and I actually would enjoy having a clock in a few other rooms, but this is our sole wall clock at the moment. I purchased it as a gift for Ryan for our very first Christmas! It has always fit pretty perfectly in every house we've owned. I think my favorite display of it was in our Kokomo house, when we attached it to our stone feature wall and hung a sconce over it to light it from above. So fancy!! 

But I love this clock because it was one of the first things I ever bought for Ryan, and it's simple style fits us so perfectly. 

(And just for fun, here's a picture of Ryan with that clock the day he received it!)

Then there's this sweet little bench. We bought this right before we moved away from Kokomo - and it originally lived in our guest room. I wanted a little bench in there for guests to put luggage on - or maybe sit on while putting on socks or something. It lived in our guest room at WillowBridge, too, but there wasn't room for it in the layout of our guest roomm here. My design in putting it right here was that it would serve as a spot to decorate, but if we do have a guest who needs to sit to put on shoes, this is near enough to the front door that it makes a good chair. I leave one end open for that very purpose! Anyway, I love this little bench. It's one of my favorite pieces we've ever purchased together. It's simple, but it has some character, and I love that. 

The lantern was a gift from my parents and sisters when Allen died. You might be able to see that etched into the glass is the phrase, "Your light shines upon us and is always in our hearts." It also has his name and the years of his life. It has a battery operated candle inside and is so pretty when lit. (I need to replace the batteries...just keeping it real.) I love having something in his memory out where we can see it. 

If you've been reading here a while, you remember this piece. It's another of my favorite art pieces. Lindsay Sherbondy, the artist at Lindsay Letters, was a guest on Mid-Morning when I was the producer. Ryan and I traveled through the town where she lives when we were on a birthday trip one year, and at that time, she had a storefront, so we stopped by. She happened to be there at that time, and I was able to meet her and get a picture together. She remembered the interview and generously gifted me several things while I was there. She also gave me a gift card for a free ANYTHING from her online shop, and I chose this canvas. The words have been so so meaningful to my story: "I will deliver you from the wilderness and take you to a land flowing with milk and honey." 

And while we're doing throwback pictures, here is that photo of me with Lindsay the day I met her!

And silly as a little vase of fake flowers might seem, I'll talk about them, too! This metal vase was just about the last gift Allen ever gave me. He was known for regularly gifting roses to Nita, and after she died, he would sometimes gift roses to his daughters/daughters-in-law/granddaughters instead. He gave me some roses in that vase and told me to keep it, and now and then he would filll it again. He never had the chance to fill it again, but I like keeping it out next to his memorial lantern, because I think of that story when I see it. 

Fresh flowers aren't in our budget these days, but I happen to like a hearty bouquet of almost-lifelike flowers. :) A little bit of color for this corner.

I have a few ideas for down the road for this wall. It would be an easy wall to turn into an accent wall, and I might do just that. We'll see. But for now, I love this little corner of our house and the stories it tells. 

Summertime

 

If you saw my post a few days ago about my June goals, you might have seen that I committed to carving out a portion of time each day to follow some writing prompts. Today I want to share something born out of one of those prompts, because it made me smile. Today you won't find anything deep or life-changing, but perhaps it will make you smile and enjoy this beautiful season.

I'm grateful to live in a section of the country that experiences all four seasons. My heart that used to powerfully resist change now seems to need change, and the shift of seasons offers me a regular chance for newness.

Summer has been sluggish in arriving this year - which, now that I think about it, seems to be consistent with recent years. Springs of late have been cold and wet. Utilitarian, perhaps, but not the pretty version I think of with the word spring. Because of that, I have been aching for summer.

I always look forward to the warmth it brings (until it slams into unbearably hot), and this year is no exception. I love watching the warm breezes blow through long grass. It's the Midwestern version of waves, I suppose. I love seeing trees, full with leaves, creating pillowy privacy curtains. I love seeing flowers in full bloom - especially roses. 

I love leaving home without a jacket. I love the smell of freshly cut grass - especially if I didn't have to be the one to cut it. I love the blue waters of the lake if I'm fortunate enough to make a visit. I love sunsets gripping the evening as long as possible before finally falling below the horizon. I love seeing bright green crops push up in fields.

I love the foods of summer: the corn on the cob, the watermelon, the grilled everything, the ice cream dripping down waffle cones.

Life feels fullest, somehow, in the summer. Everything is at its fullest, richest, and most robust. It's the pinnacle of everything we've worked for. Full growth. Full bloom. Full length. Full life. Nothing is starting up or dying out. It's all full - right down to the amount of daytime we enjoy.

Our summer looks differentt his year, so some of the things I enjoy most won't happen in our little piece of the world, but I am grateful to enjoy the things I love so much in the neighborhood around us. And I am grateful to dream about a year to come when we will have a yard. And flowers. And a place to put our grill and hammock. And a fence to let Lexi run and roll in the grass. 

This year, summer may be stunted in Shafferland, but it's full and rich all around us. We are grateful. 

   

Loosening My Grip

 I've been immersed in studying the life of Abraham for the past few weeks. (He's still Abram in the part I'm reading right now.) I grew up in church and felt very well-versed in all things Abraham...until I started this study. I'm learning so many things that I'm starting to wonder if I ever actually knew anything at all!

As I read through a Matthew Henry commentary, I stumbled upon something I hadn't noticed in its full depth before. He was writing about Genesis 12, where God called Abram to leave his home and venture forth to a land God would show him. 

Matthew said, "He went out, not knowing  whither he went, but knowing Whom he followed and under Whose direction he went...All good people must look upon themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world, and by faith sit loose to it as a strange country while we are here in this present state, we must be journeying and going on still from strength to strength."

As I began to skim through that part of Abram's life, I saw the phrases over and over:

...he departed...

...they set out...

...they came to the land...

...Abram passed through...

...he moved to the hill country...

...Abram journeyed on, still going...

...Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there...

...Abram went up from Egypt...

...he journeyed on...

...Abram moved his tent...

And that was in the day when they had to walk or ride an animal anywhere they wanted to go! No moving companies. No moving trucks. 

I'm also learning Abram had a lot of stuff. He had a lot of people working for him, a lot of animals, and a lot of possessions. So every move meant moving all those people and things. 

What I'm learning, though, on a personal note, is that it's a good thing to hold our life plans loosely. That might mean our jobs or our homes or our possessions. In our neatly-tied-with-a-bow culture we live in, we tell ourselves we need to stay at the same job for our whole career, or live in the same house our entire adult life, or never get rid of anything, because everything holds a memory.

It's not bad to do any of those things...unless God asks you to release them. He has asked this of us quite a bit in the last few years. Leaving our "forever home" in Kokomo to enter ministry. Leaving the cute little Hallmark-esque town to enter a new town with no firm plan in place. 

For me, leaving radio to stay at home. For Ryan, leaving physical therapy to enter ministry. 

We are here now, and we love this place. We love our house and we love the ministry God has entrusted to us. But the wild truth of it is, if God led us to move houses or jobs, we would do it. Our commitment is to Him and to each other. Not to possessions or places. 

Why does God call some to stay and put down deep roots and others to move around often? I don't know! But I do know that regardless of what He asks of us specifically, He does want all of us to loosen our grip on our plans and our possessions. He wants us to be ready to go or change if He asks. And if Abram could do it with allllllll he had in a time where there were noooooo helpful amenities, what's our excuse?