Sweet Memories...Round 10

Today ends this little mini-series I've been doing in honor of our ten years of marriage. This brings us up to THIS year. We've had some great memories from this tenth season together. Without further ado...

Month 109. Meeting Our Girl

This was last December, and we kicked off this tenth season of marriage by spending our anniversary in Nashville, Tennessee. I remember we had such perfect weather for our anniversary. It was warm. (Like ACTUALLY warm, not "I'm from Indiana and it's winter, so this feels warm" warm.) It was sunny, and it made for the perfect day to do a walking tour of Nashville. Perfection. I didn't want to leave at the end of our trip and only agreed to do so because I knew in coming home...we would meet our sweet Lexi Grae. She had been born, and about a week after coming home from our trip, we went to meet her for the first time. We knew it was the beginning of a whole new season of life, and we were both so excited for it! 

Month 110. Growing the Family.

A month full of much. Much more than we can even tell you. Maybe I'll relive more of the month when we get to our end-of-the-year recap. But I have to say my favorite memory from this month was bringing Lexi home and beginning our journey as dog-parents. I've heard people say that they fell more in love with their spouse after having a baby and seeing him/her as a parent. Well, we don't have children, but I can most certainly say I fell more in love with Ryan watching him commit to being the best Lexi-dad on the planet. The time and energy he put into researching how to train her and then actually DOING it was amazing. She loves him so much and with good reason. From the very start, he showed her he was going to be the BEST dad. 

Month 111. Hard Choices and New Dreams.

This was the month we made the decision to start a new chapter of life, and it brought with it ALL the emotions. We turned in our resignation letter to WillowBridge, we found our new home, and we began taking the steps to make this huge life transition - all while in the throes of training a new puppy. No biggie, right? I am pretty sure we just flew along this month and survived on grace alone, but we did it hand in hand!

Month 112. Starting Over.

And this was the month when all the changes actually happened. Our final goodbyes to WillowBridge. Our final packing. Our moving. (We did that entire move on our own, and Ryan was an absolute STAR throughout. Looking back, I still don't understand how we pulled it off, but we did.) We began a new chapter in a new place with a new church, new friends, and at that time - no job. Major leap of faith, but this is what we've been learning from the Lord over the past many months. It was time to put it into action! (That's sparkling grape juice, by the way.)

Month 113. Respite.

This was a month of respite for us - which was something we had never before experienced in our entire marriage. For one full month, neither of us worked outside the  home. We used that time to settle into our new home, to sleep (!?!?!), and to sort through our hearts and minds after the whirlwind of the last two years. And in the middle of all the resting and sorting, we took an overnight getaway to visit the Ark Encounter and we hosted our little godson for an entire week. (His mom had emergency surgery.) We were so grateful for the opportunity to be present for each other and get our bearings. This month was a gift.

Month 114. New Work.

And then came the month when Ryan found a job! The Lord led him to become the Executive Director at Love INC, and we were so excited to see what God had ahead. We didn't realize the uphill climb it was going to be (in some ways) but we are astounded at how God used the work we've done for the past two years to prepare Ryan for THIS work. It was a whole new thing for us...being apart each day again after two years of working side-by-side. Lexi had no idea what to do with any of it. But it was the start of something beautiful, that's for sure. 

Month 115. The Grass Withers. 

We weren't prepared for trying to grow a yard in a drought and heat wave, so this was the month we were grounded to home by struggling grass. Hours and hours and hours spent outside trying to coax seeds to life in a hard and cracked ground. This month tested our patience and joy FOR SURE. But I guess on the positive side, we got to spend the whole month together!

Month 116. New Normal.

Life had begun to settle into a new normal in this month. Ryan was officially on his own at his new job, I was working alongside him as his volunteer, even going in with him sometimes to work in the office. We were figuring out new routines of dating in the evenings and on weekends, and, of course, still watering. :) It began to feel like we had figured out the next season of life. (We had not. We just didn't know it.)

Month 117. Book Proposals.

Right about the time we thought we had it figured out, I was invited to submit a book proposal! You know how this story goes, but this journey consumed much of this particular month. I was out of all the regular commission to prepare and write my proposal. Ryan was in the trenches with me, keeping the home fires burning while I wrote and sitting beside me while I hit submit at the end of it all. Though the end result was a no, I am so grateful for all that this journey brought to us and taught us as a couple. So pivotal for us. 

Month 118. Serving and Getting Away.

One of my favorite memories from this month was our quick getaway to Shipshewana to serve together at a women's conference! We always love serving together, and this was no exception, but this also was a really wonderful time of actual rest for us. I think the last AMAZING night of full sleep we had was on this trip! (Braeya wakes us up at night multiple times, so we don't sleep all the way through most nights.) It was such a sweet time, and we ended the weekend celebrating the wedding of good friends, which was also a lot of fun. I so enjoyed this one!

Month 119. New Seasons Again! 

And this was the month I got a job! The month was filled with applying and interviewing and accepting a new job that I think (hope!) will be a beautiful thing for us going forward. Ryan's support in this, too, was unwavering and getting to share the moment of finding out I'd gotten the job was SUCH a gift!

Month 120. 

And now we are to THIS month! Excited to see what all it brings! Since we're just a couple of days in, I don't know what to say will be the highlight of this month, but I can say I am excited to see!

Thanks for reading along as I relived some of our favorite memories over this past decade. Ryan and I have had so much fun on this trip down memory lane. Thanks for coming along!

119 Months!

Yesterday marked 119 months of marriage for us. It was a regular sort of day. Ryan went to work, I worked for Love INC from home (while doing some chores around the house), and we checked in often throughout the day. 

And after work, we took Lexi for a long walk, since the weather was SO pretty. We went out for a special coffee date, and that was one delicious latte, let me tell you!

I thought back to ten years ago, when we were one month out from our wedding today and totally overwhelmed by all the work between us and that destination wedding day. (And to be fair, in the grand scheme of wedding to-do lists, ours was very small. But it felt big when it was in front of us!) I remember being so excited to get to the big day. So excited to finally be married after all those years of waiting. So excited to be into that next chapter of living life together without the interruption of goodbyes at the end of the days. 

And now, here we sit, one month away from double digits in years. One month away from having lived our everyday together for a full decade. I'm every bit as excited (truly!) for that milestone as I was for the actual wedding day. It's okay if that makes me strange. It's still true.

I've said before that one of the bits of truth Lynne Ford told me in our engagement season was that marriage is wonderful. She said that even on the most ordinary days, there is something amazing about coming home and getting to be with your person for the rest of the night. I believed her and purposed to make it true of our marriage as well. We both purposed that. (It takes two.) And it has been.

Over the last few weeks, on Fridays, you've seen some of our biggest memories from the last decade. Most of those were the good and fun things. A few were big, hard things. But tucked into those highlight reel memories have been a million ordinary moments of the good and the hard. And Lynne was right: all of those big and little, good and hard moments were made better because we were able to do them together. 

That's been my favorite part of this decade. I have ADORED every big, beautiful memory we have made. I have treasured and cherished the gifts of the moments that have blown my mind with their wonder and beauty. I have experienced things I didn't even dare to dream I would know, and I do not take those things for granted. But even more than the amazing moments, I have loved the regular, everyday moments.

I've loved cooking together. Waking up to see him beside me. Millions of conversations in the car on the way to here or there. Praying together. Grocery shopping together. Coffee dates. Binge-watching TV shows. Dreaming together. Doing projects on houses and Abby the RV. Working together. Teaching together. All of it. 

So yesterday, as we celebrated 119 months, I was grateful for the opportunity to look back over an almost-decade and celebrate the everyday. Thank you, Ryan, for always loving me so well. Thank you for encouraging me, holding me accountable, praying for me, championing me, and loving me as Christ loves the church. I love you so!

Our Top Ten Investments of 2022

I've done these posts for the past few years and enjoy making them, so I am doing it again this year. (At the bottom, I'll link to the previous years' posts, so if you want to go back and look at anything there, you can. While I hardly consider myself an influencer, I know I enjoy a good recommendation from someone who has purchased a product and found it to be a winner, so I want to pass along some of our favorite finds from this year. Maybe it will help your Christmas shopping, or maybe you'll find something fun for yourself! Either way - enjoy! 

1. Green Pan Cookware

When Ryan and I got married, we used some of our wedding money to purchase a set of nice, matching cookware for our kitchen. We chose Calphalon, because back in the days when Angela was my roommate, she had a set of Calphalon pots and pans, and I really enjoyed cooking on them. Well, they lasted almost ten years, but the nonstick coating was starting to flake, which isn't a healthy sort of thing. I had read about Green Pan Cookware from one of the nontoxic sites I follow - and my health coach had a set of it and loved it. We stalked a good sale and made our purchase earlier this year. We chose red, because all our dishes and serving dishes are red, and we both really love cooking on this new set. Everything cooks so evenly, and they're a dream to wash! They have several different set options, and they run sales fairly frequently, so if you're looking for something new, this might be something to research!

2. Yard Sprinkler Timers

You remember the yard growing adventures from this year, right? One of the most wearying things of all of it was the amount of time Ryan had to spend in the yard, turning sprinklers on and off - and moving them all around, too. Because we had such an oppressively hot and dry summer, we needed to water throughout the day, not just in the morning and evening. So we finally purchased timers. I didn't even know this was a thing! The timer looks like a gaming device (in my opinion) and each one can support four hoses. You can set each hose to run four times throughout the day. This meant Ryan didn't have to get up at 5 every morning to water for three hours before work, and it also meant he didn't have to stay out until 10 at night. AND we were able to run sprinklers during the day while we worked. We weren't able to leave home for days at a time, but we were able to go to dinner. It was truly a game changer. 

3. Wheat Straw Dinnerware for Abby

Last year, when we were trying to outfit Abby the RV with everything we needed to camp, we chose some wheat straw dinnerware. We ended up not getting it on the first shopping pass, but we got them this year, and we LOVE them. (True, we didn't camp nearly as much this year, but we still loved them!) These plates and bowls allowed us to skip using disposable options, which we didn't really want to do over the long haul, and they are microwave-safe. They're so much more durable than paper plates and bowls, and we love the neutral color-scheme. (The exact ones we chose are no longer available, but this link is to a very similar set.)

4. Prayerful Planner

I blogged about this one earlier this year, but I purchased the Prayerful Planner in June, when my other planner ran out. It has helped me keep my days SO much more organized, and it has also helped me be more successful with setting and achieving goals - and remembering prayer requests! I really love this planner. There are pre-filled dated versions available for the start of the year, but you can also buy an undated version and start with whatever month you want! The planner itself is sturdy, the space to write is plentiful, and I love the way it's organized. (I purchased a cover they were retiring - so I could get a better sale - but the one I linked is almost identical to mine. The interiors all match, regardless of cover.)

5. Laminator

We had a little office laminator when we worked at WillowBridge, and I LOVED IT. We purchased one this year - partly to use for our work at Love INC and partly just to have for our own use. Laminating makes me happy, and this one is the perfect size. It can't do anything larger than a sheet of copy paper, but I rarely need to laminate anything bigger than that, so it works out. I love having important papers protected!

6. Shoe Rack for Garage

We don't wear shoes in our house, but we still housed most of our shoes in our closet, because it made the most sense. But it quickly got old to haul our most-worn shoes out to the garage each day to put them on, so Ryan found this shoe rack during college back-to-school sales. It sits right by the door in our garage, and we are able to easily put on and take off shoes as we enter and exit the house. It definitely cleaned up the floor, which was starting to look like a shoe graveyard. I still keep my dress shoes in the closet, since I don't wear them every day, but our most-frequently-worn shoes (and our bigger shoes that take up more space) live in the garage now. 

7. Battery Operated Lawn Mower

When we left our house in Kokomo, we sold almost everything we owned for outdoor home care. We really thought we would be at WillowBridge for over five years, and we didn't want to pay to store all those items. Soooooo now we're buying all the things again. We are fortunate to have kind neighbors who have allowed us to borrow things like rakes and wheelbarrows until we can replenish our own stock, but we needed a lawn mower for weed control as we grew a new yard. When we lived at WillowBridge, the building had a battery-operated lawn mower, and Ryan really loved it. He loved how quiet and efficient it was, so when we made our purchase for this house, we decided to get one of our own. It folds up to store, has a self-propeller if you want it, and the battery recharges really quickly. (This was a big purchase for us, so we found a good sale around a holiday and got it then.)

8. Pee pad blanket for the cat.

Braeya is officially a senior citizen cat now, so upon occasion, she has accidents. She is usually NEAR the litter box when it happens, but not IN the litter box. Unfortunately, her box sits in our closet, which is carpeted, so we had to come up with a solution. Ryan found this "blanket" that has a rubber backing and a fabric top. It covers almost the whole floor of our closet and whenever she has an accident, I can just pick it up and throw it in the washer. It saves our carpet and our sanity! (And it doesn't crunch like plastic when we walk on it, which is also nice.) 

9. Weed Puller

When our grass did start coming up this year (after the second planting) it really was more about the weeds than the grass. The yard looked green, but most of it wasn't grass. We purchased one of these weed pullers, and it was a GREAT addition to our yard maintenance fleet. You push the end down into the center of the big, nasty weeds, twist, and it pulls the weeds out at the core. We could tell the parts of the yard that we tended to most with this, because they filled in quickly with grass! 

10. Dog Fanny Pack

I confess I made fun of Ryan (good-naturedly) when he found this, but I have eaten my words entirely. This was one of the best purchases we made! It's a little cross-body bag (that has a belt clip, so it can double as a fanny pack if you prefer) for any dog supply you can need for walking. There is a hidden compartment on the back side that can hold a roll of poop bags, and it even dispenses them through a small hole. There is a big, open pocket in the middle, which you can fill with treats for training. There is a zippered pocket that you can use for other dog supplies or your own. (I put my phone in that pocket, usually.) And there's a little netted pocket on the front for anything else you may want to carry. Keys, phones, treats, poop bags, toys, whatever you might need on a walk can fit right down in here. We use it every single time we go for a walk and also around the house if we're doing a specific training session! 

And here are the links to previous years' posts!

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

Goals for November 2022

Hello, November! How are you here already??? We had such a beautiful fall October (for the most part, anyway), but I think I'm going to have to accept that the cold and dreary part of the Indiana fall/winter is coming! It may be that way outside, but we have a whole host of great things to look forward to on the inside! Here are some of our starter goals for the month of November!

1. Plan and celebrate Lexi's first birthday.

How is it even possible that our baby girl turns ONE this month?? She does, and we are so excited to celebrate her. While I'll try to dial it down from a full multi-guest party (which her sister actually did have, so don't tell Lexi about that), I do plan to have a puppy cake and lots of pictures. And a few presents. And did I mention the pictures? :) 

2. Decorate for Christmas.

Tis the season!!! I'm excited to see how our Christmas decorations look this year. I am excited about our new ornaments that just arrived, commemorating big moments from our year. You know, at this rate, we're going to need one tree PER DECADE of marriage to celebrate all we've done together. I'm kind of not kidding about that. (If you're new here, the story of our marriage is told through Christmas ornaments we purchase on every trip and to mark every significant moment in our lives. I write the stories of the ornaments on pictures to match them. Then every year, when it's time to decorate, we read the stories of every memory while we put the corresponding ornament on the tree!)

3. Enjoy our mini-getaway and training time for Love INC.

Ryan and I are attending a training for Love INC, and it's a little mini-getaway for us, too! I'm super excited about it, because it's in a place I've never gotten to visit, but I've heard really good things about it! Looking forward to the fun, getaway part of it and also the learning part of it! (I also need to do some minor on-the-side planning to make sure we don't miss anything we should see while we're there, with whatever free time we have!)

4. Prep for our TENTH wedding anniversary celebration!

I'm so glad I did the bulk of the prep work on this months ago, when I had extra time. But now it's time to put the final touches on planning for it! I am giddy over this celebration. I can't believe we are already to the ten-year mark. I can remember planning for our wedding and thinking it would never get here. And now we are at TEN years!

5. Order and address Christmas cards.

I'm hoping if I order them early enough, I can keep up my tradition of addressing them in the car during the anniversary festivities. I'm excited to see how they turn out! 

6. Finish Ryan's anniversary surprise.

I still have one thing I'm working on for Ryan for our anniversary, so I need to hurry and get that done! :) I can't wait to see the final product. 

Those are the main goals I can think of!! Anything special on your list for November?

Update on October Goals

In honor of the very last day of October...I thought I would let you know how our October goals panned out! October 1 seems like 100 years ago now, so we certainy packed a lot into this month!

 1. Do our fall family photo shoot.

Done - and just in the nick of time! The day of our shoot was insanely windy, which thankfully calmed enough to not give us a full set of awkward family photos. (Though that could have been an adventure too!) We got them in before all the pretty leaves blew off and the insane cold arrived. Our photographer was so kind as we tried to get Lexi (and the two of us!) to look at the camera at the same time, and we were able to get some great contenders. AND we recreated four of our engagement pictures!

2. Do three "fall fun" things.

We did the first of the three right at the beginning of the month! We went to the corn maze here in town as part of our church's family night. Had a GREAT time. The weather was perfect, the corn maze was fun, and we loved it. Then we took a long walk through trails and woods to appreciate the fall beauty. It was a GORGEOUS warm and sunny day, so that was perfect, too! I guess the third one really was just me. I met up with a friend at the coffee shop here in town and tried one of their fall drinks. It was yummy!

3. Complete another round of training for Love INC.

Done! I joined 56 other people from across the country in a Zoom training with the National Love INC office to learn about the way the organization works. It was a really encouraging (and full!) two days. I am so thankful for the blessing of Zoom training options. It would have been a lot more time and cost to travel to be in person for this training, so I'm glad that this one could be done for free! My days in training this month make me eligible to attend some additional training with Ryan next month, and I'm looking forward to that, too! 

4. Figure out a Christmas card and letter theme.

I have designed the card and written the letter, though knowing me, I'll rewrite the letter a couple of more times before I send it. :) I'm excited with how it all turned out! Now I'm just waiting on a sale to order the cards. (No preview on this one - sorry!)

5. Order Ryan's anniversary gift.

I had to have some help with this one so he didn't find out any surprises ahead of time, but with my friend Julie's assistance, the gift is here! I am SO excited to give it to him! (And that's all you get to know about it at this time, because he reads this blog, you know. And that means no preview picture, of course.)

6. Host Ryan's grandma for a week.

This one did not end up happening. We had it on the calendar for several months, but it didn't end up being the best fit for everyone in the end. His grandma is in her mid-90s, and changes in her routine are big for her! We found out at the last minute that she was nervous about being away from the people she was normally with, and she was nervous about being with our dog. (She lives with a dog at Ryan's dad's house, but their dog is older and probably not quite as energetic.) And the amount of supervision she needs has increased since the original plans were made, which meant our schedule probably wasn't the best for her. So she ended up going along with Ryan's dad and stepmom on their trip. She felt more comfortable being with them, which we totally understood, and we are glad the week turned out in the way that made her happiest!

Other goals accomplishments

* I couldn't talk about it when I made the initial goal list, but we did successfully throw my dad's birthday party earlier this month! Like I said when I wrote about it after the fact, my sister did most of the work, but I didn't forget any of my assignments, and I enjoyed being on picture patrol throughout the day!

* I kept caught up on all scrapbooks. I now have THREE ready to order with two more almost done. 

* I got a job! I realize it wasn't a goal I could accomplish alone, but it is most certainly a prayer answered. I still have a little while before I start, but I am excited to have a plan! And with getting a job came the need for completing pre-employment steps, and I was able to accomplish all of those.

* I created and ordered some Christmas ornaments for our family story tree - honoring some of our milestones this year! I can't wait to see how they turned out!

* Ryan and I went to a conference about evangelism this month. It was a three-hour conference at a local church, and we learned SO much. The presenter used to be a teacher and a pastor, so he had a very natural presentation ability about him and did a great job. 

* I prepped for a little mini-class on social media that I am actually teaching today! This is something new for me, and it was fun to prepare. 

Sunday Sentiments

 

A couple of days ago, I met up with Ryan after he got off work, and we ran some errands together. (Also included in "errands" was a fantastic dinner at a BBQ place that was new to us. So good.) And as we began to drive home in our separate vehicles, we headed straight into the most spectacular sunset.

I'd love to show you a picture, but alas, I was driving. But just imagine the most beautiful sunset ever...

As I drove, I thanked God for taking time to create such beauty for us to see. The reds, oranges, and yellows were blended to perfection, and though I feared it would so quickly fade and slide away entirely, it held on for our whole drive home. I savored every single second.

We drove by farm equipment, harvesting the last of the crops from the fields. I thanked God for hardworking farmers who sacrifice so much of their personal time to provide - not just for their own families, but for all of us!

We drove by beautiful ponds that reflected the sunset, and I thanked God for serene places, like ponds. I thanked Him for all the natural beauty He places all around us.

And that was really the heart of my gratitude. I'm usually so busy that I miss the details of the beauty. Being alone in that car, watching the sunset, watching the harvest, watching the shimmering reflections in the ponds...pushed me to really see what was before me. 

Have you paused to appreciate the beauty before you? Not just look over it, but truly see it?

I hope you do it today, friends. Look around you. Slow down for a minute. Spend a moment or two alone. See the beauty before you and soak it all in.

May it refresh your heart as it did mine!

The Saturday Six

 

I've waited as long as I can. Truly. I have to throw some Christmas in the Six this weekend. I just do! :) 

One.

I found this suggestion for a Christmas playlist. In full disclosure, it does have All I Want for Christmas is You on it, which I would absolutely have to nix (sorry if you love that one) and a couple of other songs I don't know, so I can't vouch for them. But it does have some great classics sung by some classic artists. I actually feel like I should put together my own Christmas playlist (which would have a fair amount of David Phelps, yes, but it wouldn't be ALL David, I promise) this year. What's your must-have song this time of year? 

Two.

I have made no secret of the fact that I don't make a great city girl. I don't love the traffic, the noise, or the crime that often accompanies city life. I could not live well in the heart of a city (unless God calls me to do that someday, and then I will trust Him to give me grace to match). But I do love visiting cities, because they do have beautiful things to offer in their own way. New York City is a someday bucket list destination for me, and I found this list of places to NOT miss at Christmas. I'm starting to think I should make our someday New York City trip an anniversary trip so we can do both: see the sights and see the lights! Any of you ever been to NYC at Christmas? (Will NOT be taking as many clothes as the writer of the post, but she has some pretty dresses!)

Three.

You often see lists of Christmas movies to watch, but this list has some well-known Christmas-themed episodes from classic TV shows. (I forgot some of these shows even existed!) Any of your classic favorites make the list?? I would have had to add a couple of Little House episodes to that!

Four.

I stumbled upon this idea and thought it was a great one! A list of things to pray for throughout the Christmas season that help keep your focus on Jesus! There are some printables you can download so you can keep the idea in front of your face if you want. Great idea! (I think the refrigerator makes a great landing page for something like this, actually.)

Five.

Even if you've already done official family photos (for Christmas cards, for example), here are some great coordinating outfit ideas to wear for pictures AT the holidays. Ryan and I try to make sure we don't clash when we go to Christmas gatherings, because we know we'll be in pictures together, but we should probably step up our actual festivity game when it comes to Christmas clothing!

Six.

I won't lie: putting this one here for myself (and Ryan). Ideas for stocking stuffers for dogs!  First order of business? Get a stocking! 

Sweet Memories...Round 9

 Today marks my next-to-the-last post of sweet memories from my decade together with Ryan. We had some really beautiful, fun, and memory-laden moments in this year. We also had some really hard moments in this year. (We had a lot of difficulty with some tenants who came in and out of WillowBridge really quickly. That isn't reflected below, but the joy of the year you WILL see below helped bring heart-respite from the hard we faced at work.) All in all, even with the hard of work, we did a great job making time for our relationship in this year. That part was very, very good, and looking back at it in this way helps me see that we were being more purposeful than I was able to see in the moment.

Month 97: Fun Anniversary Getaway

We were at WillowBridge during our 8th anniversary celebration, and it was difficult to take much time away for a trip. (That was partly because of the time of year and partly because of staffing at work.) We ended up taking a long weekend getaway to Richmond, Indiana, which you would NEVER think of as a destination, but it ended up being so fun! We did the chocolate trail and a county-wide scavenger hunt, both of which were way more fun than imagined. And we stayed in one of the coolest Airbnbs ever - a loft above a coffee shop. Our stay came with breakfast at the coffee shop each morning. LOVED. IT. (And then we came home and literally walked through the back door of our apartment and right through the front door, into a three hour meeting to handle a massive issue that had come up while we were driving home.) 

Month 98: Just the Normal

This month was full of just a bunch of normal. Lots of work, some snow in Indiana, trying to establish relationships with our tenants...nothing extraordinary. But I was glad to be doing nothing extraordinary alongside Ryan who makes the mundane even better. We did have an outing with our tenants to paint pottery, and that was a fun adventure! Neither of us had ever done anything like that before, and we had a good time. (Ryan and I made a Christmas ornament, which we still hang on our family tree!)

Month 99: Loss Revisits Us

This was the month we received the middle-of-the-night phone call that Ryan's stepdad had died of a sudden heart attack. We were unaware he had heart problems, so the news was shocking. We continued to work throughout the month, trying to juggle trips back to our home area for planning/the funeral. It was a hard and unexpected season of life, but once again, we worked hard to get through it together. I'm so proud of Ryan for how he handled this difficulty!

Month 100: A Completing Month

This was the month we officially finished working on Abby the RV and declared her done and ready to travel! It had been quite the winter of working on her in all our spare time, and we were so excited to see her ready to go! I'm so glad we did this project together. We have done a LOT of projects in this decade, and each of them are dear to me in their own way, but this was something new and different and extremely meaningful!

Month 101: New Adventures

And we didn't finish Abby a moment too soon because this is the month we needed her! I spoke at a women's retreat in southern Ohio, and we took Abby on the road and stayed in her while we were away at the speaking engagement. It was pretty wonderful to have my own home-retreat-on-wheels in between speaking sessions. We had fairly terrible weather the entire time we were gone, but it was okay. We fell in love with the camping life! (We even incorporated it into Ryan's birthday celebration this month by visiting an RV Museum in Elkhart!)

Month 102: Birthday Fun!

This month held my birthday, and Ryan planned a fun surprise for me! We went exploring on some trails in Fort Wayne! I saw DEER!!! We had such a pretty day to be outside, and it was a complete gift to be able to get out and do something after the previous year of quarantined birthdays! I always appreciate how Ryan makes birthdays meaningful and special. He's so good! 

Month 103: The Big Road Trip

This was the month I knew for sure I want to do cross-country road tripping someday. We set out in Abby the RV and spent 11 days driving 2000 miles out west and back. We went through new states, we got to meet our friends in Colorado and see their oxen, we met our new great-nephew and spent time with my family, we saw gorgeous rock formations in Kansas, and we went to Little House sites on the way home. AND we saw the little town of big things in Illinois! This was an amazingly fun trip and one of the true highlights of our year. (Hence all the photos.)

Month 104: Hello, Emergency Room

We had some fun things happen this month, like a little more camping and Ryan's big year-delayed birthday gift to me: seeing The Sound of Music at Beef and Boards in Indianapolis. But the big moment this month came at the very end. The WillowBridge team and tenants did a routine in the Gateway Woods variety show and Ryan ended up coming down wrong on his foot and badly, badly spraining his ankle. We had to go to the emergency room to see if it was broken, and it wasn't, but wow. That was one long, slow recovery. (And in some ways, I don't think it will ever fully heal.)

Month 105: Deepening Relationships

One of my favorite memories from this month was getting to have our godson stay with us for a few days. (This was a lot easier to do when we lived at WillowBridge and had more flexibility in our work days than we do at standard-work-hour jobs.) He stayed with us four days this month, and we had the best time with him. The memories we've been able to make with him in the time we have known him matter deeply to us, and I'm thankful this month was rich in those. This journey of investing in a life in this way was something we never imagined when we got married, but we wouldn't trade it!

Month 106: Camping on a Lake with Phoebe

We had Phoebe for six weeks this particular fall, and during that time, we took her on a camping trip to see what it was like to camp with a dog. (We already knew we would become dog parents soon.) We ended up finding a spot RIGHT on a lakefront. It's the best of all the worlds! Dogs! Camping! Lakes! Campfires! We loved this weekend so much.

Month 107: Helping Out Some Friends

This month, our friends (and former WillowBridge coworkers) had their second baby, so we hung out with kiddo #1 while she became a big sister! It was so much fun to have her for a few days! Our bonus nieces and nephews are such a blessing. We are thankful for them! (And their parents, too.)

Month 108: Dogs and Hallmarky Living

They have nothing to do with each other, but they were the big moments of the month! :) This was the month I was bitten on the hand by a little rat terrier who decided I was too close to him on the sidewalk. I spent nine weeks in a bandage and still can't clap properly. (But the wound healed. Nasty scar, but the wound healed.) Two days after my bite extravaganza, Lexi Grae was born! We wouldn't get to meet her until the next month, but she was born in this month. But one of my favorite memories from this month was when we attended Grabill's tree-lighting ceremony. It felt like life had just stepped onto a Hallmark set. It was pretty remarkable!

Next week...the final round of memories in this little mini-series! Thanks for reading along!

What I Learned in October 2022

These months that end around a weekend force me to do all my learning early in the month! I know it's not QUITE the end of October, but here are some things I've learned so far!

1. There are some unique methods for salvaging wet photos!

A little-known fact about me is that a few years ago, I took some classes online to become a photo organizer. I still think that is something I would enjoy doing, but right after I completed the classes, Ryan's mom was diagnosed with her brain tumor, and our lives took some unexpected turns. I follow several organizers online, though, and this month one of them shared ideas for preserving wet photos. (She lives in Florida and was, I believe, in Ian's path.) One thing I learned from her is that if your printed photos are wet from flooding, you should place them in plastic bags and freeze them to prevent mold growth! WHO KNEW? 

2. Driveway replacement is a whole process. 

When we purchased our home, it was a brand-new build - with a crumbling driveway. The story we were told was that when they poured the driveway originally, a surprise rain popped up before it had cured, and the top layer began to crumble. We actually didn't know that when we put in the offer, because our initial showing of the house took place when snow covered the driveway, and we didn't even see it. Once we discovered the issue, we pushed back on that, and the builders agreed to write in a redo of the driveway as part of our purchase agreement. Because it was still below freezing out when we closed on the house, the replacement would have to wait. Well...it waited a LONG TIME! But they finally replaced it this month. It was kind of fascinating to watch, actually. They tore it out and repoured it all in the same day, and then I spent a couple of days praying against visits from the local deer. Can you even imagine if they'd wandered through that wet cement? We had a lot of noise and dust, but the driveway looks SO MUCH BETTER!!!!

3. I love seeing Ryan on the worship team.

It has been almost ten years since Ryan served on a worship team at church. He was active at the church we attended when we first got married, but the churches we attended in the years that followed were all bigger churches with audition processes and multiple rehearsal commitments. Between the commuting years, the long work week years, and the WillowBridge years, the timing never worked out for him to be able to be on a team. But now we are at a church that has a place for him and the time commitment is completely manageable. So this month marked his first time to be part of a worship team in almost a decade. He has loved being part of that team, and I have loved watching him enjoy it. 

4. Pictures with a puppy = slight pandemonium.

We had our family pictures taken this month, and we took Lexi for part of them. She was SO EXCITED. It was her first non-parental photo shoot. We took a couple of friends with us to help us get her to look at the photographer and to hang onto her while we figured out our positions. They did a great job, but whew! We may have to work more at smiling on command. (The end result looks significantly better than how it felt when we were trying to get situated with her! 

5. A wattle is a flap of skin under the necks of some animals - like pigs.

I enjoy following some homesteaders on Instagram, and one of them wrote this week about her new piglets. She said they were all double wattle pigs. I asked Ryan (who grew up on a hog farm) what that meant, but he didn't know. So I looked it up and found out it had to do with the little thing our family has always called a gobbler. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to call it a wattle on myself or not, but it runs in the family, so one of these days, I'm bound to have one or two! 

6. Our refrigerator has a light in the water dispenser!

How have I not known this for the past six months? Ryan was wiping out the little insert where the water dispenser is in the door of our fridge, and he hit a little button - and poof! A light! WHAT?! There's a LIGHT in there? STOP IT!!! I really should learn the functions of the things I own, you know?

7. Cauliflower mashed potatoes aren't terrible.

We tried them just this week. I didn't get the mashing completely smooth, but the flavor wasn't bad. Ryan was even brave enough to try them with me. (He is not a fan of the cauliflower substitution game.) But I think we'll make them again!

Date Night and Fancy Dinners!

Ryan and I are unapologetically low-budget date night people. I am not even kidding when I say that I am super happy if we pick up 4 for 4s from Wendys or grab a Little Caesar's pizza and a pop from the gas station. I tell Ryan often that he should be glad he married the easiest-to-please dinner consumer EVER! To be honest, I'd rather spend money on scrapbooks rather than food. 

But every now and then we do something extra special and fancy, and I admit that those date nights are sweet and fun.

I'm thinking back to some of my favorites over the years:

* The Marina Jack cruise meals we enjoyed during our honeymoon (dinner) and 5th anniversary (lunch).

* Dinner at the Signature Room on the 95th in Chicago for our second anniversary. We had a window seat overlooking the lights of the city - and the lakeshore. It was stunning.

* Dinner at the Eagle's Nest rotating restaurant on our 5th engagementversary. We had beautiful sunset views of Indianapolis and rotated one full time during our dinner.

* Brunch at the Rivue in Louisville on our 6th anniversary - another rotating restaurant, this time overlooking the Ohio River and city of Louisville.

Well, this past week, we went out on another fancy date. The best part of this date was we didn't have to dress up! The food was fancy and the dress was casual. We had a gift card to Cork and Cleaver in Fort Wayne. You know what's better than a fancy dinner? A FREE fancy dinner! 

We had to go to Fort Wayne that night to finish up some of my pre-employment screenings, and we made a QUICK stop by Hobby Lobby on our way. 

Then it was time for dinner!

We had checked out the menu before we went so we could pick out what we wanted to eat!

Waiting for food...

They are known for their fabulous salad bar, so Ryan chose that to go with his meal. I had broccoli soup, and it was amazing.

They also brought out warm bread with butter, and I did my best to share. (No, I really did share!)

Then our meals came...a pork chop for Ryan and chicken for me!

And we shared some mushrooms.

It was all so good. I couldn't finish mine, so Ryan enjoyed it the next day for leftovers! This night was much-needed for our souls, I think. Just a fun, fancy dinner out - you know, with multiple forks. :)