Friday Randomness

I guess turning eleven must be boring, because Braeya was not so much of a celebration girl. We tried to hype up the day for her. (Lame, yes. I know.) She was much more interested in napping. And given the insane amounts of rain around here, I would have to say I didn't blame her. Days like yesterday were made for napping. Definitely.

Nevertheless, a birthday must be properly celebrated, so here are some of our attempts at recognizing the day for our girl:

In yesterday's blog, I mentioned that it was also the 10 year anniversary of the tornado that hit the town where my sister lives. My brother-in-law was actually interviewed in conjunction with that anniversary, partly about the day and partly about his book. Thank goodness for social media that lets us see these things from so many miles away! You can watch it here.

In other news, tomorrow I have my first speaking engagement for the month of May. I'm really looking forward to it! I will be in Huntington at a church's ladies' brunch, and I think it will be a wonderful time! Looking forward to seeing some friends I know and meeting new ones! :)

I get to revisit my Be Still topic for this event, and I love it. I have such a deep passion for those sessions, and I've been praying that the ladies who are there that morning will find a new measure of stillness in the CRAZY BUSYNESS of life!

So that's my randomness for today! :)

Birthdays, Versaries, and Such

Today is a very eventful day. Much to observe, much to celebrate, much to remember. And there's no possible way to put all these things in any kind of correct order, so I'll just dive in and go!

Our baby girl turns eleven today.

(That's an old picture, but it seemed appropriate.)

Eleven years old! Can you believe that?

(These pictures are from the day I first got her and from last Mother's Day. We both came a long way in a decade, yes?)

She's a daddy's girl through and through now...could really take or leave me, but she's still cute and fun (except for when she wants to play at 4 in the morning) and keeps life in our little Shafferland very interesting.

Happy birthday, Braeya Jo Jo!

ALSO in the land of birthdays, my sister Lori turns an undisclosed amount of years today. :)  These photos are from Cassie's wedding weekend last summer. (We don't get to have pictures together very often because you know...850 miles apart.)

Happy birthday, Lori!!!! I hope this is a wonderful, non-eventful day for you. Love you!

Because ten years ago today, her birthday was not uneventful. Today marks the ten year anniversary of the tornado that destroyed most of their town, including their home and church. (What a lousy birthday present, right?)

I blogged a lot about that tornado back in the day, starting with this post, where I first asked you to pray for them. I didn't know much of anything at that time except it was all just bad. 

Turns out I didn't even really know what bad was until I saw the pictures.

This is a picture of the bathroom where the three of them were (in the basement of their house) during the tornado. The green towel hanging on the piece of wood is above/behind the toilet where they were all crouched. The planks on the right side of the picture are making a bridge from the back step to the top of the stairway to the basement. The night of the tornado, those planks weren't there, but neither was the floor that used to connect the stairway to the back door. So they had to jump across that hole, in the dark, in order to escape.

 The house.

 The church.

Obviously we remain so grateful for the protection over them physically the night of the storm and we are thankful God has provided every need since then. They now have a new home and a new church building, and my brother-in-law, Jeff, just released a book recounting his perspective on the storm and the heart-recovery the followed. It's called Light at the End of the Funnel.

 While there is no real graceful segue out of the loss of their home into this next versary, today also marks one year since we officially sold our home in Marion!

This praise party was FOR REAL. Five years is a long wait for a house sale. (And I know some of you have probably waited even longer. Bless you!!!)

 Our Realtor, Cathy. She made this process amazing.

Happy sale-aversary to us!!!

And not to be outdone by our own versary, I did want to mention that this week we celebrated our 53rd monthiversary. Wow! I continue to be in awe of this life I have the privilege to live beside Ryan. He is a blessing, and I'm grateful for him.

He did have to work (crazy how work doesn't recognize monthiversaries, isn't it?) so we celebrated in the evening by eating chicken nuggets, asparagus, and a new cookie recipe I found on Dashing Dish.

The official monthiversary photo:

And the post-workout photo. Because we are so cool that we work out for fun to celebrate.

See? I told you it was a big day!!

So grateful for God's goodness and faithfulness. I think it's demonstrated well in these pictures.

Linking up with Tamar (who has a yummy looking recipe today)!!!

How to Choose a Bible

I've had a number of conversations over the past few weeks that have led me to plan a few posts that I hope will create a good guide for those of you who are just beginning your journey with the Lord or those who need a fresh start after months (years?) of complacency.

I decided to begin with choosing a Bible. There are thousands of Bible choices out there. How do you know which one to choose? There are probably almost as many opinions on this topic as there are Bibles to choose from (hence the reason there are so many choices!), but here are my thoughts:

Pick a Version

Oh my goodness. This is enough to make you tired right now, isn't it? You could read entire books/take entire courses that explain why there are so many versions/paraphrases/translations of the Bible. In fact, here is an article that explains a bit about that, if you're curious and have some time to read. But if you don't have time or interest in reading that background, let me tell you the few I've used most frequently and why.


* New International Version (NIV): This is probably still my main go-to recommendation of a Bible version that balances translation accuracy with easy readability. I grew up reading in the King James Bible with all its thees and thous, and that can get kind of tedious (unless, of course, you've taken to just talking that way in general). So this is probably my favorite choice. This is also the version in which I have memorized the most verses and the one I use when I write and teach.

* English Standard Version (ESV): I hadn't used this version until I started dating Ryan. He got a new Bible around that time and chose this version, and I wanted to be able to read from the same version he did, so when we did our devotions together, we were using the same thing. This is very similar to the NIV, but some of the phrasing is a tad different. Sometimes reading a slightly different phrasing helps me see something in a fresh way, so that's why I like this one.

* New Living Translation (NLT): This is more of a paraphrase of Scripture than an actual word-for-word translation from the original language. For that reason, I am always hesitant to recommend it as a main form of study, however, if you're new to Scripture and find it confusing, this is a good, easy-to-read introduction. And if you already have a firm foundation in Scripture, this can be a good way to see it from a fresh angle.

 *New English Translation (NET): I first learned of this one from Beth Moore, and I figured if she trusted it enough to study and teach from it, I would, too. The translators for this one went back to all the original language manuscripts and started from scratch, so it's similar to the NIV, but some of the wording is a bit different, and I've read/heard from various sources that they tried to find even more accurate translations to some words. This is the one I've been using in my study this year.

Like I said, there are many more options. (And I own a few more than what I've listed here, too.) Those are just my top four favorite. 

Pick an actual BIBLE

Now that you've picked the version you want to use, you need to pick an actual BIBLE. And maybe, for you, it's as simple as picking the pretty cover you like the best. (No shame in that, my friend!) But Bibles come in SO many packages. You can get a Bible that is just Scripture with no notes of any kind. You can get devotional Bibles that have daily devotions built right into the pages. You can get study Bibles that have teaching notes, maps, and pictures throughout to help you. SO many options! :)


I actually own several Bibles, and often when I'm talking with people who own a bunch of Bibles, they say they feel guilty about it because they know some people don't have any. While I am always sad for those who have NO Bible, I don't feel guilty for owning a bunch, because I actually use them often in my research for writing and teaching! So here are some of my favorites. (And of course, you can find alternate cover options for most.)

* Life Application Study Bible: This was the first Bible I ever fully devoured. Mine is the NIV, but you can buy this particular Bible in many versions. I always always recommend this one to new or struggling Christians, because it has so many wonderful study tools in it that are easy to read and understand, and also offers (as the title would suggest) practical life applications for what you've read in Scripture. I used this Bible (mine had a "dusty rose" cover...hello, teenage Bekah!) for almost a decade and treasure it still to this day.

* The NIV Study Bible: I got this Bible in college when I took a New Testament course that required this particular Bible for its study notes. It is not quite as thick as the Life Application Bible, and the study notes are much more academic and not so application-focused. But if you're looking to study the meaning behind the Scripture, this is a good one to choose.

* The Archaeological Study Bible: I am not a big archaeology buff, but this Bible fascinates me because it gives background into that aspect of history. It explains customs of those days, architecture, maps, shows full color photos of items found in digs, etc. Very fascinating. This Bible is not as easy to read as some, not because of its word choice, but because of its physical presentation. The pages are a cream/tan color and the print is brown (aethetics) and some people find it hard to read. (I wasn't one of them, but it was a common complaint I read about when the Bible released.) It is also HUGE. Very thick and heavy, so if you're not looking to be a weight-lifter, this might not be the best fit. But the information is incredible!

* The Key Words Study Bible: This is another Bible I learned about from Beth Moore, and it is the one I used during my desert journey. It is probably the second-most written-in Bible I have and one I use most frequently when I study and write. It has a few notes throughout the Bible, though  not nearly as many as some I've already  mentioned, but it has reference numbers that you can use to cross to the back and see what the original definitions of some words meant. (Some are very different than our English-speaking minds would lead us to believe.) I love, love, love this Bible!

* The NET Bible: This is the one I've been using this year, and it has TONS TONS TONS of study notes in it. On some pages, there are more notes of explanation than there are Scripture passages! I think this is a great study Bible if you want to dig in and learn all kinds of things. Almost like a built-in professor!

* The NIV Journal the Word Bible: This Bible had been the one I had next on my wish list UNTIL this week (more explanation below), but I still want to tell you about it. I love to write notes in my Bible, and I hate trying to scribble in tiny margins. When journaling Bibles became all the rage, I felt the answer to my problems had arrived. This Bible does not have study notes, but it has wide, lined margins so you can take notes OR if you're a coloring/doodling lover, you can do art in the margins. I actually saw this Bible in person last month and noticed that the pages are a bit thicker than traditional Bible pages, so you don't have to worry about ink bleeding through. Like I said...this is the one I planned to get next UNTIL I found this one just this week:

* The Jesus Bible: Like I said, I'd never heard of this one before, but I found it while browsing the internet this week. It drew me because it combines a study Bible WITH a journaling Bible. What? Yes! It's true! This Bible project (which contains NIV text) was spearheaded by Luis Giglio, Max Lucado, Randy Alcorn, Ravi Zacharias and John Piper, and these men have written study notes and articles to show how Jesus has ties to each book of the Bible - not just the four Gospels. This is a type of study I've not done before, and it sounds amazing to me, so I wanted to check it out. Big thanks to my parents for gifting it to me for my birthday this year!!


You might notice I did not list any devotional Bibles, and that is because I am not a big fan of them. I like my Bibles to be Scripture only or Scripture and study notes. I like my devo books to be separate from my Bible. That's just a matter of personal preference - certainly there is nothing wrong with having your devotions in the same book as your Bible!

You might also notice I did not list any Bible apps. I am a hold-the-Bible-in-my-hands kind of girl. I do not have any Bible apps on my phone or tablet and prefer to always use a hard copy book when I read the Bible. Also personal preference.

HERE'S THE MAIN THING:

Read the Bible.


That's the goal. Whatever version, whatever layout, whatever pretty cover will get you to open the thing up and read the words so you can start hiding them in your heart? GET THAT. And then open it every single day and read something. Study something. Memorize something.

Hope that's helpful to you, especially if you're looking for a new Bible! Holler if you have any questions! I'd be happy to talk them through with you!

** BONUS!! ** Through May 8th, Christianbook.com is having a huge Bible sale. That's actually how I was able to get (ahem, my MOM was able to get) the new Bible I wanted. There are great deals here, so I just thought I'd let you know. I do so love a good sale!

My 3 Day Refresh

Before we get to the topic at hand today, I feel like you need a good laugh. And do we EVER have one for you today!

Listen and laugh here!

Now. About the detox...

If you've been hanging out here at the blog very long, you know that starting at the end of November  2015, I began following the 21 Day Fix eating and workout plan. (That story told here and here and here and here.)  Though I don't stick to it as rigidly as I did then, I/we have continued to eat a pretty clean diet since then! But you know how winter goes. Cookies. Lattes. All the goodness of the holidays.

I had put on a few more pounds than I liked, and I wanted to try to nip my bad habits before they got any worse. I started the ball rolling by pulling back on the bad habits I could identify, but I still needed another jump start of some kind. So I decided to do the 3 Day Refresh, which is a Beachbody program, too. Some people who do the Refresh lose weight, and some don't, but most say it's helpful in resetting their taste buds. I thought I'd give it a try, and Ryan supported me in it, so we bought the program.

I think I've decided the reason these little detox things aren't cheap is because knowing you paid for it is all that keeps you going during that first day! LOL!! We had invested hard-earned cash, and I was determined not to give up.

I thought I'd tell you my experience with it in case you ever wanted to try it!

The Refresh has a VERY rigid  schedule of eating certain foods at certain times, drinking shakes and fiber drinks (and lots of water), and NO COFFEE.

I'll just go ahead and give you a minute to absorb that.

While you're absorbing, I'll tell you about how I prepped for this adventure.

First, I picked my days. I really feared I would become so ugly in spirit during this, so I chose my first two days as the days Ryan went to his continuing education courses. I knew he would be gone ALL day, and I could do things at my own pace, not offend him with my coffee-deprived self, and most importantly, not worry about cooking for him. (And subsequently not eating what I cooked.)

Then I planned my schedule. I wrote out all three days, with exact times and exact foods. This helped me make my shopping list, too. I tried to use foods we already had, but I had to buy several things just for this.

Day One, Ryan left at 5:30 in the morning and I slept until almost 9:00. That pushed my whole day's schedule back by an hour, because I figured I'd be up by 8, but I just scooted everything back and it was fine. I never really felt hungry this whole day until bedtime. My stomach never growled until then, and I never felt shaky like I sometimes do when I need food. But I definitely craved all kinds of food. (None were on the list of what I actually ate, you understand.) I did not get the raging caffeine headache I expected, but I did have a dull headache all day, and I just missed my coffee so much. I told Ryan that coffee is a comforting part of my day, and it was not there. I felt out of sorts without it. I missed its warmth, its taste, and its presence. Right behind that, I missed meat. I am a meatatarian, and I really really missed it with my meals. And about the fiber drink? I called it the devil in a cup. That stuff is just straight up NASTY and I couldn't finish my glass of it. But that was the only thing I couldn't handle. I mostly sat all day (did get my 10,000 steps in via laps around the house) and had little energy or motivation. And by the end of the day, I was ready to give up. (One note: I did not have the herbal tea I could have had toward bedtime because honestly, it sounded gross. That was the only modification I made to the day's diet, other than not being able to finish the fiber drink.)

Day Two was a Sunday, and Ryan left early again for his second day of classes. I got up about 8:30 because my headache and empty stomach kept waking me up. I desperately wanted to take some Ibuprofen, but I know better than to do that on an empty stomach, so I waited. I texted him to tell him I felt like I had the flu. I was hot and cold, hungry but everything sounded awful, killer headache, and I just wanted to die. After I had the first meal of the day and got some medicine in me and took a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng hot shower, I did regain my will to live. Still couldn't finish the fiber drink, but I think I drank more of it than I did on the first day. The middle part of day two went MUCH better. I was able to be up and around and doing things more than I had on the first day. Much like day one, at the end of the day, the headache came back and I was just so hungry. I couldn't do the last tea again, and I actually cried real tears over missing coffee. This was my last day to have "off," since my final day aligned with my busiest work day of the week.

Day Three ended my detox early. We went to bed Sunday night, and I could NOT go to sleep. (It was like I had suddenly HAD caffeine without being used to it instead of depriving myself of it.) I finally dozed off, and from about 10:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. I was awake every five or ten minutes, seeing things (felt like hallucinations) and continuing to combat a raging headache. I finally told myself that the detox was not as important as feeling normal and healthy. (I had carpool duty Monday morning and feared for the safety of all if I didn't get some sleep and stop the weird things from happening in my mind and body.) I had done two days and that was good. Ryan woke up when the rain hit crazy-hard proportions and I told him I was tapping out of the detox. He said he understood and that was okay. So I got up and ate an energy ball (because I needed headache medicine to sleep and knew my stomach was VERY empty) and took some ibuprofen and went to bed. I finally slept for 2 hours, and when I woke up, I had the most amazing cup of coffee, very slowly, one beautiful sip at a time.

My thoughts?

I kind of feel like a failure for quitting early, but I am proud of myself for knowing my body well enough to know it was just done for whatever reason. (I read about many struggles people had throughout their own detoxes, but inability to sleep and having weird hallucination type experiences were not among them.) I do feel like this experience accomplished something good. My cravings did change during that time, and I am indeed reminded of the importance of portion control and choosing healthy foods over, say fun foods. Apparently I am not cut out for detox, so it is unlikely I will ever do a specific program like this again, but maybe I can learn to do my own version of detoxes from the things that trip me up, should I become too dependent on them in the future. Meanwhile, my goal for the weeks to come is to continue eating appropriate portions and to make even better food choices than I had been making. OH! And I did lose one pound during this adventure. So it wasn't a total fail, right? I can see a bit of a difference here. Still not quite where I want to be, but enough of a difference that the weekend worked...even if I quit.

The Date Inspired by the Letter H

I promised to tell you the end of Ryan's birthday celebration, and happily I can report that this date doubled as the date inspired by the letter H!

After he got off work, and after he opened his gift, we went out for hamburgers for dinner! Originally I thought maybe on this date, we would go to some drive-in hamburger/hot dog place, but since it was his birthday, I decided to go a different route. We headed out to Five Guys, which we've only been to once before and loved.

Ryan loves the peanuts you can snack on while you wait for your food! (And I didn't love the bad lighting AGAIN.)

I do love that you can choose your burger as a smaller size or a bigger size, so there was something for both of us. And they don't charge extra for ANY topping, so we loaded up with all the toppings!

(We got the Cajun fries and shared them. Oh my goodness. Good stuff!)

After dinner, we went to Starbucks so Ryan could get his free birthday treat.

And then we went to Highland Park. (If you're not local, that's just the city park in this fine town. It's a nice park! Had some of my senior pictures taken there, actually.)

It was a perfect night, weather-wise. We just strolled through the park, enjoying the sights. (And sounds of ball games.)

Funny story. Our selfie stick died a few weeks ago, so part of Ryan's birthday gift was a new one. We hadn't used it yet, but we brought it with us for when we took our chalkboard picture for this date. We could NOT get it to stay connected to his phone, and this beauty was captured while we messed with it. It's probably one of the more accurate pictures of the night.

(Great. We're turning into 85 year olds before our time.)

Finally got it!

Then we walked to another part of the park, and I had no idea Ryan was taking more pictures while we went.

He cracks me up!

We visited Old Ben, a stuffed steer.

We wanted to sit on some swings, but the ones we found on the non-occupied playground were also swings for toddlers - so we couldn't fit in them. I found a most lovely bench by the water, and we sat down, only to realize that thingiemadoo in front of us was for wastewater. Eyeroll.

Seriously! Who puts a scenic sitting area by that kind of an aroma????

So we gave up and moved. Found a little area that was unoccupied and just sat for a while to finish our coffee and talk.

Turned out to be a pretty fun date night, and our most favorite part was just being TOGETHER. We had spent so many of the previous nights apart while Ryan helped people with projects, we were just glad to be alone together!

You can see all the alphabetical dates (so far) here!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy last day of April!! It's been a cold and rainy weekend here, so I'm looking forward to these April showers bringing along some May flowers!!

* Last Sunday, we went to lunch with the Shaffer side of the family to celebrate the April birthdays: Ryan and his brother, Nick. We ate at Chili's and it was most delicious!

* Monday was Ryan's actual birthday (I'll finish telling you about our celebration tomorrow) and he had parties all day long! His work people brought treats for him and we had a date that evening. It was a fun day!

* Tuesday was hair day for this girl. Long overdue upgrade to the old color, and I'm pretty sure I pulled in radio waves with all this foil! After we both got home that evening, we had salad for dinner, but it was one of those nights when a salad didn't cut it. Dessert needed. We tried to get a Frosty, but the line was insane, so we splurged on Blizzards!!!! YUM!!!

* Wednesday evening was a kiddo-watching night for me, which was fun, and then Ryan and I hurried to the end of a viewing for the grandmother of some of our friends. On the way home, it got super crazy stormy in a hurry, and here are my thoughts on being out in that! We were fortunate - no hail damage. Some people got extensive damage! WE were also fortunate to get this gorgeous rainbow!!

 * Thursday was a busy work day, and when I went to get the mail, I found this blanket featuring Ryan's face. LOL!!! (It was something a friend of ours ordered - a photo collage - and she wanted a picture of us included. It's odd to see yourself on a blanket!) We had NO food in the house, so Subway made our dinner, and then it was an office-working night. All my favorite things in one space: Ryan and books!

* Friday I narrowly escaped setting off our fire alarm while cooking chicken at lunch. The whole house was thick with haze, but the alarm never went off. WHEW! In the land of new things we have tried this month, we went on a double-date mani-pedi with our friends on Friday night. Yes. You read that right. Oh my. Ryan's first pedi. He wasn't sure what to think of it, but he was a great sport! I got pretty coral fingernails, and we had fun with our friends.

* And then there was yesterday. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH yesterday. Ryan was gone from early, early morning until evening at an all day continuing education course with one of his co-workers. In his absence, I began a 3 day detox cleanse that very well may kill me. No meat. No dessert. No coffee. Pray for us both.