Valentine's Day Banquet

This week brought another first to Shafferland...our first speaking event of 2020!

Several weeks ago, my friend Sandee told me her church was planning a Valentine's Day banquet for their people, and she wanted to know if Ryan and I would come to share a short talk with them. Well, of course! Anytime we get to speak together, we jump at the chance! 

The theme for the evening was "God's Sweethearts," and it wasn't just a couples-oriented evening. We set out to talk about showing God's love to those around us! 

The day of the banquet, we got a little dose of Indiana winter smack in the middle of the afternoon. It started with huge snowflakes that fell all snow-globey for a while and then the snow gave way to rain. Lots and lots of rain. I checked to make sure we were still on for the evening, and Sandee assured me we were. The caterers had already made the food, so everyone would just drive carefully and the banquet would go forward as scheduled! 

I was so glad to have a chauffeur! (Did I mention the church was out in the country? Back roads for the win!)

Normally I try to get a picture of the church sign whenever I speak somewhere, but it was just so gross outside when we arrived that I skipped photography attempts and went straight to the front door.

The committee in charge of the evening had worked hard to make the room absolutely beautiful! White tablecloths, candles, chocolates scattered around...beautiful!

Ryan and I got this selfie together, and it ended up being the only picture we have of ourselves for the whole evening! (I asked Sandee to take pictures for us while we spoke, and she said she would, but she got so engrossed in what we were saying that she completely forgot! I guess that's good, right?)

Dinner was so good! We were given a choice between ribs and lasagna. Ryan chose ribs, and I chose lasagna. We couldn't even eat half of what we were given, but that made for a great lunch the next day!

(The cheesecake in the earlier picture was magnificent, too!)

It was so much fun to see everyone engaged in conversation and enjoying themselves throughout dinner! We've spoken at other events at this church, so we know a handful of the people and it was just a joy to see them having a great time.

Before we spoke, a local singer shared some music, and even though I knew exactly ONE song that he sang, I thoroughly enjoyed him! He did a lot of oldies and had a great voice. 

And then we spoke! It wasn't a long talk, but we had great feedback on it, and we so appreciated Ryan's voice holding out long enough for him to talk. (That cold he promised to get rid of in one solid day last Monday is still here.)

It was a great night - and a safe drive home! Thanks, Sandee, for inviting us to be part of your event!

Chocolate Celebration!

Three years ago, I served as a volunteer photographer for the Chocolate Celebration here in town. It's a huge fundraiser for a local nonprofit and this year marked its 18th year as an event. People have come to know and love the Chocolate Celebration, and it's a pretty big deal.

This year, I served as the liaison between the church and the director of the nonprofit, because Abagail (whose job I'm filling at the moment) normally does that. Talk about big shoes to fill! Abagail is a seamless and classy event coordinator who makes everything at the church happen without a visible hiccup.

And then came the year of Bekah.

I had pages of lists. Things to check on. Things to do two days before. The day before. The day of. People to call. Items to track down. Things to double-check. I was a terrified wreck that I would somehow single-handedly destroy an 18-year-old beloved fundraiser.

It takes a village to put on this event, as all the people at the nonprofit would tell you, but it took a village for me, too, and I'm grateful for the one I had.

It started in the wee hours with this guy, who got up extra early with me, drove me to the church (via a donut and cough drop stop) and helped me get coffee made for all the volunteers and lights on/doors opened before the work day officially began.

As the first volunteers were arriving, he packed up and headed back to his own work, and I carried on letting people in and making sure last minute issues were figured out.

We were a very small staff that day at the church, and I was so glad the staff pastor helping me let me take multiple breaks to go check out all the fun stuff happening at the celebration! And I was glad one of the girls in our church who makes cute jewelry stopped by with her latest stash:

The closer we got to the start time, the more the church lobby filled up with waiting people, and before we knew it, the gates open and the madness began!

I was so so so excited, because one of the ladies on my ministry team stopped by with her kids and her nieces that she helps care for. With so many kids in tow, I asked if I could watch the baby for her so she could have a little more freedom. She said yes, and I was in HEAVEN!!!!!

One of the booths even had Belle and the Beast helping them serve chocolate, and I don't think I need to tell you how much I lost my mind with joy over that. Alas, timing did not work out for me to get a picture with them. So just trust me: they were cute!

Ryan took the afternoon off work, met me for lunch (at the church) and then stayed for the afternoon to help our maintenance crew clean up and reassemble the church when the celebration was over.

And so it was that about an hour after quitting time, we were able to go home and hunker down with some pizza. It was a whole different side to the Chocolate Celebration, but it was still a really fun day. (And I'm still all warm and fuzzy over that darling baby!)

The Shafferland Shuffle

We've slowed the shuffle in Shafferland this week. Ryan was a little on the sickly side; just a cold, mind you. "I'be fide. Just fide." We haven't had a cold in the house for a couple of years, and I've been trying valiantly not to catch it. As you may remember, they are extraordinary when they take root in me. No one has time for it. But "fide" and all, here's what we've been up to!

* I've already told you about last Sunday, because it was our monthiversary! 86 months! We spent the day together, enjoying a morning at church, resting in the afternoon, and watching the big game that night. We also found out that day that Ryan had been elected to the church board, so that's a new adventure coming up!

* You've also read more about our Monday than you probably ever wanted to know! I did a Day in the Life post for that day, which included a whole lotta normal stuff. Work, laundry, blogging, and rest for the "I'be fide" boy.

* Tuesday was another blissfully normal day around here...work for both of us, and a chance for me to try out my new bamboo pasta utensil. I like it! (Got it for Christmas.) That night, while I did my chores, Ryan worked on taxes. Ugh. I do not envy him on that task AT ALL.

* Our church hosted a funeral and dinner on Wednesday, which marked my first time to have a funeral on a work day. I learned that the dinner preparers are generous with extra pie pieces. :) And coffee. :) They even sent a piece home to Ryan, because you feed a cold, you know. Helps you be fide faster. Also trying to help him be fide faster, I sneaked him some selfies from work. Not sure if it helped or not, but I'm pretty sure the evening nap did!

* We got some snow and ice going into Thursday, so Ryan was a sweetie and took me to work. As I did my laps at lunch, I had to giggle over all the tropical looking plants sitting in front of a snow background. Also at church that day? Impromptu team building exercises that involved a virtual reality exercise with HEIGHTS. I didn't fare well. It was also Moxie day. It's a mostly Robitussin-tasting soda that we tried in float form that day. Ice cream definitely helps.

* Friday was a big day at work! I'll have to tell you more about it this week. It was the annual Chocolate Celebration! A local nonprofit hosts it as a fundraiser, and for the last several years, it's been at our church. (I even took pictures for it a few years back, if you want to see it from another viewpoint.) The place was crazy busy all day and Ryan took the afternoon off work to come over and help our maintenance guys tear everything down and put the church back together. Isn't he the NICEST?

* Ryan worked yesterday, but I was sleepy and did a rare thing: stayed in bed for a while after he left. I finally decided to get up - a decision Braeya didn't fully support. I did all sorts of home chores, and then in the afternoon, we headed out to run errands. I had to resort to a baseball cap. The hair was beyond salvaging. We found a killer deal on this cute little lighted tree at Hobby Lobby. Had to get it! (Looks kind of like a spring blossom tree.)

The Saturday Six

One.

I thought I was doing pretty great with a 90 second plank at the end of January. FOUR HOURS???? Wow. Check out the world record holder for the longest held plank!

Two.

I have an Instagram friend who has been trying to rid her home of plastics and toxins for the last couple of years. I have learned much from her posts about this journey, and though I haven't been nearly as intentional as she has been, I do love all I've learned! This particular product wasn't one I learned about from her, but it would fit the kind of product she would buy. Shampoo and conditioner bars that help eliminate plastic bottle waste!

Three.

Remember when I said I wanted to organize the closet this month? Well, this won't be happening in our house this month, but isn't it a lovely ultimate dream? (Bonus: it involves IKEA!)

Four.

You know I love finding ways to commemorate places I've visited. This whole list of crafts that involve maps...well, it made my heart happy!

Five.

This twig canvas project is really cute and would be great for a Valentine's Day family night project, date night, or fun with friends. (I'm still remembering how much fun we had at our canvas painting party at church a couple of weeks ago. It really is fun!)

Six.

I am completely enamored with the "For the Love of Old Houses" Facebook page. And this week...ahhhh look at this simple and gorgeous home!!

The Day Braeya Gets Her Own Post

Yesterday I had a question about Braeya's name, and given that I still hadn't figured out what I was going to blog about today, I decided to give Little Miss her very own post. It's been a while since she was properly featured on the blog, and if you're new(er) around here, you might not know her little kitty biography.

But before you can know about Braeya, you have to know about Kaegan.

Back in 2001, I was a year out of college, and the roommate I had at the time was about to break her lease and move out of our shared house three months before our year together was up. I'd never lived alone in a house before, and I was absolutely terrified about doing it. I had a new roommate lined up, but there would still be that three month gap of alone-time. For my birthday that year, one of my good friends gifted me a kitten, hoping he would help keep me company. I asked her if she would name him for me, and she chose the name Kaegan. (That's pronounced Kay-gun.) I have no idea where she got the name or the spelling, but that's how the little yellow kitten became Kaegan.

When my new roommate moved in, she got a kitten of her own, and she named him Igor. Kaegan and Igor were pretty good friends and thoroughly enjoyed being lazy together. The four of us lived together for about three years, and then Angela and Igor moved on to their next adventure, and Kaegan and I were on our own again.

I thought maybe Kaegan might be lonely, since he didn't have Igor anymore. I started thinking about getting a second cat, and right after Kaegan turned five, my friend Kari told me she had a new litter of kittens at her house. If I was interested, I could pick whichever one I wanted. She sent me pictures of all of them, and I fell head over heels in love with the one little kitten that looked nothing like the rest of the family. The mama and daddy cats were black and white, as were all of the kittens.

Except one.

She looked Siamese with her distinct coloring and bright blue eyes. I had to have her! I agonized over her name. It was right about that same time that I realized based on my age and lack-of-husband status that I might never have children, so I looked over my list of names for my someday kids. I'd pretty much planned to only have boys, and I really liked the "Br" blend for the beginning of names. (Bracken, Braeton, Bronson, Brogan...you get the idea.) I did have one token girl name in the bunch, and the spelling had the same "ae" that was in Kaegan. So that's how Braeya came to be the cat's name. (And it's pronounced Bray-uh, by the way.)

I picked up Braeya from Kari's house on Father's Day and took her home, where she promptly got lost.

Seriously.  In the house.

I'd had her for all of a day when it happened. I was painting a bedroom and didn't want her traipsing through the paint pan, so I carted her (along with her food, water, and litter box) into the bathroom so she and my floors would be safe. When I went to get her a while later, she was gone. I called. I begged. I put out treats. Nothing. I asked my parents (who were helping me paint) if either of them had gone into the bathroom and accidentally let her out. They didn't think they had, but when she didn't respond after a half hour or more of calling, they wondered if maybe they had.

We looked everywhere. Mom and Dad even drove around the neighborhood, in case she'd somehow slipped out a door when we went out of the house.

About two hours later, as I sobbed on the phone to my sister about how I missed little Braeya so much, I heard the tiniest meow. I sprinted to the bathroom and saw two tiny paws stretching out from under the washer. She tumbled out, shook off her (clearly deep) nap and toddled toward me. And that was the moment she earned a middle name. Braeya Jo. And we've had to use that middle name many times since.

Braeya is 13 now. It turned out, by the way, that Kaegan did NOT want a sister. I was mistaken about him being lonely. He never did like her. He was an old man-cat in a middle-aged-cat's body, and all he wanted to do was sit quietly and be left alone. She wanted to play and climb and be adventurous. (Usually on him.) For five years, Kaegan tolerated her. He had just turned ten when he wound up with a mysterious illness and died quickly.

I worried Braeya would be lonely, but after a few days of seeming confused about where he went, she advanced to her new role as CEO of our household. By that time I was commuting to the radio station, so getting an additional pet was out, and I knew it. Braeya wouldn't welcome one anyway. She gets downright offended anytime we dog-sit. She hisses and growls and is most inhospitable.

When I started dating Ryan she immediately fell in love with him and has had little regard for me since. If he's not home and I am, she'll snuggle up to me, but if he's here, she's his girl all the way.

She hates storms, children, dogs, and anything else that makes noise. She loves our small group, drinking water from the sink, and begging for our dinner. She also loves looking out the window, having an audience when she eats, and taking a bath in front of company.

She turned 13 in people years this year, but I think she's been a teenager in spirit for a long time.

She's still amazingly cute, and when she's waking us up at 3 a.m. for a drink, being amazingly cute is what buys her any points at all.

So that's our Braeya girl! We love her! She definitely makes us laugh and keeps our lives interesting!

Day in the Life: February 2020

I wanted to try to document a sampling of my entire year this year, so for February, I documented a Monday! Of course I forgot I was documenting it when I first woke up, so it took me a minute to get into the swing of things, but I figured it out.

Date: Monday, February 3, 2020

Ryan: 40 years old. Bekah: 41 years old. Braeya: 13 years old.

Weather: High of 57 - Partly Sunny. Feels like a taste of March or April. 

Midnight - 6:00 a.m.

* I sleep really well - too well, actually. I have vivid dreams that are so weird, which has become the norm for me. I ignore my alarm way too long and finally get up - several minutes after I should. Ryan isn't feeling well (came down with a sore throat on Sunday) so even though he's totally a morning person, he says he's going to sleep a little longer, and I let him rest. I get some ice water, but the coffee hasn't run yet, so no caffeine for me. I settle on the couch to journal, read my Bible, pray, and check the blog, and Braeya curls up next to me. Today I'm finishing Psalm 18. It's a longer one, so I've been slowly moving through it over the last three days.

6:00 a.m. - noon.

* Ryan gets up at last, and Braeya abandons me in favor of him. He starts the coffee, and I listen to it drip while I finish journaling and praying. While he showers, I scurry around to pack my lunch. Most of the work is done already, because after lunch on Sunday, we packed the fajita leftovers into individual servings for today. I add a Clif bar for an afternoon snack, two energy balls for dessert, and a serving of yogurt with honey and granola for breakfast. There won't be time to eat breakfast at home this morning since I hit snooze so many times. I remember to add silverware to my lunch bag - something I am known to forget, fill up my water tumbler, and zip everything into place before putting the lunch bag by the door.

* Ryan makes the bed and carts all his stuff to the guest bathroom to get ready. (That double sink we didn't get when we purchased this house has finally reared its ugly head now that we get ready at the same time.) I pull some ground turkey out of the freezer to thaw throughout the morning and toss a load of clothes into the washer. Then it's time for me to get ready, which requires figuring out what I want to wear - and praying that third day hair won't backfire on me. I land on a hand-me-down shirt my sister gave me for my new working-world days and a pair of jeans. (Three cheers for a job where I can wear jeans since I own exactly three pair of pants right now - jeans, black, and khaki.) I assemble myself while jamming to the Gaithers, as I sense a bit of a grumpy mood coming on and I want to squelch it. While I finish getting ready, Ryan takes some medicine and sits down to read his Bible and pray. Then it's time to pack my work bag with all the things I'll need for the day (day planner, laptop, etc.) and suit up in shoes and a coat! 

* We load into the car with both our armloads of work luggage (not kidding) and coffee (really not kidding) and head out to work. I drop off Ryan and continue to my work. We have a STUNNING sunrise - the first one for several days - or has it been weeks, now? I appreciate it all the way to work while I sing duets with David Phelps and look in all the usual hiding spots for deer sightings. Sigh. None today. I get to work and gear up for a busy Monday morning!

* In my current job, Monday mornings mean checking voicemails that have come in over the weekend, updating the phone message for the on-call pastor for the week, updating the prayer request sheet for the pastoral staff, clearing out my email and responding to messages that came in over the weekend, and running a variety of errands around the church to clean up forms, bulletins, and messages left around the church. The morning is extra crazy busy with people stopping in the office. Today brings people wanting to rent the facility for events, scrambling to prepare for a funeral later in the week, and going over details for a HUGE upcoming event. I put a few things in the mail, sort through my gaggle of post-it note reminders, and work on a project for our visitation coordinator. Somewhere around 10:00, after writing a prayer request for someone with "lunch cancer," I realize I might be in need of that breakfast after all. I pull out the yogurt, add the granola, and eat in between phone calls and visitors. I wrestle with the printer and ALMOST successfully clear all the jam areas by myself. 

* Ryan sends texts between patients as he's able. He says he's feeling about the same as he was in the morning but promises he will be fine by the end of the day. (I'm not sure how a person can know that, but he insists.) I check in now and then to let him know I'm doing well. 

Noon-6:00 pm.

* Lunchtime arrives, which means it's time for a BATHROOM BREAK!!! I also run a few errands around the church, since I can be away from my desk for a few minutes. I warm up my leftovers and scarf down lunch while I wait to hear from Ryan. He texts when he gets home for his lunch and I call to talk to him. We miss seeing each other at lunch, but it helps to be able to talk on the phone. While I talk to him, I walk laps around the church so I can help my step quota for the day. (Sitting behind a desk all day wreaks havoc on step counts.)  

* When lunch is over, I meet with some women dropping off items for the big upcoming event, and then I return to my desk to make more coffee and clean off all the piles that have somehow accumulated during the morning. The afternoon is filled with answering the phone, sending emails, updating calendars, receiving guests, and trying to keep track of everything I need to remember for the day. (Easier said than done.) I may or may not sneak a chocolate chip cookie from the break room to get me through the afternoon. But only one. The work day draws to a close, so I tidy up my desk, turn off everything and hop in the car to head home. It's an easy commute today. All green lights and no crazy drivers.

* On the way home, I stop to visit Ryan at work and talk with his co-workers for a while. I used to visit him at work often, so I miss seeing all his co-workers. He's finishing up his notes for the day, and when he's done, we head home. Braeya is "dehydrated" (aka thirsty because she's refused to drink from her water bowl all day), so I turn on the sink for her to drink some water while I transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer. I hang the ones that can't go through the dryer. We have leftover wings (buffalo for Ryan and honey BBQ for me) from dinner Sunday night, so I warm those up for us to eat. We hunker down on the couch to eat and watch last week's DVR'd episode of Dateline. We have little ice cream bowls and coffee for dessert, and then our evening officially begins. 

6:00 p.m.-Midnight

* Ryan says he feels better than he did earlier in the day, but he's still tired, so he curls up on the couch to rest and watch bad acting documentaries on the ID channel. I catch up on some emails and read over the talk Ryan and I are giving this coming weekend at a Valentine banquet. In the middle of all that, the dryer finishes, so I pause to put the clothes away before they wrinkle. While I'm doing sit-down work, I charge my Fitbit, because I completely spaced doing that at work today.

* I write the blog for Tuesday and take a few minutes to read through the blog roll for today since I didn't get up early enough to do that this morning! I want to just sit and scroll, but it's time to cook. I make a Bolognese sauce to cook in the slow cooker all night so we can have it for lunch the next day. Though I beg him to keep resting, Ryan refuses and gets up to put away dishes and clean up the kitchen while I cook. I get everything in the slow cooker and time it to be done cooking right around the time we get up in the morning.

* Because I wasn't home over the weekend to do so, I change the perpetual calendar to reflect a new month, print out my January journal entries to archive in hard copy form, and back up some files. When I finish those projects, I do my pathetically short workout. (In January I did a progressively lengthening workout and loved how it worked for me, so I started over with a different version in February. Right now my workouts are super short!) Then I check out the YouTube channel of some full time travelers that Abagail (whose job I'm filling right now) told me about. They have 710 videos, and of course, I had to start with #1. :) This could take a while.

* One of Ryan's co-workers loaned me her combination hair dryer/volumizing brush, and I wanted to give it a second try before sending it back to her, so I take a shower before bed so I can work through the hair situation when I'm not rushing against a morning time clock. While my hair marinates in the towel, Ryan and I do a run-through of our banquet talk. I'm hungry, so I have a little mug of cereal - one of my favorite evening snacks. After I feel like enough time has passed, I head into the bathroom for the hair-drying festival. It takes a while to work the brush through my crazy thick hair, but I'm hopeful that it will buy me a few days of full-volume hair!

* At long last, we declare the day done. I've squeaked by with just over 10,000 steps and very near to my daily goal of 80-90 ounces of water consumption. Ryan fills up the diffuser and humidifier and we head to bed for a few hours of sleep before we start all over again!