What I Learned in August

1. NaN miles means "not a number."

We've done some online hunting for a small RV, and of course one of the things I keep checking in my part of the research is how many miles the rig has. I kept running across "NaN" in that area, and I had no idea what it meant. I was pretty sure it didn't men zero, given that we're not looking at brand new options. Turns out it means the mileage either wasn't reported or wasn't reported correctly, so the system spits out the "not a number" report. (For the record, that's really not helpful for those on the hunt!)

2. Curtains mean home to us.

We love our apartment here at WillowBridge so much. When we told people about our new job and told them we would be living in an apartment, we could see nervous looks in people's eyes. Apartments have a bit of a stigma, it seems. But this place is absolutely comfortable and adorable. It's not filled with cheap old cabinets, questionable appliances, and stark white walls. It's so very nice. But we learned when we moved in that until we added curtains, it just felt cold and naked. They'd never been put up before, and we didn't want to cause major damage to the walls, so we made small, conservative choices, but even adding simple sheer white curtains made all the difference in the place feeling like home.

3. Bachelor Buttons got their name from being a flower bachelors used to put in their lapels to indicate availability.

I've learned several things from reading Gigi's blog. This month I learned about Bachelor Buttons (the flower) because she and her children grow them in their garden...for tea! (I also had no idea you could make tea from this flower.) But she gave the background to the name of the flower, and that was news to me!

4. Many hands make light work.

I blogged about this a bit already, and to be fair, I knew this already, but I saw it in new ways this month. When the team came for the United Way Day of Caring, they were here for less than a full business day, but the amount of work they cranked out would have taken us weeks to complete. I wanted to cry (for real) at the enormous load they lifted from us by bringing many willing hands to pitch in!

5. I miss the Olympics.

They were supposed to be this summer, and I missed them dearly. I start looking forward to the Olympics at the closing ceremony of the previous one, and I missed them so much this year. Ryan reminded me (and rightfully so) that I probably wouldn't have had time to watch them this year anyway, with packing/moving/starting a new job, but I still missed them!

6. Cheetos makes a white cheddar chip!

When the Day of Caring people came to work, they brought snacks! And among them were little bags of Cheetos white cheddar chips. I love white cheddar anything. (Oh man - my mouth is watering for white cheddar popcorn just thinking about it.) But I had no idea these existed. Bonus: no orange fingers!!


And now...a peek at how we did with our goals for August!

1. Unpack and settle in.

Check!! While things will always be in a state of moving around/sprucing up, we are officially unpacked and settled. It's so nice to not be in boxes anymore. It's so nice to be able to actually sit on our down-time, rather than using it for more settling time. It's so nice to be home again.

2. Find a bit of rhythm with the job.

Half-check! Honestly I think we did the very best we could with this, and I think we made tremendous progress in it. I just don't think it's a learn-in-one-month activity. We have begun to find some rhythm. We know how the days are likely go to - in theory, anyway. We've begun to learn how to take breaks when we can since our work hours are spread out longer than a standard eight hours. We've been learning how to pull back on light days because there are always going to be heavy days. We're still learning this, though. It's harder for Ryan than it is for me. He's never had a job quite like this one. (I think my years of working from home and setting my own hours have worked to my advantage in learning how to take breaks.)

3. Figure out our boundaries.

Half-check! We are actually doing much better with this than we were at the beginning of the month! There is a delicate balance to be achieved when you live and work in the same space. There is also a balance to be achieved when you share a job with another couple. We are learning how to be present and available without being called upon all hours of the day and night (for non emergency situations). One specific thing we've learned is the importance of enforcing quiet hour boundaries. Ryan and I stay up pretty late, and for a while we were tending to answer the phone after quiet hours began - because we were up and not aware of how late it was. But our co-workers don't like to stay up as late as we do - and they have a baby who needs her sleep. Our tenants don't always know (or remember) which couple is on duty, so we really need to enforce those quiet hours - not only for our own boundaries, but for our co-workers as well! We have a lot of boundary-learning left to do, but we're working on it!

4. Get our mask game in order.

DOING SO MUCH BETTER! The number of times we've had to come back home for masks has gone down dramatically! We've placed some spares in all the vehicles we drive (our own and the WillowBridge vehicles) and I have several in my purse. We are also getting better about running through a checklist as we leave the house on foot each time. Keys? Phones? Work phone? Masks? ;)

5. Meal plan! Cook!

DOING SO MUCH BETTER! I've been working hard to have some healthy options on hand, and I've been trying to work ahead to use the slow cooker and grill more. We didn't do a perfect job of this in August, but we definitely made a lot of progress.

6. Work on some scrapbooks.

Done!! I am caught up in our current scrapbook - which is a feat, since there were a LOT of pages to make for the months of July and August! (I think I have close to 90 for the two months.) I need to get busy on our birthday trip book from back in May. I always like to have one trip done before we take another one - and our anniversary is coming!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope you have had a blessing-filled week!! We've had another good and monumental week here in Shafferland, so here's a little peek!

* My picture collage for last Sunday actually begins about 1:00 in the morning on Sunday. Apparently Ryan and I decided to stay up too late Saturday night into Sunday, and when we headed to bed, Braeya was lounging there as though we had wildly disturbed her night by coming to bed SO LATE. "Where have you people been??" was sort of her expression. Ahhhh, that girl. Sunday morning we revisited a church we had been to once before, but Rob was doing a presentation on Gateway Woods/WillowBridge, so we went to hear him! And while it was mostly a low-key day, I did solidly lose another game of SkipBo to one of our tenants!

* Monday morning, we had a team meeting with our support couple, and we all learned that there's an upcoming photo scavenger hunt in Grabill, with some proceeds going to support WillowBridge! We were excited to read about that and decided to head over to the coffee shop to get coffee (duh!) and thank them for this exciting bit of support! After a very good day, Ryan and I went on an evening walk and found the most unusual sunset!

* We did a little more apartment decorating on Tuesday - ALMOST done!!!! I got a text from my former WBCL co-worker, Cindy, asking if she could stop by and see me, since she had to come to Grabill for something else that day. I haven't seen her in over a  year and was SO EXCITED!!! We had a great talk together. Ryan and I also found out that night that we were in charge of providing food for a bigger team meeting the next day. Rob told us to just grab frozen pizzas, but I can't do it! I just can't do it! So we spent that evening whipping up batches of Buckeye brownies and making all the food for a taco bar!

* Wednesday was the aforementioned meeting, and all the food got gobbled right up. :) We really do love working with our team: they are an encouraging bunch of people. By Wednesday night, I think everyone in the building needed (and took) a power nap - including Braeya!

* Thursday was our only weekend day this week - and we headed to Kokomo for Ryan to say one final goodbye to his work people. It was a hard, hard day for all of them, because this wasn't just about saying goodbye to their own jobs; it was about the closing of a place that has been a staple in the community for so many years. I was glad to be able to go with him - and WE GOT TO SEE PHOEBE!!!!!!!!!

* Friday morning we went to an open house for one of our community partners. It's an organization that all our tenants go through when they come to live here - it helps them prepare to be successful at finding and keeping a job! We really enjoyed getting to see firsthand what it's like for them so we can have better conversations with them about it! Right about the time we got home, it started POURING and rained so hard almost the entire day. We've only had a couple of small rains in the last month and a half, so it was a blessing to get a good soaker! Friday night was a community night here in the building, and we had fun with our tenants - grilled out burgers and dogs and watched a movie together!

* Because Friday ended up being a super long work day for us, we took it easy on duty yesterday. Most of our tenants were gone or busy, so we took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on sit-down work and rest. Well. Mostly rest. I did do an 88 minute workout that was NOT restful. LOL!! But I enjoyed it. (I may also have learned that my exercise attention span does not last 88 minutes.) Ryan went to clean up the work van in the evening, and when he got home, we went to enjoy a gorgeous sunset by a retention pond, which is kind of like a sunset over a lake. ;)

The Saturday Six

One.

I've talked on here many times before about my talented friend Brent Vernon - who can pretty much do it all. He sings, plays the piano, writes children's books, illustrates children's books, and is a ventriloquist. 2020 hasn't been the easiest year for artists like Brent, who depend on the ability to travel and appear in concert for their livelihood! But he did say this week that he's composed some original piano pieces for this YouTube channel. I took a listen and really enjoyed it. I like having music play in the background while I work, but if I play music with words that I know, I end up singing along and thinking about the words. Sometimes it's good to just have regular, wordless music going. This is a great track (four hours!) of calming music. Check it out!

Two.

A few weeks ago, I posted a link to a local news interview about David Henry, a teacher at a school near where Ryan and I lived. He had a severe case of Covid early on and nearly died from it. CBN picked up his story and did a feature on him. It's not too long and really well done.

Three.

Our adventures in growing tomatoes this year went really well - until our move. Even though we had plant sitters at our Kokomo house while we were in transition, the plants didn't do as well from the time we made our move forward. We did successfully harvest from both plants and I do plan to try again next year - hopefully with more success! But this was a tour of one beautiful garden!!! Even if you have no gardening aspirations, check this out, because it's so pretty!

Four.

You know, our tenants make us laugh SO MUCH. One day this week, one of them said something (I wish I could remember now her exact wording) that left a heavy insinuation that I'm old. While that is true, especially in comparison to her age, I decided to have some fun with it and suggested she rethink that statement because I'm most certainly NOT OLD. She scrambled and blurted out, "No way are you old. You're legendary!" I just cracked up. I'm pretty sure that's even OLDER, but it was still funny. But if you are feeling old today - or maybe you just feel like you've squandered too much time, read this advice. So wise. And so true. (I know. I'm legendary.)

Five.

I haven't made a fall bucket list yet, and I have no idea how challenging it might be to make one this year in comparison to years past. But I thought this post had some pretty good ideas that might be feasible in the middle of a pandemic year.

Six.

Since a new month starts next week, here is the September reading plan for the read-through-the-Gospels-in-a-year plan I did last year. I also don't think (due to our move and the printer not being set up) that I ever listed the full plan for August, so for the sake of posterity, I will list that here as well!

Dreams and Goals for September 2020

I know we have a few more days of August yet, but they're all spoken for on the blog, so I'm doing my goal-making and dreaming for September a little bit early!

1. Do a little fall decorating around the building.

Now that we finally have our apartment unpacked and settled (YAY!!!), I'm ready to start thinking about decorating for fall. I'm looking forward to adding some fall touches to our own apartment, but I'm also looking forward to doing a little decorating around the common areas of the building, too. I'm not in a hurry to say goodbye to summer, but I really do love fall decor. Next to Christmas, it's my favorite!

2. Schedule fall pictures.

Maybe this should be a two-part goal of first finding a photographer and then scheduling the pictures! We so dearly love Barb, who took our pictures the last three years, and I'm confident if I called her, she would come right up here to us, but I'm not sure I can justify adding a travel expense to the photography expense!! But we need to find someone in our price range and get a date on the books.

3. Enjoy some days off and outings with Ryan.

We had to move a couple of our days off from August into September, due to some scheduling conflicts, so we have even a little extra time off next month! Ryan and I have pretty much been on the go nonstop since we started the inquiry process for this job back in May, so we're looking forward to some days off and maybe even some rest. Between resting and exploring our new surroundings, we're excited about September!

4. Do some reading.

We have some assigned reading for work. (Several books, actually, that we need to read during our first year here.) Now that we finally have the apartment settled and can sit a bit, I need to start knocking out the book-reading!

5. Do some personal hosting.

One of the things I love about our job is the chance to be hospitable as part of our job. We've been able to host a community night, and we've done some cooking for meetings and volunteers - and I love it all. But we haven't had anyone over for dinner on a personal level yet. (When my parents came, we went out to eat.) We've had invitations to eat at others' homes, so we are looking forward to returning that favor!

6. Keep learning our job!

Someone asked me the other day if we were still in training. I said that officially, we were not in training anymore, but given the nature of the job and all the many facets it contains, we'll probably be training for the next hundred years. In truth, it doesn't matter what job you have - there's always a chance to learn more things. We still have much to learn about day-to-day operations the specific social work side of things. We're eager students, and we hope to know more in a month than we know now!

I think that should keep us busy for a month. How about you? Any goals for September??

What Would You Have Been?

There were things I never dreamed of being when I grew up - and among them are all of the things I actually have done since growing up. 

That isn't new information to those of you who have read here for a while. You know that my journey through Financial Aid, radio, public speaking, and now even our new job were never things I imagined. (Some of them weren't even things I knew existed when I was younger.) I've loved the career roads God has allowed me to travel, even though some stretches haven't been easy.

But my dream as a child was to become a teacher. I loved playing school. I loved teaching my dolls, all lined up in a row on the fireplace. I loved playing with leftover worksheets from my mom's classroom. I loved listing grades in my homemade gradebook - strategically crafted inside an old notebook the same color as our teachers' actual gradebooks. 

I've told you before how grateful I am that God has allowed me to experience the joy of teaching, even though I don't have a classroom of my own. He's allowed me to teach Sunday School classes and Bible studies. He's allowed me to teach through each of my jobs - and is still allowing me to teach in this job, actually! He's given me the chance to teach through writing and mentoring. 

God isn't limited by our dreams. He can make them go beyond what we can even imagine.

But when I think about my once-upon-a-time teacher dream, I think about the teachers of 2020 and what an enormous task they face. 

I watched a social media video from one earlier this week as she shared (in tears) how she hadn't expected the physical ramifications of teaching while wearing a mask. She has a large classroom with students spread out to all the corners, and she said in order to speak loudly and distinctly enough to be heard throughout the room and over the mask, she ended up repeatedly sucking it into her mouth and choking on it. She said she hadn't expected to feel so low on oxygen and to get dizzy and see stars. And at the end of the first day, her husband was in her classroom, trying to figure out how to reconfigure it so the students were still safely distanced, but she would be able to be more easily heard and not choking on her mask.

I can't imagine.

I have friends teaching in person, friends teaching virtually, and friends teaching both ways at once. I have friends still in the classroom and those already out on quarantine because of classroom exposure. I have friends stepping into homeschooling for the first time because virtual learning didn't fit their children or they wanted more consistency than the thought of being in and out of school all year.

I can't imagine. 

Being a teacher in 2020 is not for the faint of heart, and I applaud all of you who are filling that role in any capacity. 

I'm grateful to be a teacher in the ways God has allowed me to be a teacher - outside the classroom. I still wonder now and then what life would have looked like if I had pursued that dream. I wonder where and what I'd be teaching. I wonder if I would have ended up liking it as much as I think I would have. 

What about you? What did you want to be when you were growing up - and are you doing it?

Brain Breaks

It's funny how life changes along the way. God molds and shapes our lives, and in the process, things shift.

It's not a bad thing - or at least it doesn't have to be a bad thing - but I always find it intriguing.

Perhaps I have noticed it more in the last month, because as I hear the stories our tenants tell, I find myself thinking how I remember feeling the way they felt when I was their age. The things that overwhelm them overwhelmed me too...back then. The things that frustrate them unglued me too...back then. The things that they don't find all that important probably didn't matter to me either...back then.

Sure, the details of my life story might look different from theirs, but those underlying things of the heart are so familiar.

And the same is true of my down-time. Oh, how it changes.

I remember being fresh out of college and fresh out of money. I was living on a salary that boggles my mind now (even accounting for inflation). I was newly post-breakup, and all my friends from college had either moved away or gotten married. (Or both.) I had nothing but time on my hands and no resources to fill it. I ached for things to do so I didn't have to sit and be bored all the time.

I ached for money to put gas in my tank so I could afford to drive beyond the borders of Marion to see friends. I ached for money to go out to eat (even on the value menu!) more than my standing once-a-week lunch date. I couldn't afford movies or hobbies or anything else. And so I sat and wished I could be on the go.

My wish came true!

Though I was far from independently wealthy, I did finally receive some raises that made it possible for me to visit friends, hit the dollar menu a couple of times a week, and start a few hobbies. I raced from one thing to the next, barely breathing in between items on the calendar, and suddenly, I wished I could sit again.

In fact, I remember one month back in my mid-twenties, when I declared a no month. I went to work and church and that was it. No dinners. No softball games. No movie nights. No out of town runs. No shopping trips. No babysitting.

I needed a brain break, and I recognized it. I took it.

That down-time has taken twists and turns over the years.

Book-devouring phases.

Book writing phases.

Scrapbooking and card-making phases.

Cooking phases.

House hunting phases.

Napping phases.

Class-taking phases.

And now it seems like we love to steal away for long, long walks, filled with talks and dreams for the future - both immediate and distant.

I miss the naps. I've only had a couple since we moved, and before that I took one almost every day. Maybe with the return of colder weather, I'll be able to find a few more again.

I miss reading and extra writing, too. Now that we are pretty much fully settled, I'm hoping for opportunities for more of both of those.

I sneak in some Pinterest when I can. A quick dash through the pages to see what sorts of interesting things I can find.

The need for rest may ebb and flow. The sources of my brain breaks may change with time and life circumstances.

But we all need rest for body, mind, and soul - that's the common denominator.

How do you like to give your brain a break? And has it changed from years ago?

Shafferland 3.0 - Be Our Guest!

The very first room we put together in our new apartment was our guest room - because we needed to stay in there while we waited for our new bed in our master bedroom. So today I thought I'd show you the (mostly) completed guest room! 

You may remember that during quarantine, we redid some rooms in our Kokomo house (having no idea that we were going to be moving out of it shortly), and the guest room was one of those! Though I think we would have been permitted to repaint the apartment guest room the same color we used in Kokomo, we elected to leave it the same color it was when we moved in. In the pictures you're about to see, it looks mostly pink, but depending on the time of day and the lighting, it often looks lavender. We felt like it kept enough with the feel of the Anne of Green Gables theme that it wasn't worth the work of repainting - at least right now. 

So here's a peek at the room!

We used the same bed we had in Kokomo - and you might remember that it expands to a king bed when necessary. We have the same art up over the back of the bed, and the same quilt bedding I loved so much. (The Rebekah!) The bookshelves on either side of the bed are the same, as are all the things on them. Down at the far end are the three art prints I got for my birthday that depict scenes from the Anne of Green Gables movie. The black bench was also in our guest room at home - and the frame sitting on it is one of the prints from Anne of Green Gables that Ryan used for my quarantine birthday party. 

We love the flowy white curtains at the window, and of course I think we all remember the scene in the movie where Anne and Diana lifted weights together...right? Okay, so we just didn't have anywhere else in the apartment to put the weights, so we put them in here! 

And here's the other end of the room. The other bookcase, another window with flowy white curtains, and the old dresser. (In our Kokomo house, this dresser was in our bedroom, but we don't have room for it in ours here, and I think it fits better in the guest room anyway. It's very Anne-ish. My Dad's old typewriter also found a new home in this room! 

This is the one part of the room that isn't quite done yet. This is the same little bookcase/shelf we had in our Kokomo guest room, and it still houses kid toys and books for when our friends with kids come to visit. We have the little basket for blankets next to it - but it looks a bit unfinished, doesn't it? That's because we don't have a TV for this room yet. Since we ended up putting our guest room TV in our bedroom, this one is is empty. We're holding out for Black Friday sales. :) 

Here are a few up close details...

The Anne print says, "Dear old world, you are very lovely." In a year where this dear old world hasn't always felt very lovely, I thought this was a good reminder to keep up in the room. Plus it reminds me of that delightful party-for-two that Ryan threw for me this year!

And the art prints that I still love with all my heart:

I love a little bed tray with coffee mugs and flowers. So cheery!

Old books...

I hope to one day get this restored...

But when it's all put together, I think it's a lovely little guest room. We have no idea who will end up being our first guests, but we're all ready!!

(I may keep an eye out for a rug, too, just for fun. I'm not used to a zero carpet house!)

Many Hands Make Light Work

Last week a group of volunteers congregated at WillowBridge and blessed us to no end by helping us complete a whole bunch of projects in no time at all!

Prior to our arrival, WillowBridge had been selected as a site for the United Way's Day of Caring! The crew assigned to our building showed up a couple of weeks ago (well...a representation of the team came over, anyway) and made a list of all the things we needed done. And then last Wednesday they came back...with friends!

My mom used to remind me that many hands make light work, and though I fear I may have rolled my eyes when she said it to me, I saw it in action in huge ways last week.

While I was busy whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and creating a little coffee and snack bar, Ryan oversaw the arrival of a whole bunch of mulch!

 

And then the volunteers arrived! 

They were so kind to us - working with enthusiasm and vigor all over the property!

* They pulled weeds out of the ivy in the landscaping and trimmed bushes and trees all over the place.

* They took down the trampoline so it won't get battered by Indiana winters. 

* They painted our entire shed, including the trim.

* They put a second coat of a paint on our deck.

* They moved the mulch out of the parking lot into locations where it looked so much more appropriate. :) 

And at the end of the day, when they gathered up all the tools (the ones they'd brought along and the ones we had borrowed from Gateway Woods), the place looked so fresh and clean! As I circled around taking the after pictures, I thought about how long it would have taken our little team to accomplish all those tasks alone. 

Could we have done it? Absolutely. But it would have taken us all through the fall, I'm sure. Now we have more time to work on relationships, team building, and constructing more vision for the future of this place. And for those gifts, we are so, so grateful. 

Many hands really do make light work, and we are grateful for an office full of people who set aside a day to help us carry our burden of work!

It's a lesson I hope to remember when serving those around me. Things that may not seem huge to me might make ALL the difference to those I help. And it's true for you, too!