Mother's Day Mini-Palooza!

 If you've been reading here for a while, you know that for many years, Ryan and I hosted what came to be known as Mommapalooza. 

It started because the first year we were married, we spent Mother's Day with my family, and Ryan's mom said she wished she could come too! So the next year, we decided to host Mother's Day for anyone and everyone on both sides of our families. Anyone who wanted to come was welcome to join us, and our main goal was to give all the moms a break.

After Ryan's mom died, things changed a little in Mommapalooza. That (plus the pandemic) meant we hadn't hosted Mother's Day for a while!

But this year we had a tiny version of the former party!

We started the day with a speaking event. I spoke at a Mother's Day breakfast in Marion! 

This is the church I attended when I lived in Marion, and I still have many friends here. I always enjoy a chance to go see them again! They also had a fun photo booth!

And then...we hosted my parents and my sister and brother-in-law for Mother's Day lunch! It was the first time any of them had seen our new home, so it was fun to give them a tour! 

Lexi was SO excited to have company. 

Mom was excited about her gift...and I got a few early birthday gifts, too! :) 

Ryan and I went for a walk with Lexi after everyone went home...and that pretty much wore us ALL out!

It was a good day, and we were grateful for the chance to host again! :) 

Sunday Sentiments

 

Happy Mother's Day! I know this day brings a mix of feelings for many women, and I respect that. I know some of you just need to fast forward through this day and others are excited it's finally here. Today I thought I'd do something a little different in honor of my own mom. One of my friends posted pictures of her daughter's "about my mom" booklet she made at school. I think her daughter is a kindergartener, and some of her answers were just fabulous. (Like, for example, the fact that she said her mom was 69 years old. I'm fairly certain she's not even 40.)

I think it's good to celebrate moms - even with basic questions, so I'm going to answer the same ones Miss Livy answered!

This is my mom!

Three words I would use to describe her are: witty, generous, thoughtful.

My mom is an undisclosed years old.

Her favorite food is: chocolate and she loves to drink sweet tea.

When I was at school, my mom worked in a first grade class.

I think my mom looks the most beautiful when she laughs.

My mom is a fabulous cook. 

The best thing she cooks is pot roast. And pie. And Christmas candy.

My mom is a great teacher of reading.

I loved it when we read any kind of books together.

(Insert side note here: My mom taught me to read when I was preschool age, and I always tested far above my grade level in reading. I am grateful for that gift she gave me. She also read books to me when I was young. Lots of chapter books.)

My mom is creative with so many things, and she is the best at hospitality.

My mom is sweeter than chocolate, warmer than coffee, and more beautiful than roses. 

My mom deserves the world. If I could buy her anything, I would buy her a full-time staff so she could rest!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Thank you for all you do for us - and all you have done for us in the past decade. We love you!

The Saturday Six

 

This week's theme was inspired by item number one! :) 

One.

If you're a longtime reader here, you know that back in 2007, the town my sister lives in was destroyed by a tornado. This week marked the 15th anniversary of that day, and the town released a new video that shows how far they have come in the last fifteen years of rebuilding! It's just a couple of minutes long, so I wanted to share it with you! 

Two.

Because I have an appreciation for how rapid and destructive tornadoes can be, I am always interested in shelters for such occasions. I loved this post about a shelter installed in a garage...but I'm bummed that the company mentioned here only installs in Oklahoma. (Their site says they ship out of state but install in Oklahoma only.) Regardless of that, this blogger made a CUTE shelter space for her kids! Her emergency potty is brilliant. 

Three.

This post has some great ideas of things you might want to pack in an emergency bag to have ready during storm season. I can tell you from what I learned from my own family that when the moment arrives, you may not have time to prepare, so being ready ahead of time is key! 

Four.

I have shared this before on the blog, but this collection seems the perfect time to share it again! My brother-in-law wrote a short book about his experiences following the Greensburg tornado. I still love the book so much and think it's a great read for anyone, regardless of whether or not you live in areas prone to storms. His book is called Light at the End of the Funnel, and you can find it here! 

Five.

One thing I learned at WillowBridge is that most of our tenants had never learned the truth about tornadoes and their power. They didn't know the differences between watches and warnings, and they didn't know how to be safe in a storm. We worked on those skills, but it was eye-opening to me how important it is to make sure everyone knows about storms. If you have little ones at home, here are some resources for teaching them - or building on what they're learning at school - regarding storms. It's so important that they really, really understand them! 

Six.

If you're helping with cleanup after a severe storm (which is always SO needed!) here are some great tips and ideas. This is so different than cleaning up after a typical spring thunderstorm. There is so much more potential danger that you need to be aware of before you jump in...but don't let that keep you from jumping in! 

The Guest Room/Bathroom

 I have one last room tour for you today! It's Lexi's room! :) 

I won't lie: I really wanted to do a full dog nursery, but Ryan talked me back to reality from that one. So I am quite hopeful that Lexi likes the Anne of Green Gables theme of our guest room, because she shares the room!

So this room is our guest room that will probably look very familiar to you if you've been reading here a while. It's the theme we put together in our Kokomo house, and then we used it again in our Grabill apartment. And here it is again! :) 

So many pieces in this picture alone hold such significant story for me. I smile just seeing this view. 

The bed tray was a gift (handmade!) from one of the retreat groups I served a few years ago. The candle holder was from my bridal shower, and the be still sign was also a gift to me in honor of the book I wrote about being still.

Lexi's little bed is in here when we don't have guests. (We do move her when we have overnight guests.) This is also where we keep our toy stash for when kids come to visit. That shelf, by the way, was a fun find when we lived in Kokomo. It was made from reclaimed barn wood, and it was red when we bought it. We updated the paint color to match our new theme, and I still love it!

The Be Still sign on this wall was a gift from another retreat group I served! We think this space is a cozy little room, and we are grateful to have this space to share with those who come to visit! 

Here is the guest bathroom, which also recycles most of the decor we had in Kokomo!

I love the sink; its unique shape makes me happy!

So there you have it! The final part of the house tour. Hope you enjoyed it!!

113 Months!

 

Thank you so much for wishing Miss Braeya Jo a happy birthday yesterday! I'll have to show you her pictures soon, but I'm trying to catch up with a few other things first!

On Monday, this week, Ryan and I celebrated 113 months of marriage! 

Late last week, I lamented that in all our eagerness to settle into our home so completely and accomplish things that need to be done before our schedules change, I haven't had nearly the number of jammie-laden scrapbooking days I'd hoped to have in this gift of a sabbatical. He reminded me we had no plans this week on Monday, so I should make that my jammie/bedhead day. I was so excited, and then I remembered it was our monthiversary, so I most certainly could NOT bedhead the day! 

We did sleep in, which was nice, and then Ryan said he wanted to take me to this coffee shop!

It's located in Berne, which is not far from us, and neither of us had ever been there prior to moving here. Ryan went a little while ago with a friend, and he brought me home a delectable treat! I have also been following this shop on social media for a while, and they have a fantastic Instagram feed, so I was excited to go try it out in person!

We had lunch, and it was so good! Ryan had the BLT with cheese, and I had soup and salad. I may or may not have also had a scotcharoo latte. One of my friends had recommended it, and she sure wasn't wrong with that one! It did absolutely taste like melted scotcharoo.

He makes me laugh. And that is one of my favorite things about him.

We did our monthiversary picture on our way out the door!

It was so exciting to come home and find that my scrapbook order had arrived! In 2021 I tried using Mixbook, and I really loved their software and their printed albums. What I did not love was that they hardly ever run REALLY intensely amazing sales. Picaboo, which I used for about a decade, regularly ran unlimited page sales, and that was how I afforded the books. I would make a bunch and when they ran a sale, I would order them. I had three HUGE books waiting in Mixbook and thought I tried almost daily with different coupon combos, I never could get a good enough sale to order them. Finally, a few days ago, a coupon worked and knocked off most of the price. I was so happy! So those three books arrived, and I hugged them.

From there, we had a delightful day at home. Ryan worked on continuing education credits for his PTA license, and I did get my scrapbooking in after all.

I am so grateful that we had the day together and were able to share a fun date out for coffee. This past month at home with Ryan has been the best gift. I am grateful for this time we've had to talk, to rest, and to prepare for what God has next for each of us! 

Happy Sweet Sixteen, Braeya Jo!

 Today is a BIG day in Shafferland. 

Braeya Jo is sixteen years old today!

How is this EVEN possible??

She came to me back in 2006 on Father's Day weekend, so tiny and opinionated. 

I picked her out from my friend Kari's litter of kittens, because I thought her brother, Kaegan, was lonely and needed a friend. Prior to that year, I'd had a roommate who had a cat, and Kaegan and Igor had been best buds. To me, it made sense that he missed Igor. So for Kaegan's fifth birthday, I got him Braeya. He let me know quickly and unquestionably that I had been very mistaken. He did not need a sister. He did NOT need a friend. 

But he tolerated her.

And dare I say they even became friends eventually??

(Kaegan died when Braeya was five and he was ten.)

Here's a picture from her very first birthday party in 2007. She wore herself out with her gifts and guests! 

Braeya and I were good buddies until Ryan showed up and she decided he was the best person on the planet. She wasn't wrong, so I couldn't argue with her. But here's a picture from the olden days. 

This girl, though. I am so ever-loving proud of her. She has become SO BRAVE in the last couple of years. Shortly before we moved to Grabill, we had a small group that met in our home. At the start of our small group era, she would hide in our bedroom, but as time went by, she became very curious about this group of people. She would march out when they arrived and take over that whole group, prancing from lap to lap (of the men only...women were so boring) and begging for attention. One night I looked up during prayer, and she was sitting in one guy's lap, with one paw stretched out to touch the leg of the guy next to her. I about snorted right out loud during prayer. 

When we moved to WillowBridge, she got super brave. We didn't let her go out in the community room much, just to make sure it didn't get covered in cat dander for those who might be allergic. But she would come right to the door of the office and sit there to socialize with anyone and everyone who wanted to talk to her. 

By the time we moved here, she was a different cat. She isn't afraid of anyone and wants to talk to everyone when they come over. She's all grown up!!

She still loves Ryan, and I still can't blame her. 

She still values her naps with great intensity. I also cannot blame her there. 

As for her sister...well...they're working on it. (I remind her that Kaegan made room for her in his life, so it would be kind to pay that forward.)

I have great hope we'll get a BFF picture of theme eventually.

Braeya Jo Jo, we love you so much. We are proud of you and excited that you have made it all the way to your sweet sixteen. We celebrate you today!