Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

Good morning, friends! It has been quite the week around here. We’ve had road trips and an unexpected bout with the flu (just me, and just 24 hours, thankfully) and lots of adventures at work (Ryan). We are grateful for a weekend, and even though ours is pretty full, we welcome the (slight) change of pace. Hope your week has been good and healthy – and here are a few things for your weekend.

I love a before/after post and I love an affordable redo. This kitchen renovation post offers BOTH! Allie wrote about the little cabin renovation she and her husband did largely on their own. They completely transformed the look of the kitchen for less than $1600. Granted, this was in 2020, so I’m guessing it would be 2-3 times that now, but still, for a kitchen renovation, that is pretty inexpensive! I love the final look of it so much. It gives me ideas for ours someday! (BONUS: I love the kitchen in this renovated church. This is one of the BEST church renovations I have ever seen.  Beautiful!)

Do you need a good recipe roundup in your life? Even though I primarily cook from a couple of websites, I really like looking around at other ideas. Sometimes I find keepers, and sometimes I find ideas for a dish and then go look for a healthier version of what I saw. Either way, Yvonne’s post is robust with ideas for just about any kind of dish you’d like to make. Personally, I bookmarked the salsa recipe. It’s one thing I want to learn to make and have never successfully done. We’ll try it! (BONUS: While I am not a Weight Watchers girl, I also found this recipe roundup that has some yummy looking healthy options on it!)

Perhaps I’m sharing this one for myself…but if you like it too, then it’s a win! When Ryan and I owned Abby the RV, we got a cast iron skillet to use in our campfire cooking. We’ve used it a handful of times here at the lake too, but not too often. I think we also ended up with a second skillet after my parents moved, and we haven’t used that one either. Why? I get hung up on how to properly clean/season cast iron pans. Jami’s tutorial is well-written and makes this whole thing seem feasible! Do you use cast iron?

I don’t have the space (or need) for this project, but if you have kids in your life or work with kids at church or in any other setting, this might be an idea YOU need to see! A homemade disc golf course constructed out of laundry baskets and tomato cages. Brilliant and cost-effective. I love it!

Pie day is coming! I mean, it’s really Pi day…good ole 3.14…but pie day is way more fun. I’ll be sitting this one out to honor my Lenten fast, but if you’re not away from desserts this year, this recipe looks like a winner. Even better? It’s eggless, which makes it more affordable these days! PS – make it on 3.13, because it needs to refrigerate overnight. (BONUS: You know what I could make on Pie Day? Chickenin a Garden. I haven’t made this forever, and it is a favorite.)

Well, my least favorite day of the year arrives tomorrow: National Lose an Hour of Sleep Day. But a few places are offering some perks to help get you through, so check those out here. Whether or not you can take advantage of freebies, don’t forget to reset your clocks, or you’re going to be LATE tomorrow!

·         As I moved around my potted plants this past week, I made a mental note to repot a couple of them soon. They’ve about outgrown their current homes. If you have some plants that need some attention, this is a great time to do it. It’s like gardening…ahead of schedule!

·         With the time change comes the reminder to check your batteries in your smoke detectors. I feel like I have heard about a much higher number of house fires lately…which is completely heartbreaking. Check and replace the batteries!

Lenten Thoughts...

 

It’s been fifteen years since I felt solidly convicted to participate in a Lenten fast. It was the year of the heart desert, though it had not yet arrived. When Ash Wednesday rolled around that year, I was on my way to church when I felt strongly that I needed to give up music in the car so I could spend it in prayer instead. It was the oddest heart nudge I’d ever known, but I did it. For forty days, I prayed my way through every drive, and on Easter Sunday morning, I celebrated breaking the fast by listening to the Hallelujah Chorus.

                Lent can be controversial for some – as I read about in this post this week – and I always just let the Lord lead. I don’t feel compelled to participate, but I also listen if I feel nudged.

                This year I felt the nudge. No desserts, no sugary foods for the duration of Lent. For months I stayed clear of them entirely, and then slowly easing into a treat now and then started to border on dependence.

                And dependence should be on the Lord.

                So I made the commitment to put them aside entirely again for 40 days. Much like I did with the music, I want to turn that time and those cravings toward the Lord.

                I’m also committed to returning to a study I started crafting back in the WillowBridge days. I never finished it, but I’m going back to it…learning from it again.

                I’m excited to see how God works in my heart in this little season. I’m glad He invited me to this…

Six Years Later...

 

Yesterday marked six years since Ryan’s mom passed away. I remember that night so vividly. I wrote about it here – if you’re new here and haven’t heard the story. It seems so strange, each time we mark this day, knowing we are one year farther away from the chance to make new memories and have fresh conversations. Oh, how thankful I am for pictures and journal entries and the things that preserve what we did get to enjoy in the years we shared with her.

                Nita appreciated pictures and words as much as I do, and even throughout the weeks of her illness, she wanted to be part of photos, and I’m so glad I took them. I’m so glad I preserved her full story – clear to the end.

                Capturing stories through words and pictures still matters deeply to me, and I do it for our lives too. Even yesterday, on a day of remembrance, we had a new adventure together.

                I needed to travel to Cleveland to be present for a family during a surgery, and Ryan didn’t want me to travel alone. He took the day off, and at 2:30 in the morning, we buckled up, coffee in hand, and headed toward Cleveland!

                State signs are hard to photograph in the middle of the night but pretend this says Ohio.

                Ryan drove us there and we talked nonstop the whole way. We ate protein balls when we started feeling sleepy, and we were so thankful for a safe trip. The wind was otherworldly, and Ryan had to fight to keep the car coloring within the lines. (And he managed to keep from hitting a road construction sign that had blown into our lane, but was unlit, making it impossible to see until we were upon it.)

                Perhaps I’ve driven by Cleveland before on a random vacation, but this was my first time into the city. I thought the skyline was very pretty at night!

                Ryan dropped me off at the front door and I hustled inside almost a full hour ahead of the scheduled surgery time…and I hadn’t even been there five minutes before they called us back to pray. I was so thankful we left extra early and didn’t have any delays.

                Ryan found us in the waiting room, and while the family talked together, he and I excused ourselves to find some coffee – and some breakfast.

                We waited with the family, enjoying great conversations for several hours until the end of the surgery. Everyone took turns taking little walking breaks.

                Ryan and I were completely impressed with the hospital layout, excellent signage, and abundance of people present at every turn to answer questions. I think it was one of the best hospital navigation experiences I’ve ever had.

                We stopped for a very late lunch on our way home and right around the time I got behind the wheel to take a turn, the rain poured, the wind howled, and I had to hang on for dear life to keep us in our lane! So much for a warm, sunny, spring day, right? Ryan caught a well-deserved nap while I drove, and then he took over again for the last part of the trip.

                We arrived home in time for a late dinner and many, many Lexi hugs! (She got to spend the day with a friend and was reportedly “good as gold” for her.)

                March 5^th is a hard day for us each year, because it marks endings and loss. But this year it also marked a chance to offer support and friendship…a chance to spend time together…and a chance to honor the Lord and the life Ryan’s mom taught him how to live.

                I’m grateful.

Office Dreams

 

It’s been just over a week since I found out which of the new offices at our church will belong to me. It’s just a little peanut of an office. Not a ton of room, but it’s absolutely perfect for what I need!

                Ever since I saw it, my mind has been spinning with ideas of how I want to set up this little room that will be my home-away-from-home. My goal is to create a space that is both functional and homey. It is also extremely important to me to display items that tell the story of my journey to this place. I’ve been thinking carefully about how to tell that story in notes and pictures. I think it matters to keep those things visible so I never lose sight of what God has called me to and why I’m here!

                Want to take a peek at some of my ideas and collections for this little space?

                Years ago, when my brother-in-law set up his church office, post-tornado, he used a dining room table as his desk. He said he liked the space it afforded him, and it doubled as a conference room table when he needed to meet with people. I loved that idea and have seen the value in it in my own life in recent years! I have that sit-stand desk in our overflow office at home, and I do quite a bit of work on our home dining room table and kitchen island. Jeff is right. The space is nice, and I like standing to work.

                My hope is to find some sort of island or counter-height narrow table to serve as my desk. I want to have a little room for projects, and I want to have the option to stand to work! (Here’s an idea of the type of desk I’m looking for…)

Source

At the beginning of the year, I found this vintage table in a consignment store. With the drop leaves down, it’s the size of an end table, and I thought it would fit nicely in a little corner or next to a chair, if I end up putting a chair in here. (Jury is out on that…I’ll have to wait to see what space is left after I put in the main things.) I love the option to put leaves up, though, to hold extra things as needed.

I’ll also have bookshelf space in there, and I’ll use baskets and cubes to hold my office supplies, just like I do in my office at home.

Speaking of bookshelves, I think one of the hardest decisions will involve figuring out which books in my collection need to live at home and which ones need to live at work! The very idea of having them in two places feels a bit like splitting up a family, but I will figure it out eventually.

Now…on to the décor!

                I found this clock at the Goodwill a few weeks ago and put it in my (growing) office pile. Isn’t it cute?

                I found this little organizer at another thrift store last week. Not sure yet what I’ll put in it, but something fun and organizational will end up in here!

                This is the art print my parents gifted me for Christmas that I’ve been saving for my office. I told you about it a few weeks ago, but it holds great significance for me.

                It’s been years since I shared this picture on the blog. I took this photo fifteen years ago, added the verse to the print, and shared it as a gift to several people. This was my parents’ print that hung in their home until they moved last year. They gave it back to me, and I kept it to hang in my office.

                Ryan gave me this little pour over and these coffee canisters back at our anniversary, and they’ve been waiting for their new office home, too! (Did you really expect this little office to be void of some kind of mini coffee station?)

                Somewhere in the garage, I have a little tub of things I didn’t have room for in our house when we moved in – but I wanted to keep for someday. I need to pull that off the shelf and add it to my stash. (I don’t even quite remember everything inside that tub, so it will be a bit like Christmas when I find it!)

                There are all the teeny details I haven’t figured out yet…pictures and maybe a little lamp and some faux plants. (No windows, so real plants wouldn’t fare well.)

                It’ll be so cute when it’s done, but for now it’s just a dream on a board! Thanks for letting me share my ideas with you today! 😊  

Celebrating 147 Months of Love!

 

Sunday was our 147^th monthiversary! Just like last month, we enjoyed getting to celebrate our day on a Sunday – together!

                I had to help with a meeting before Sunday School, so we were at church early – and dividing and conquering most of the morning. (Enjoy our official monthiversary photo. We took it as we scurried out the door…running late and not quite awake yet.)

                After church, we went through the car wash for the first of my car wash lessons. (Yes, that’s a real thing. Something you may or may not know about me is that I have gotten stuck in car washes TWICE in my life, and while I do not mind riding through them, I’ve refused to drive through one for about the last fifteen years. Ryan is trying to help me overcome my stuck-in-the-car-wash-phobia by teaching me how to navigate the one near us.)

                Then we headed home for leftovers, Lexi snuggles, and Sunday afternoon naps. Maybe this pushes us into the official old-person category, but a Sunday afternoon at home with long naps is just about one of the best things ever, in our opinion!

                We spent the evening watching some of our favorite shows (and some pretty cheesy Hallmark movies) and called it a great day.

                Ryan Shaffer, I love the exciting and low key days with you just the same. Thanks for loving me, encouraging me, and making our life a joy!

Dreams and Goals for March

 

February felt strange in my heart/mind/world. I had such an organized and purposeful January, and then I felt behind for most of February. Thankfully it was a short month, right? Because of the discombobulation, my overarching goal for this month before us is to get and stay ahead of the game. The only thing I really like to have scrambled is my eggs. 😊 Life? Not so much.

                With that said, here are my dreams and goals for March.

Decorate the house with spring in mind. This past weekend, I took down anything that nodded toward snow, and that alone made me feel better. We don’t have an extraordinary amount of spring décor, but over the last couple of years, I’ve added a few more pieces, and I’m excited to display them. The goal is to bring in a little bit of color and anything that feels light and cheery!

Continue prepping for spring speaking. My first local speaking will be in April, and I have a handful of days scheduled between April and May. I have a good start on this but need to work on it more specifically to make sure I’m prepared when those days come!

Participate in Lent. I haven’t made a daily Lenten observation for many years now, but I know this is a year I need to do that. Several years ago (primarily prior to marriage) I had some significant years of heart growth during Lent, and my deep hope is that the same will be true of this year.

Take steps toward licensing. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve taken the initial steps toward being licensed in ministry. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be taking a few more steps in that direction. I’ll have some meetings and do a little writing…and I’m looking forward to what I learn in the process!

Take two on the garden planning. And by planning, I mostly mean I need to block off my shopping/planting days before they get eaten up with everything else. While I am excited for the planting and growing, I am most excited to welcome warm weather…so if this brings me one step closer to that, I’m all for it. This was the one thing from last month’s goals that I didn’t accomplish, so here’s to a second chance!

                I think this will be plenty, given all I have going on in other aspects of life, so we’ll cap off the goals right here. How about you, though? Any dreams for this month?

Sunday Snapshots: Memorable Moments from the Week

 

This week was full. Ryan and I fell asleep on the couch nearly every night this week, I think. It wasn’t a bad week, but definitely a full and exhausting one. Ryan gave many tours of Swiss Village and had lots of meetings and projects to tend to. In addition to my normal work, this week held the Bible study I teach, a visitation and funeral, helping with a new class at church, an out-of-town conference, an extra night of worship, and a partridge in a pear tree. 😊 Want to see some of our most memorable moments, though?

Last Sunday afternoon we went to cheer on our church kiddos at their Bible Quizzing Tournament. I think we went to 3 meets this year, and it was a lot of fun to watch the kids grow in knowledge and confidence over the course of the season. They didn’t win the tournament, but I was so proud of them for choosing to invest in their understanding of Scripture by joining this team!

I am entering the process to be officially licensed for my role at the church, and this week I had a meeting with someone who will be my mentor throughout the process. We met up for coffee and spent about two hours talking about our ministry stories. It was a bit awkward at first, because we didn’t know each other at all – had never seen each other before – so we were trying to figure out who we were in the coffee shop. But once we got past the initial weirdness, it was a great meeting. I’m excited to move forward with this!

One of my favorite things from this week was getting to see and choose the little office space that will become mine! If you are new here, our church is under construction, so the offices that have existed for years and years were removed to make more room in our sanctuary. New offices are under construction in a whole new section of the church, and I hadn’t seen that area in about five weeks. Last time I saw it, it didn’t have drywall (or heat) or anything else to make it easy to decipher what the space would actually look like. Though much remains to be done, the walls are up, and the rooms are recognizable. I’ll have to do a post soon about some of the ideas I have for the space. I’m excited to see it come together!

Ryan and I are helping facilitate our church’s GriefShare program this year. We’ve never been part of it before but felt it would be helpful to both of us in our jobs – and in further equipping ourselves for future grief. We had our first meeting this week and learned so much. I’m glad we said yes to this.

I spent a day in Indianapolis at a conference about the state of the church. It was a lunch n learn conference…and I learned lunch was delicious! (Big fan of the little raspberry mousse cups, especially!) I enjoyed the day out with friends from church and appreciated the insights shared during the learning portion of the conference. Some of the things surprised me and have given me food for thought.

Did any of you watch any of the segments of the Gather 25 worship event this past weekend? Ryan and I went to church to watch the first couple of hours, and I was glad we went. Of the part we saw, I think Priscilla Shirer’s message was the most impactful to me. I’ll be chewing on her words for a while.

Yesterday was half-price day at the thrift store, and it was a little bit cut-throat in there. I don’t often go on half-price day because I just don’t love the claustrophobia, pushing, and shoving. Yesterday, though, was a first for me. Had a lady literally try to take this bowl OUT OF MY HANDS so she could buy it. I remained calm and kind, but I did not let her bully me out of a bowl. (Is that called bowl-lying?) A memorable day indeed.

                Here’s hoping for a great start to March – and a much calmer week. AND…happy monthiversary, Ryan!

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

                Good morning and happy shiny new month, friends! I know there’s that whole in-like-a-lion-out-like-a-lamb thing for March, but regardless of how it comes in or goes out, I just want it to bring SPRING. I am extra desperate for it this year, and I don’t know why. While we wait to figure out if that happens, I will tell you to enjoy your last week of time as we know it before it changes again, and we all lose some sleep! Sorry. That was a downer way to start a Saturday, wasn’t it? Maybe I can make up for it by offering some fun little finds for you to read…

I love decorating the bed and couch with pillows, but I confess I get bored looking at the same pillows year after year. (We have had the throw pillows on our bed since our Marion days, and our couch pillows came with the couch when we purchased it while living in Kokomo. It’s been a while for both.) We do not have space to store tons of extra pillows, so changing them seasonally isn’t practical for us. But pillow covers could be doable! Ann has a great roundup here of places to buy pillows and pillow covers. And while I don’t have the space to store them the way she does, her storage idea at the end is so cute. It might be worth my time and resources to add this to my 2025 decorating ideas: invest in good pillow inserts and start a small, seasonal cover collection! (BONUS: If you aren’t even sure how to use throw pillows, you might find some good ideas here…)

I love a good day-in-the-life post, and even though this one isn’t current, it’s still fun to read. It follows a day in the life of author Dalyn Weller. I always enjoy seeing how other writers spend their days! (One of these days I’ll do another day-in-the-life post. I’m glad I’ve written several during different seasons of my own life. They’re fun to revisit, because it’s easy to forget what life was like in a different time!)

I stumbled upon this Apartment Therapy tour of a little house in Massachusetts, and I thought it was so cute. I adore the shape of the doors and windows. I told you a couple of weeks ago about how much I love rounded door tops and wish all houses in the US had them – but maybe I love this door shape even more than that!! Everything here is so tiny, but it’s also so cozy! (BONUS: And though this isn’t a whole home tour, Kari Anne’s redo of this bedroom is ADORABLE.)

I’m always on the lookout for new ideas for healthy snacks to put in my rotation. While I don’t like all the foods on this list, there are some really good ideas in here, and the list is long, so I thought I’d share it with you! Some are a bit more portable than others, so if you’re on the go often, some of these might not be great options. But take a look and see what you can find! (BONUS: If you need more ideas, here’s another list!)

Despite having written a book about stillness, I’m not always great at practicing it. I know I’m not alone in that, and I was reminded of it recently, when I read Michele Cushatt’s words here. The little poem she penned at the end – the one about stillness – is beautiful. I’m typically not huge into poetry (because I lack understanding in it) but I got this one and really loved it. If your heart is feeling restless, take a look at her words!

For you Anne of Green Gables fans, have you read this news? Megan Follows, who played Anne in the original movies, is now going to play Lucy Maud Montgomery (who wrote the book series). I hadn’t heard about this until a friend sent me the link…I loved Megan as Anne. (AKA I won’t watch any other versions of Anne because they aren’t Megan.) I’m sure she will do an amazing job in this role!

·         It’s March, so you have full permission to put away any winter-laden things and pull out anything that is fresh, springy, light, colorful, etc. I am so ready to do this, because I’ve had my fill of snowflake and ice themed décor for another year!

·         It might also be worth the time to go through your wardrobe and see what sorts of warmer weather clothing you need to purchase (if any) to get you through the upcoming seasons. Then you can watch for sales! I think I need some more shorts, but I’ll sift through the whole closet and see what needs to go and what I need to hunt for in the weeks to come.