Wednesday in the Word: Comfort

 

We’re supposed to have all kinds of severe weather across Indiana today. Hail and wind and tornadoes and…and…and…I’m reminded how much I detest storms. I do much better with them than I used to, but I still hate them. Last night I was at a meeting at Swiss Village, listening to thunder rumble outside, thinking about today’s forecast, and all of the sudden the room felt entirely hot, the walls were closing in, and I could not breathe. Ahh, storm anxiety. You’re back. (And not welcomed, by the way.)

                The day was challenging in other ways too. Any one of the things on their own would have probably been fine, but all piled up, they were overwhelming. So I made granola, washed dishes, and cried. And somewhere in the middle of stirring granola and managing to get soapy water everrrrrrrrrrrrrrywhere in the kitchen and on my person, I happened to think of Psalm 94:19.

                Maybe not verbatim. But enough of the words peeked through in my mind that I was able to locate the verse and read it for real.

                When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

                And in my Bible, I’ve written this quote by Scotty Smith: “We carry many types and sizes of cares in life – small, mid-size, ad large ones. The most critical cares we have are heart cares – the situations and stories that impact our innermost being. As our Father of compassion and God of all comfort, no one is more committed to giving us the care we need and catching the cares we cast.”

                And I’m so thankful. The cares of my heart ARE many today. Some of them are so heavy. They’re big and probably here for the long haul. Others are heavy but somehow feel a little less crushing because I know they’re likely to just pass through. Others are heavy in ways that really annoy me, because they shouldn’t even matter.

                But they do.

                And yet, God’s consolations cheer my soul, right in the thick of all the heaviness. He sits in kitchens filled with the aroma of cinnamon and maple syrup, mopping up tears that fling about alongside sudsy dishwater.

                And that is comfort in and of itself.

Tuesday Tales: All Good Things Must Come to an End

 

Thanks for reading along the past couple of weeks – vacation tales are so fun to share. Alas, they must apparently also come to an end. And we have reached that day. On our last morning in Charleston, we had breakfast at the hotel and packed up all our stuff to haul it back out to the vehicle. Our room was good to us while we were there, and we were glad for all the space it provided.

                We got on the road and started making our way through the mountains. They are just so pretty. I hope my Midwestern self never ceases to be amazed by mountains.

                Another amazing sight? We stopped at a gas station for fuel and some food – and this was their coffee bar. Now that is intense for a gas station!

                A not-so-amazing sight? Long slow-downs. Construction. I took advantage (see what I did there?) of our stopped time to read to Ryan from this book that he has to read for work. It was actually a fascinating book, and I underlined a lot of things for my own self!

                Found another tunnel!

                More mountains and oh!! A crack in our windshield. Womp womp. We never heard anything hit, but the more we jostled over the road, the bigger that crack grew. (We made it home with our windshield intact and have since had it replaced. All is well.)

                Ahhh the clean restroom mecca! To this point in our day, we had only stopped a couple of times for food and bathroom breaks. Somewhere along the way in the day, we had decided to power through and just GET HOME. We stopped here, got some food, and ate in the parking lot (while standing, so we could stretch our legs) before the final push.

                I did have a couple of questions about merchandise in the store. First, who wants to get me this shirt?

                And I’m curious about who to takes drinks into the shower?? Am I the only one who doesn't?

                We found Indiana about sunset and finally made it home around 11 p.m. It had been something like a 14 hour day of driving.

                In rare Shaffer form, we didn’t even bother to unpack. Just went to bed.

                The next morning we slept in a bit, Ryan made us some breakfast, and then we went on a big grocery haul. Then it was time to go pick up our sweet baby girl. She had the BEST time boarding with her groomer. They had so many adventures, and our sitter even made us a video of her fun. We loved it so much. (Here are some screenshots from the video.)

                We spent the rest of the day with extra lovins and snuggles for our sweet girl.

                My beans came up while we were gone!

                Home again…

Menu Monday: Nourishing Body and Soul

 

We had a lot of fun cooking this past week, and I’m excited to share with you the recipes we enjoyed! Are you ready?

Monday: Air Fryer Shrimp and Greek Orzo Salad

What We Loved: All of it! I think this one will be a long-term keeper. The shrimp was SO easy. I dumped all the ingredients in a bag and let them marry for a few minutes and then put it all in the air fryer. GREAT flavor. I discovered I only had half a box of orzo, so I decided to halve the pasta and keep the veggies at the full amounts. It worked out really great! Ryan said the entire thing was excellent!

Tuesday: Air Fryer Shrimp and Greek Orzo Salad + Lemon Blueberry Sheet Pan Pancakes

What We Loved: All of it again with the regular meal. I also tried out this lemon blueberry sheet pan pancake to have for breakfasts for a few days. I ended up making it in a 9x13 and baking it a little longer than the recipe called for. It’s really good, but it’s not protein rich, so I don’t know that it’s a good long-term keeper.

Wednesday: Subway Date

What We Chose (Again): This was grocery shopping night for us, and we were out of everything, so we ate at Subway before shopping. I’m on a turkey club kick – on flatbread, so that was my choice. Ryan went for the ham and turkey sandwich that is on the protein menu.

Thursday: Italian Grinder Salad

What I Loved: This is not a new recipe for us. I first found it for our Olympics Opening Ceremonies party this past winter. But it’s fast to assemble and is so good. I anticipate making this one often this summer while our lettuce is in season! (Here is a similar free recipe.)

Friday: Wedding Date

What We Had: I am giggling so hard because I was SO HUNGRY when it came time to eat that I flat our failed to get a photo of a single morsel of the food. So here’s my empty plate! The wedding dinner was a buffet line, and you could choose between chicken alfredo and spaghetti with meat sauce. I did not realize that you had to choose that before you got in line – because they didn’t have both choices in each line. I ended up in the chicken alfredo line, so that’s what I had. Sadly the person in front of me got the last of the roasted vegetables for the entire night. I chose not to get bread, though they did have garlic bread and breadsticks. I did have a little Caesar salad. The food was good, and then it was gone.

Saturday: Chicken Cobb Salad

What We Had: I used turkey bacon in this recipe, and we had spinach on hand, but other than that I think I followed it exactly. Everything was tasty and colorful! I cooked enough bacon/chicken/eggs that we could quickly have leftovers on Sunday! (Here is a similar free recipe.)

Sunday: Pulled Pork and Coleslaw

What We Loved: These two oldies but goodies from our recipe box saved the day on a busy Sunday. I put the pork loin in the slow cooker before we left for church and made the coleslaw after lunch so it could marry throughout the afternoon. I love having dinner without hard work on a Sunday night!

Sunday Scrapbook: Moments from the Week

 

Good morning, friends! Hope your Sunday is restful and encouraging! This week has been a mix of good and hard, and I am so profoundly thankful for Ryan and his steadiness every single day. I’m so glad to have him to listen, encourage, and support. Just wanted to say that before I share about our week. 

Last Sunday was super busy from start to finish, and there were many highlights I loved. But for this space, I’ll choose this: we were able to attend the graduation open house for one of my college roommate’s daughters. She has two daughters, and this is the second to graduate. We hadn’t seen Faith for a long time, and it was good to catch up with her for a bit again. I think her daughter and I have come a long way from the first time we met. What do you think?

Monday I had the privilege of meeting with one of the teens at our church – about baptism! It was a complete honor to get to hear her testimony and try to encourage her as she seeks the Lord and grows in Him! It was such a faith boost for me to get to hear her words!

Tuesday (as I mentioned in a post earlier this week) my new Hebrew Bible with commentary arrived in the mail, and it felt a little like Christmas in June! I’ve already started reading from it in conjunction with some of my studying, and I love what I’m learning! (Plus it’s just beautiful AND it smells good. New books for the win!)

This week has also had its fair share of challenges, and by Wednesday, my heart was weary. I worked from home in the afternoon, and Lexi found me and hopped in for some snuggles. It was just the medicine I needed! She’s been so good to us this week.

The Midwest was peppered with severe storms Thursday night, and I know there were some super severe tornadoes throughout Illinois and Indiana. We didn’t have any damage at our house, but we did spend the night in the living room, and it’s one of the first times I’ve seen Lexi come so unglued over a storm. (This fascinated me because we didn’t hear rain and wind like we sometimes do…) She worked to be so brave, but our girl was pretty scared!

One of the young adults from our church was married Friday evening, and Ryan and I had the privilege of attending her wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony, and the reception was a lot of fun. We were able to sit with the rest of the staff from church and had the best time swapping stories with them! I love going to weddings with Ryan. I love remembering our own wedding and praying over the couple who is just establishing a new home.

And yesterday was a good day. Ryan was able to get a stretch of time to do some things around the house that he wanted to mark off his to-do list. And I was able to work hard on my scrapbook. I think both our hearts were a little better off at the end of the day!

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

                Good morning, friends! Ryan and I are fresh off a wedding date, and we had the best time. We aren’t in a season of life where we go to a ton of weddings, so it feels extra special to get to witness one. I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow, but in the meantime, enjoy some links for your Saturday!

Am I the last one on earth to hear of these highlighters? I saw them featured in an Instagram post and was completely fascinated. They “stack” so you can highlight over a previously highlighted area and still see the new color! Maybe you all have known about these for years, but they were new to me!

I’ve shared stories before about the Antique Candle Company, and this is another of those stories! I love hearing how great ideas came to be, and this tribute to Brittany’s mom shares the story behind one of the candle scents and the joy of her mom being part of her business ventures. If you need a feel-good story today, this is it!

I shout a hearty YES!!!! To everything Yvonne said in this piece. Our homes are indeed reflections of our story, and that is my highest goal in putting our own home together. I want everything within (and outside) our walls to reflect who we are, how we live, where we have been, and who we hope to become. I am, as time goes by, less and less a fan of things that are trendy or fillers and more and more a fan of story pieces. If you came to our home, I could walk you around and tell you the story of almost everything in this place. She explains it so beautifully, and after reading her words, I think I may forever call our house a storied home.

It can be tempting to wonder if God is actively doing anything in our lives or world. He is, but it can be easy to fall into the thinking that He isn’t. I appreciated Scotty’s reminder of specific things we know (from Scripture!) God is doing right now! Maybe these words will encourage your heart today.

When wide-leg pants became the in-thing again, I was sad for two reasons. The biggest reason is that while I’m not confident about much of anything on my body (lifelong struggle), my legs are actually one area that I like because I do have good calves! Burying them in excess material seemed like a lose-lose to me. Also, it felt to me like wide-leg pants would make everything else look bigger than it might actually be. Apparently this is a common problem, because Audrey wrote this whole guide on how to find the right shirt to work with wide-leg jeans (or pants in general). Helpful info in here if this is a struggle for you, too!

Lisa’s blog is a treat for the eyes. She writes about recipes and home projects – but it’s her photography that drew me in. She has a unique style that is warm and inviting, and I had as much fun looking at the photos in her posts as I did reading her words! (Her “about me” paragraph is also unique and one of the best I’ve read in a while.)