Sunday Scrapbook: Moments from the Week

 

                Good news! I remembered yesterday really was Saturday and didn’t accidentally show up to church a whole day early! Ryan and I had the best weekend and thoroughly enjoyed our holiday…hoping you did the same!

Last Sunday, as I wrote about earlier this week, was the first day of our church’s annual conference. This conference moves around the country each year, but this year it happened to be in Fort Wayne! I needed to attend one for my schooling, so this was a perfect fit. I traveled up with Jonathan and Julie Sunday afternoon, and we had a good evening together. (I realized that in this photo, Julie and I are saying cheese and Jonathan is in the background about to deliver our coffee!)

Monday I was on my own for the conference, which included navigating the parking garage on my own. (I have a crippling fear of driving in parking garages.) I attended some businesses sessions, a breakout session, and managed to find some coffee to keep me going! In full disclosure, attending a conference where you know next to no one (I knew two out of 1500 people that day) is tough for an awkward introvert. But I was SO proud of myself for powering through!

Tuesday was a long day with a breakfast before the conference, and by the time I came home that night, I ate the brisket dinner Ryan made and went straight to sleep. I don’t even know how many hours I slept on the couch, but it was glorious in every way. When I woke up, I was so happy to sit and write, read, and catch up on the many things I’d missed while I was gone. (And it was so sweet to be home with Ryan and Lexi. Rumor has it, they missed me a lot…and there was still one more day to go!)

By the time I reached Wednesday, the days had been so long that I actually thought it was Thursday! It was the final day of the conference, and I was once again in charge of my own navigation of the parking garage. I had a proper car celebration when I pulled out successfully for the last time this week! I am grateful for the on-site Starbucks that made my all-day participation in this event possible!

When the real Thursday arrived, I was so happy to get caught up on all the things I’d not had time to tend to throughout the week. I had a bunch of time-sensitive things to complete, and I did it! This was also our monthiversary, so we went on a special date that night. I already told you about that, but I’ll say again what fun it was for us to get some time away together.

Friday was our work holiday for Independence Day, and it was glorious. We were both home together all day, and I was able to make serious headway on scrapbooking and a little painting project. Ryan had time to finish recovering our dining room chairs and a little stool for my rocking chair. It was so great to cross those things off our lists! We have honestly gotten so behind on so many little things here at home, and it was grand to have a day off, at home, to do them.

Our glorious holiday extended to yesterday, which was full of much beauty, until fireworks time. Last year we went out in our boat to watch them over the lake, but when dusk came, there were no boats on the lake! We knew there was a chance of rain, so we thought maybe they had postponed or canceled the show. We went out to sit in the boat, and we could barely see a big show over the treetops. It wasn’t the normal spot for the fireworks, but apparently it WAS the show this year. We pretty much missed all of it, and I was very sad. But the rest of the great weekend made up for it!

Saturday Suggestions: Inspiration for Your Weekend

 

Yesterday felt like Saturday ALL DAY, so it feels strange to be posting this roundup today. Feels late! We had such a great day yesterday, and I’m looking forward to today, too. Be safe in the heat, my friends!  

I love a good party theme, and in my opinion, this is a fun one: an at-home farmer’s market! You ask your guests to bring something fun to share – like a handmade item, baked good, or garden item, and then you set up your gathering area like a farmer’s market. Everyone gets to take home one of the items everyone else brought. It’s kind of like favorite-things-party-meets-farmer’s market!

You know I’ve been hand writing the gospels this year. (Still in Mark right now.) I’m also reading through the whole Bible. (Currently in the gospels.) But Johann Klaassen recorded a reading of the Bible in a year to gift to his grandchildren. Those in my Ezra and Nehemiah studies this year will attest to the fact that some chapters of the Bible are really hard to read out loud because…names! I’m impressed that this guy was able to plow through so many hard names in just a year’s time!

If you like homes with secret rooms, then you should read this! The article features five houses with secret rooms – many accessed by a bookshelf that is really a door. Those are so cool, by the way. Ryan and I wanted to figure out how to install one in our house, but they are a bit on the $$$$$$$$$$ side. Anyway! The houses are fun to explore online!

As a person who chronically struggles to believe for big things, I appreciated Scotty Smith’s words on God’s ability to do big, impossible things. It’s not that I think He can’t. It’s that I simply fail to ask for big, out-of-my-own-control things. If you do too, give this a read and think on it for a while!

You know I prefer to thrift the majority of my clothes, if I can, but I still love reading fashion posts to get ideas, even if I’m not making a purchase new from the stores. I’ve shared many of Audrey’s posts, because I feel like we have similar tastes and this haul post she shared a few weeks ago had and I really liked some of the pieces she shared. Thought I’m typically not a heavy pattern girl, I think the striped pants were my favorite!

Obviously you wouldn’t be able to do all of these every single day (unless you did nothing else!) but it’s a fine list for working to improve your life one little item at a time. Maybe move pray up a little higher than 96, too! 😊

Friday Fun: Celebrating 163 Months

 

What a hot, hot week we’ve had! It’s sort of putting a damper on any fun 4^th of July outdoor activities for this girl! I told Ryan that when the air is chewable, I prefer to stay inside.

                But we did have fun celebrating 163 months of marriage yesterday! We both had work, of course (and I was trying to cram five days of work into one) – but after work, we went on a little date!

                We ventured south to the town of Winchester, Indiana. It’s famous for Wick’s Pies, which we visited a summer or two ago, but this time we went to a new-to-us restaurant called Amazing Joe’s. We’d heard good things and wanted to try it!

                Our server was new, and she was amazing. She was bubbly and excellent at her job, and we were so glad we were seated in her section!

                We both chose tenderloins. I went for grilled with sweet potato fries and Ryan had the classic breaded tenderloin with steak fries. (And we both saved half for the next day, so that means I don’t have to make lunch today!)

                We decided to celebrate the auspicious occasion by sharing a mini apple pie with ice cream. I wanted to LICK THE PLATE.

                After dinner, we drove around town for a while. I’m not sure we’ve ever just explored a town before, and it was really fun! Found some really pretty, stately homes.

                And then we stopped at the Goodwill to thrift for a while. And this was the day I learned not all Goodwills have fitting rooms. They said you have to return what doesn’t fit, but I didn’t want to drive all that way to return thrifted clothes, so I just put back everything I found.

                It was still fun to look!

                We came home, swam through some thick air for a quick walk, and then it was BACK to the air conditioning in a hurry!

                It was such a fun night. I love you, Ryan Shaffer! This life, heat wave and all, is so much more fun by your side.

Throwback Thursday: Annual Conference Adventures

 

My entire summer is laden with first-time adventurers. Last week I spoke in retirement community chapels. This week I went to our church’s annual conference. I’ve been part of a handful of denominations in my lifetime, and I’ve never been to any of their annual conferences until this one. I am not really much of a conference-goer in general, but as part of my schooling, I needed to attend this particular conference at some point. It moves around the country each year, so what a blessing it was that this year it happened to be (for the first time ever) in Fort Wayne!

                I decided to commute to it, since it was close enough for that, but oh my goodness. I can see why even local-ish people decided to get a hotel to be close. The days were long, and when you don’t have a room to pop into between events, you have to carry everything you own with you at all times!

                I thought I’d show you some of the happenings of the week – just in case you’ve never been to such a conference either!

                My first day to attend was Sunday. I rode up with Jonathan and Julie after church, and we got all checked in. My nametag said Rebekah, so I felt like I was in trouble all week long, with people calling me by my full name when they read my tag! They had an exhibit hall full of vendors, and I paid a couple of visits to the bookstore. It was a glorious feeling to be among all the books.

                Jonathan, Julie, and I all went to the New Attendee Orientation so we could better understand what was ahead for us throughout the week. You’ll also notice some coffee appearances throughout this post. The hotel attached to the conference center had a Starbucks in it, which meant I could get coffee without ever venturing into the oppressive heat. Yes, please.

                That evening, the three of us went out to dinner at a burger place across the street, and I immediately jotted that down as a place Ryan and I need to go on a date! After dinner, we went to the opening worship session, which was filled with much music and an encouraging message. By the time we arrived back home, it was nearly 10 p.m. and I had to be up early to be on the road by about 7 the next morning, so I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep!

                Monday was also the first day I had to drive myself and navigate the terrifying parking garage.

                Ready for a new day!

                I sat in on business breakout sessions throughout this entire day. Jonathan was a delegate to the conference, so he had assigned seating with the delegates. Julie didn’t attend on Monday, so I was completely on my own. But I made it! AND I successfully navigated exiting the parking garage as well. (I was also so very thankful that they had concession kiosks for lunch, so once again, I didn’t have to enter the oppressive heat to find a restaurant.)

                Tuesday morning, I think I left home at 5:45, because I went to a networking breakfast with Jonathan and Julie before the conference began. Can we pause to appreciate my veggie omelet? I didn’t eat the potatoes – except a sample of two. They were SO GOOD.

                I was relieved to have friends with me again on this day. Julie and I spent most of the day together while Jonathan tended to his delegate duties.

                Yesterday was the final day of the conference, but I was a little late in arriving, because I had to swing by the hospital first to pray with someone about to have surgery. I was glad to find spaces still available in the parking garage (though I had to go much farther in this time!) and I arrived in time to hear the bulk of the business meeting.

                I was on my own again for the majority of this day, eating concession lunch, finding coffee, and attending more breakout and business sessions.

                By the time I came home, my brain felt mushy, but I was proud of myself for navigating such people-y adventures. I really didn’t know very many people all week, but the tiny handful I did know asked how I enjoyed the conference. I told them all I wasn’t sure, because I hadn’t had time to journal about it yet – and I never know how I feel about something until I write about it. My brain comes out my fingertips and then I know. So maybe I’ll be able to tell you more about that later. But in the meantime, I have now done one more new-to-me thing this summer!

Wednesdays in the Word: Soaking it Up

 

My schedule this week has been absolutely all over the place. Up and out early for the church conference…home at different times each day…trying to squeeze in naps to make up for short nights…and I’ve had to step back (temporarily) from the routine that makes up my day.

                Workouts will have to resurface at the end of the conference. So will reading blogs…reading anything, really…long walks around the lake, cooking, chores, and probably other things I haven’t remembered.

                But aside from quality time with Ryan and Lexi, you know what I really miss the most? Extended study time in the Word. I didn’t realize how much of it I’ve been doing until suddenly I don’t have time to do it. My summer study in Job has been paused for the week, as has my Psalm 37 study. I still haven’t transcribed Sunday’s sermon notes into my Bible, and I just feel behind.

                I’m not undone by it, though once upon a time I would have been. In full transparency, I probably would have been undone more by the boxes not being checked than by the lack of actual study, but it’s different now. Now I miss the study and the heart-fellowship that comes along with it.

                I’ve determined that when the conference concludes, I’m going to do the work I need to do to catch up, but I’m going to earmark a nice chunk of time to simply soaking in the study. I’m not focused on “catching up” for catching up’s sake. I just want to be back in the pages of Scripture, letting it spill into my heart and mind, soaking up all I can.

                I am learning many things this week, which isn’t unusual when you consider I’m attending a conference. But the bulk of what I’m learning is all of a different sort – spurred on by the conference, but not always directly related to it.

                And for this lesson, I’m especially thankful. I’m thankful my heart loves and misses long study sessions. And I can’t wait to return to them.

Tuesday Tales: Entering Twenty Years

 

Some people spend the last day of the month reflecting…peering back over the days just traveled. I love a good reflection and am even doing a bit of it myself today, but my reflective thoughts actually direct my gaze forward to July – and twenty years of blogging.

                I told you on my very first post of 2026 that this year was special because it marked twenty years of sharing thoughts in this space. And now we’re on the eve of the actual month that marks that twenty-year milestone.

                Just for fun, I went back to look at the writing that preceded the blog. Oh yes. There was a precursor.

                Back in 2003, a mere three years after earning a writing-focused college degree, I wanted to try to make my mother happy by USING my degree. My job at the time, in financial aid, didn’t afford me many opportunities to write, and Mom lamented all the time and money poured into that writing degree. I did enjoy writing but didn’t have anything structured that pushed me to write regularly.

                I began by writing an email “column” and the first issue found its way into the inboxes of my two sisters, parents, and my brother-in-law. They didn’t ask to receive it. All of them kindly agreed to remaining on the mailing list, and slowly, Mom and I began adding kind friends who said they wanted to read my weekly thoughts.

                I pressed send on that email every Sunday evening, and it became a good deadline for me to craft something purposeful for others to read.

                Honestly, that was the only goal I had from the very start. I wrote this in the very first issue, as I explained the woes of trying to name the column:

                I’ve decided to just call this “Bits from Bekah’s Life.” That doesn’t commit me to an overly enthusiastic mood each week, and yet it allows me to share whatever traipses its way through my little head as I write.

                I have no specific purpose or structure to this endeavor. Mostly I want to do it just to give me an excuse to write and share…and on the weeks when I feel lazy…a drive to write when I’m more tempted to sleep. I make absolutely no promises that I will dazzle you with profound thoughts each time, but I do hope that upon occasion, I can make you think. Or at the very least, I hope you can relate to something I say because it might reflect something from your own life.

                Three years later, that email list morphed into a blog, set up for me by a friend. Through this space, I’ve met people I never would have otherwise known. I have had the chance to have a ministry in this little corner of the web.

                I haven’t done any of it right in terms of creating a platform. I don’t have subscribers and email lists and all the things I “should” have after twenty years. I haven’t narrowed my niche any more than I had that first week when I clumsily introduced this writing endeavor.

                But I have been myself, and I have grown and changed in this space just as I’ve grown and changed in my life.

                My friend Michele sent me a screenshot the other day of an AI summery of my blog – which she accidentally found as she tried to visit the actual blog.

                “Bekah is a lifestyle and faith blogger who…writes about her life, marriage, and personal projects. She and her husband, Ryan, produced and hosted Spill the Beans, a relationship and chat podcast that ran for over 200 episodes. She shares her daily life, routines, and thoughts on Instagram.”

                As much as I hate to give AI too much credit, that is accurate. And I’m proud of that. Twenty years in, I’m not upset that I haven’t amassed a following and found this perfect little niche, and given that I hate the word “collab,” I’m not even upset about not forming networking partnerships with brands.

                I write about life and faith. I always have. My perspectives have grown, changed, and deepened over the years, but I’m just me. I’m here for recipes and stories, scrapbookable moments, vacation recaps, and fun funds.

                So as we stand on the edge of this month that marks 20 years, thanks for being here. Thanks for reading along. Thanks for sharing your lives with me, meeting me in real life, and encouraging me in this little corner. I do love it here. Let’s keep going, shall we?

PS: Throwback to Bekah of 2003...and 2006!