Class Reunion, Part Two

Reunion stories and photos are below, but we also told a bunch more stories on today's podcast! Enjoy!

Listen here!

The main part of the reunion was Saturday night at a little local restaurant in downtown Kokomo called Cook McDoogal's. Ryan has been there before, but I hadn't, and neither of us even knew they had a party room on the entire second floor of the building. It was perfect for the reunion!

Oh! Here we are before we left home. I needed to get a picture of the curls before they died. LOL.

In the podcast, there's the whole story of the time debacle, so I won't rehash it here, but let's just say we went early enough to just talk with people before dinner. And it was really fun. I even had fun talking to friends from Ryan's class!

This is Ryan's cousin, John, who was also in his class. John and Heather live out in Iowa, and we hardly ever get to see them. (They were at the football game with us too, but they were chasing their kiddos around and I wasn't sure they wanted that preserved for posterity with a Bekahrazzi photo!)

This was the only candid shot I took, because it turns out these people are ONTO candid shots. All of them turned to look at me as soon as I started to sneak it. LOL! Ryan, Jerry and Kendall (from the football game stories) and the plus one of another classmate. This guy was a great storyteller!

Ryan and Misty, who was one of his classmates. We just found out that very night that Misty and our friend Shawn are really good friends, so we took this to send to Shawn! (I remember Misty from high school but I am pretty sure the reunion was her first time to meet me. LOL!)

 Photo props for the win! I was excited about those! These next two pictures are of Ryan and his friend Cobi, but they're Cobi's pictures, so photo credit goes to her! :)

 Another borrowed photo: here we are with our friend Melissa. She was kind enough to take one with us and I was kind enough to steal it! :) But she gets credit!

Proof that we were there. :)

Ryan and Jerry - 

And then, as promised in the podcast, here's the recreation of the four guys who were great friends in high school, reunited together for the first time (all four) twenty years later:

LOVE IT!!! :) 

So there you go! Reunion success! :)

Class Reunion, Part One

This weekend was Ryan's 20th high school class reunion (or 40th...he got confused on last week's podcast). Seems I remember him picking on me for a similar milestone last year, but I will refrain from doing the same to him this year. :)

His reunion was actually a two-day event, and originally, he only planned to go to the second night. (Let me back up. Originally he didn't plan to go at all, but I tried to convince him it would be really fun to see friends he never gets to see.)

Once we knew Miss Phoebe would have care-givers for the weekend, we were free to go to both nights, and we did. And I think he really was glad he went!

Ryan was as outgoing and welcoming in high school as he is now, so it's no surprise he had a lot of friends and still has them, even if we don't get to see most of them very often.

One of his friends, Jerry, lives in Texas, and those two hadn't seen each other for quite a few years. In fact, we had never even met Jerry's wife, except through the wonder of Facebook. Jerry asked if we wanted to meet up with the two of them for dinner before Friday night's festivities, and of course we said yes!

(There are no photos of this dinner because it was my first time to see Jerry in 21 years and my first time ever to meet his wife, and I was trying to unleash the Bekahrazzi slowly. Let's not overwhelm the nice people!)

Friday night's fun? Attending a football game at our high school. This marked my first ever football game at my own school. What!?!?!?!

 It was absolutely PERFECT football weather. Seriously could not have chosen a better night. And while there weren't a ton of his classmates at the game, those of us who were there had fun together! (Yes, I do remember I was not part of this class, but I knew all the people who were there, so it felt like I was part of it.)

I did muster up enough courage to ask Jerry and Kendall for a group selfie:

At halftime, I walked to our car to get more bug spray, because the night before that, I got a mosquito bite ON MY NOSE. I can't afford for that to get any bigger, so I wanted to be sure to stay bug free at the game. On my way back, the sunset was so pretty over the field:

The second half of the game was way more exciting than the first, and in the last few seconds, we won!

After the game, Jerry and Ryan went up into the press box to see one of their other really good friends (who announced the game), Peter.

It may have been a bit on the small side for a reunion (part two, which I'll show you tomorrow, was bigger) but it was a really fun night!

The Shafferland Shuffle

First of all, a happy 63rd wedding anniversary to my parents! I posted this picture to Facebook earlier this week: both our weddings, 58 years and 1200(ish) miles apart!

It has been an eventful week here in Shafferland! Ready to peek inside?

* Last Sunday, Ryan and I got up and scurried around for church...got ALL ready, and realized we were a half hour early. Good grief. A half hour of potential sleep: GONE! It was a really pretty morning, so we just poured some coffee and went for a walk around the neighborhood! Sunday was sign-up day for small groups at our church, so we helped work the table to get people registered. And then of course that afternoon, the return of Ryan's favorite season! FOOTBALL!! Okay, so it's pre-season, but it still counts!

* Monday, I went to see Ryan at work during lunch, and while we worked on a selfie, we got photo-bombed by his co-worker. Hee hee hee. He had a long day and was exhausted when he got home. Nap time! (Which also means I can't resist a photo!) We had quesadillas for dinner with homemade guacamole. Yum!

* Tuesday began our big adventure for the next little bit. Phoebe is boarding with us for a while! I tried to explain to Braeya, when the crate moved in, that her dearly beloved sister would be staying here for a bit. I don't think she fully comprehended that. (She does now.) We had a fun start to Pheebs's stay, though. Long walks and curling up to watch AGT!

* I had Wednesday "off work" from carpooling duty, so I got to spend the whole day working from home, with  my temporary #1 assistant, Phoebe. She's the cutest! We even went through the Wendy's drive-thru that night and she got her very own dog biscuit. (She was VERY excited.)

* Thursday was filled with more Phoebe adventures, INCLUDING brushing her for the first time. She has curly hair and does NOT like to be brushed. It so reminded me of my childhood when my mom would sit with me and douse me in No More Tangles before combing out my tangles. Phoebe got a cookie at the end of her brushing. How come that never happened to me? LOL!!

* Friday, Phoebes (human) brothers came to get her for the weekend, because Ryan and I had big plans! It was the kickoff of his 20 year class reunion. One of his best friends from high school (and his wife) flew in from Texas and the four of us went out to dinner and then met up with some other classmates at the high school football game. Would you believe this was my first high school football game AT our high school? It was fun!

* Yesterday was a FULL day! Ryan worked in the morning, and then we scurried out for an alphabetical date that was SO MUCH FUN! We got home jut in time to get ready and go to night #2 of Ryan's class reunion! So many stories to come...

The Saturday Six

One.

This was a fun article I stumbled across this week. If you like to thrift and need a side job...seems like this lady has quite a nice little hustle going on!

Two.

There's a huge house a few miles from where I grew up, but it wasn't the big old house that fascinated me. It was the little old cabin in the yard beside it. I always thought it would make a fascinating writing studio. This isn't an exact match, but it's similar, and even though the designer uses it for her primary residence, I'd still turn it into the coziest library/studio ever! 

Three.

If you're an Indiana person looking for some new local places to try (specifically if you enjoy good root beer), here's a list! I've been to one of the eight. LOL. Guess I have some catching up to do!

Four.

I read on Facebook this week that it's been ten years since friends of mine from college began to walk an excruciating road. Their almost-five year old son lost part of his leg in a lawnmower accident. Ten years. I remember reading the news and praying with them for his physical and emotional healing. This week, they shared again the link to the blog they wrote back then. Quite an amazing journey. It's been a joy to see Bryson grow and thrive in this last decade!

Five.

When Ryan and I were on our "P" date over in Marion last week, we ran into a couple in the park who told us about some upcoming events that are free and open to the public. I wanted to share this one in case you're in the general vicinity and want to check it out! On Saturday, September 9, from 1-5 p.m. there's a Monarch Festival at Matter Park in Marion. They have some programs and demonstrations scheduled, monarch tagging (I didn't even know that was a thing, but it is! They tag monarchs and release them and then track their migratory route to see how many make it to Mexico!) and even an ice cream social. So if you're looking for some fun for your kids or yourself, there you go!


Six.

Source

I really branched out with my book reading this week! John A. Beck has just released a book called The Holy Land for Christian Travelers. Even though I am not personally planning a trip to Israel, I though this book looked intriguing, because I wanted to see what I could learn about the geography and customs of that area!

First, I thought the book was very easy to understand, and I appreciated that. It wasn't so academic that it ran over my head. Anytime he did explain something complex, he did so quite thoroughly. There are full-color photos throughout the book, and there are also many maps that help you get a better sense of distance and location.

John said something in the introduction to the book that really set the tone, I thought: "As you explore this land, you will quickly see that the Bible is at home here. And you will become more at home in your Bible as you travel the promised land." (p. 13). Even though I may never get to see this land in person, it does help me have a better sense of the area as I read and study Scripture on my own!

At the beginning of the book, the author explains that if you are traveling to Israel, the number of places you will get to see are (obviously) subject to the length of time you plan to stay. He offers three potential itineraries: three, five, and twelve days in length, to help you space out what you should see in the amount of time you have.

He provides addresses, hints on whether or not a particular site has fees associated with it, and a warning about dress code if you need to be careful what you wear to make sure you are respectful to the reverence of a particular area. Also, for travelers, he varies the amount of information he shares about each site depending on whether or not it's a "must-see" location or not, and how much on-site information is shared for visitors to read while there.

He then divides the book geographically, offering a section to Jerusalem itself, Jerusalem and beyond, the coastal plain, and the central mountains (divided by south, central, and north). This division choice helps you quickly find a location if you're there and needing to see more about your surroundings.

But even if you aren't there, this book is very helpful in tying in events from the Bible (he gives Scripture references to back everything) to modern day locations. He explains which locations are likely the actual place something happened in Bible times and which ones are just traditional celebrations of a Bible event, even if we don't know where it actually happened. While much of the writing is factual and explanatory, he does tie in some teaching, by urging you to reflect on certain portions of Scripture and what each place means to it.

I learned about locations that I hadn't even realized were significant, and I learned more about locations that I knew about, but maybe didn't fully know about.

I'm keeping this book on my shelf for study reference, and if I ever happen to make it to Israel, it would definitely be a guide to take with me!

** Baker books provided a copy of this book to me at no charge. All opinions are my own. **

How I Made My Prayer Binder

I have mentioned a couple of times on here that I recently made a binder to help me better organize my prayer life. I've had a few questions about how it works, so I thought I would do a little explanation post for you today!

I began by finding my inspiration where I find almost all my creative inspiration: Pinterest! :) I found this post at the Stone Soup for Five blog and used that as my main inspiration for creating my binder. (I made a few modifications to fit my own needs, since I don't have the same life circumstances as that blogger.)

I had a plain old regular binder hanging out on the bookshelf, so I used that, but if you need one, RUN TO THE STORE NOW to get one! Three words: school supply sale. I made a cover sheet using the lovely printables from the Daily Dwelling blog.

For my tabbed dividers, I repurposed the color coded tabs I got for the conference I attended this summer. I had deconstructed that binder after the conference ended, so they were ready to be reused! You could, of course, use any old dividers, but I like these, from Avery, that are thick and have a slot in each one to hold papers as needed. (That way if I'm at church and get a prayer list at some kind, for example, I can slide it down in that divider/folder until I get home.

For my paper, I used regular old loose leaf notebook paper.

* I printed blank monthly calendar pages (my personal favorites are these from Scattered Squirrel) for the rest of the year. (Scattered Squirrel also has 2018 calendar pages available on her site.) I hole punched the calendar pages and put them in the front of the binder. If someone has a prayer request for a specific day (doctor's appointment, etc.) I can write it on that calendar square. Every day, I look at the calendar to see if there are any specific things that need my prayer attention that day.

Then I have my individual tabbed sections. These might need to look different for you, depending on what happens in your everyday life. But here are mine:

* Praise and Adoration. This is where I write down words of praise, song lyrics, or anything else that offers praise to God. I've been trying to get in the habit of listening to praise songs on YouTube while I get ready in the mornings. If a song stands out to me, I try to write it (and the date) in this section.

* Confession. This is where I write down ares of my life that aren't pleasing to the Lord or attitudes I need to confess and conquer. I haven't always been good at examining my heart regularly to look for things that aren't what they should be, so this is a great form of accountability for me to do so more regularly.

* Waiting. Sometimes I pray about things that I'm not sure when (or if) God will bring to pass in my life. I wanted to have a way to document the trail of prayers that accompany them so I can better see how God works in my heart as I pray along.

* Scripture and Quotes. Occasionally (and often through social media) I stumble upon verses or quotes that stand out to me as meaningful for my current season. I've been keeping them in my journal, but I decided to try to record them here instead so I can find them faster!

* Ryan. I wanted a section where I can write specific requests and prayers over Ryan. (If you don't have a husband, but that's a longing of your heart, you could always make a section for your someday husband!)

* Bekah. Yes, I have a section for myself. I think it's important to pray for yourself, for the roles you fill, and for the needs you have. I wanted a place to record those that are mine specifically.

(NOTE! If you have children, you could add tabs for them. Since, we don't have kids, I just made tabs for the two of us.)

* Our Ministry. I am careful to pray over the writing and speaking ministries God has given me, and I am also eager to pray over the new ministries God has brought and is bringing to us as a couple. I wanted a section just for those prayers.

* Listening. Ahhhhh, the part where you stop talking and start listening! Always hard to do, isn't it? But I wanted a place to write things I sensed the Lord pressing on my heart, so I made a specific section for it.

(NOTE! The above sections are ones I visit regularly but perhaps not daily. In other words, I don't sit down every single morning and make my way through eight sections. Some days I do, but some days I may focus on one or two and not the rest. But they are all there for me to reference as needed.

The next part of my binder divides the week into days. I have chosen an area to focus on in prayer each day of the week. It's not that I can't or won't pray from another day's section on any given day, but this helps me make sure I give focus to each area in depth at least once a week. This is also the section of the prayer binder that Ryan and I use together in our prayer time each morning. As we see each specific prayer answered, we cross it off and write the date beside it. (We also write the date we begin praying for something specific so we can see the start and end dates.)

Monday: Family. We pray for our families in a broad sense every Monday, but we also lift up specific requests if we know about them.

Tuesday: Friends. We pray for our friends on Tuesday, and we always lift up every specific request we've been given.

Wednesday: Prayer Teams. I have a specific team of people who prays for my writing and speaking ministry, so whenever they have a request, I put it in this section and pray over it on Wednesdays. Likewise, we are prayer partners for other friends in their ministries, so if they have something specific that needs prayer, we also put it in this section.

Thursday: Church and People. It's handy that this binder is also where I take sermon notes, because it means it's always with me when I go to church. Last Sunday, a friend had some needs and I just grabbed the binder and wrote them in there right away. No forgetting or losing the bulletin with the prayer request on it! This is the day we pray over specific ministries within our church home and also the people in it who ask us to pray for something in particular.

Friday: Our Marriage. Yes, I know, we already had our own tabs earlier, but those tabs are more for what's happening in each of our individual lives. On Fridays we pray for our marriage, its protection and its example before others.

Saturday: Our Nation and World. Enough said, right?

Sunday: Reflection and Thanks. Every Sunday, I flip back through the other sections to be reminded of what God has done throughout that week and summarize a prayer of thanks in this section. It's encouraging to see specific answers that have come about since the week beforee!

Teaching Notes. The final section is where I take notes on sermons, Sunday School lessons, and any other teaching I receive in any capacity. That way I can find the information quickly and easily!

So there you go! I'm sure as time goes along, I'll modify and tweak my process, but to begin, this is how it works. I love how it has helped me become more intentional about prayer and has encouraged me in seeing specific results.

Need a Phoebe Fix?

Everyone needs a little Phoebe on a Thursday, right!?!?

We watched Pheebs for a bit on Saturday, and it was a pretty perfect day weather-wise, which meant we could go for walks!

Phoebe rocks at walking. We are always amazed at how well she does when she walks past houses with yippy dogs, and she totally ignores them and goes on her merry way. It really makes walking all kinds of delightful.

Know something else she rocks at? RESTING!

And watching movies!

Sweet girl. :)

She's back for a few days, and we're having fun with her! I have a few more pictures for you!

Lunchtime!

Eating is actually our biggest struggle with her. This is a struggle I don't understand. I mean, it's food. EAT IT!!! LOL. She actually does pretty well. Just takes her a little minute to get her new eating groove. (Doesn't that happen to all of us when we're out of our routine?)

Naptime!!! Well. For some of us. Basically everyone sleeps except Bekah.

Visiting Ryan at work on a hot day means cashing in on cool floors.

So that's a peek into our fun the last couple of days. 

Looking forward to more adventures with the Pheebster!

Linking up with Tamar (who has BEAUTIFUL photos of her new digs!)

SOMEONE Has a Class Reunion This Week!

It may be twenty years, it may be forty years...we're not sure.

(If you heard the podcast yesterday, that last part will make sense to you.)

But anyway. If you're not sure who has the reunion, let me give you a hint:

Does he look familiar?

Does he look like someone who might marry this girl in about fifteen years?

In honor of the forthcoming reunion, his classmates have been posting some throwback pictures, and I thought it only fair to let you see them, too!

Show choir for the win! He can still fit in that outfit, you know.

Anyway. Back to twenty/forty years ago:

I think there need to be a few recreated photos, don't you? OOOOH! Or he should wear the letter jacket!

Happy reunion week, husband of mine! :)