When Adulting is Fun

Two nights ago, we didn't get home until almost midnight. (I know. We live on the edge.) I'd spoken at a church for their women's event, and by the time we stopped a few places on the way home, it was past our bedtime on a school night. 

Ryan's dinner had worn off, so he rummaged around for some chips and salsa, and while he did, I found a TV show to watch. And I told him this was the part of being an adult that was every bit as much fun as my childhood-self dreamed it would be.

I was such a weird kid. I declared a curfew for myself when I was a seventh grader, and I stuck to it pretty religiously (on school nights, anyway) until I went to college. I put myself to bed at 9:45 and turned out the lights at 10:15. For the half hour in between, I journaled, did my devotions, and read in a book if I had extra time. Came up with the whole plan myself. (How lucky were my parents?) (Don't worry. I am sure I gave them headaches in other areas.)

But even then, with rules I could blame on no one but myself, I dreamed of adulthood when such rules did not exist. I could stay up as late as I wanted. I could have a late-night snack if I wanted. I could watch TV at midnight (from my bed!) if I wanted. I could stay up all night if I wanted.

And I have done all those things. Don't misunderstand: Ryan and I still try to get to bed at a decent time because there is that evil alarm thing that happens every single morning. We try to be responsible adults. But we also occasionally cash in on the freedom to break the rules because we make them and therefore we can break them.

So sometimes we stay out until midnight. And when we come home, we eat chips and salsa. (Just Ryan this time, but I've been known to do it!) Sometimes we start a movie at 11:00 and fall asleep watching it. And while we don't really pull all-nighters, we could. (And I frequently did when I was single. I still remember one night when I started writing before I went to bed and stayed up until 4:00 in the morning. I slept for two hours and went to church!)

Adulthood comes with its fair share of headaches, doesn't it? I'm looking at you, tax season. The whole bill-paying, appointment-keeping, job-reporting can sometimes annoy us, but I believe adulthood isn't all bad. There are fun liberties we get to take that are every bit as delightful as they seemed from the childhood perspective.

Some of my personal favorites have included:

* Getting up at 4 in the morning to go to the donut shop, eating a donut on the way home, and then going back to bed for a few more hours.

* Having a slumber party on the living room floor and falling asleep watching movies.

* Eating cake for breakfast. (Or any other non-breakfast food.)

* Going for a late-night walk when the weather is too pretty to miss, even if it's too dark to see.

* Driving all night to start a vacation early. (We can't handle it anymore, but it was fun when it happened!)

* Spontaneous trips out of town for shopping and fun.

* Napping in the hammock.

These are the moments that make up (mostly, anyway) for taxes and oil changes. :)

Anything you do that we should try? I'm turning 40, you know. Time to maximize my adulting experiences. 

Having a Little Fun

Thanks for looking at the behind-the-scenes glimpses of our retreat weekend over the last couple of days. We worked hard and did our best to be available to the women while we were together with them, but it wasn't all work and no play. We did have some fun, too! Wanna see?

Friday night, after the opening session, the ladies played Let's Make a Deal. One of the women served as the game show host ("Chuck") and Ryan played the announcer. They were both SO GOOD at what they did. I laughed and laughed and laughed at Chuck! "He" was so good at staying in character and rolling with all the unexpected moments. I could never do that with such grace. (Even funny things can be a gift...and that's a gift I don't have, but I sure do appreciate those who do!)

Here I am with Bob the announcer (who looks suspiciously like Ryan):

And here are Bob and Chuck.

Seriously SO funny.

I have a couple of tiny clips of Ryan in action. The sound might be a bit low...I was pretty far back in the room.

In other news...check out the size of the sugar cookie from the Doughbox Bakery!!!!

We went to a diner for lunch on Saturday, based on the recommendation of my friend Trudy and her mom. (They even ate with us!) It was SO GOOD, and Ryan was super excited about his coconut cream pie. He wanted his picture with it. (He is always a good sport about me taking his picture, but he does not often ASK for a picture with food, so when he does, I figure it's a big deal!)

A couple of friend pictures. My friend Trudy grew up in this church conference, so she and her mom were there and it was fun to talk with her. And I made new friends, too!!

So it was a great weekend, with learning, praying, crying, fun, conversations, hugs, and so much more. Thanks for coming along for a virtual trip! :)

Your Story Matters Retreat

While it's not completely void of funny stories, we have a few more serious podcast moments for you this week. We're taking you behind the scenes of our retreat weekends to see what they mean to us and what we hope and pray we are accomplishing!

 Listen here!

God has put a HUGE passion in my heart for helping people understand why their stories matter so much. (They really do!) I've spoken on this before, but always in a single session event - like a banquet. This past weekend, I had the chance to speak on it in a retreat format. Three sessions (plus a quick class) to unpack the importance of this topic! I have some pictures from the weekend I thought I'd share with you! (Ryan took most of them, but I did find a couple on Facebook from women who attended, so I borrowed those.)

(They made really adorable shirts with the retreat them on them. LOVED this shirt! I scrapped my original Friday night outfit to wear this instead.)

 My stash o stuff for speaking: my little cross, a stone, and my nametag!

The first session took place Friday night, and we talked about why our testimonies matter. (There's no such thing as a boring testimony!)

These two ladies led the music portion of the weekend, and they did a wonderful job. Loved the songs they chose! (And learned a couple of new ones!)

 This was before I got up to speak; one of the ladies shared some devotional thoughts at each session, and she did a great job.

 Session one!

We had some fun with a game after the first session, but I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

Saturday afternoon, we had a short class to learn some of the nuts and bolts of HOW to write your story, but I don't think I have any pictures from that.

That evening was the second session, and it was about why our life stories matter!

(These first two pictures were borrowed from Facebook.) It was such a kind thing that someone prayed over me each time before I spoke!

 Ryan took these pictures:

Sunday morning was the last session, and it was hard to share! I did manage to cry part of the way through it, but not all the way through it! So yay!!! (And I had many sympathetic tears from the ladies, so it didn't feel so lonely to cry!)

I borrowed these first two photos. Ryan did the drawing for the door prize. :)

 Recap of the weekend!

And Ryan's pictures from Sunday morning:

My heart was so full after this beautiful weekend! Grateful to experience it and make new friends!

Ohio Bound!

We are home again! What a wonderful weekend we just had. I think I lived more emotions in this weekend than...well...maybe ever! Whew!

This past weekend, I had the privilege of speaking at a women's retreat over in Archbold, Ohio. I hadn't been to Archbold since my WBCL days, and Ryan had never been there, so we had sort of a double bonus weekend. Fun trip and important work!

Ryan took off the whole day on Friday, and in a last minute plot twist, I did not have carpool duty, so we got to enjoy a lovely, leisurely morning at home that I am pretty sure we both needed! We left about 10:30 and stopped over in Fairmount to have coffee and lunch at a fairly new coffee shop we hadn't yet tried! (Thanks, Fairmount Wesleyan women for the gift card you gave us a few weeks ago! We loved our lunch and thought of you!)

If you're around here and haven't been to The Branch yet, you should go! The food portions are crazy generous, and the coffee is delicious!!! (And also - how can you NOT love the little "trays" made of wood? I am such a sucker for adorable presentation. Sigh.)

We were blessed with a beautiful day for a drive. Just stunning. It couldn't have been accused of being overly warm, but that's the beauty of being in a car. Temperature outside doesn't matter! We were so grateful for sunny skies. Hello, Ohio!

The retreat was held at the Sauder Heritage Inn. When I visited Archbold with the WBCL ladies a few years back, we went to the Sauder Village complex, and I saw the Inn, but I didn't tour it then. I did, however, tour the Doughbox Bakery and remembered it with such fondness that I knew Ryan needed to go there first! (He immediately renamed it the Doughboy.)

We got a few treats to enjoy throughout the weekend, and then we went to check into our room and get set up in the room where the sessions would be held.

About the hotel, I would simply like to say...ummmmm WOW. It was beautiful. We had to take a tour of craftsmanship before the weekend was over, because there was just so much character to be found throughout! Wanna see?

Yeah it was huge. HUGE!

 Look at this!!!! Oh, you know, just a double sided fireplace in the lobby...

 And some fish ponds....

 And these BEAMS! I was so in awe of them.

 Ryan has decided we need a fake indoor tree in our house.

 So we can do photos like this one.

(I'll get back with you on whether or not that actually pans out for him.)

Our room was so lovely and comfortable. (I did not lose a moment's sleep all weekend.)

After we got all unpacked in our room, we headed down to the session room to do sound checks and get the Power Point all hooked up and set up my book table. I was so grateful Ryan was there, because he was able to help get all the sound equipment set up for the music crew, and we had everything arranged with just enough time to grab some dinner before the Friday night session. Here's a peek at the room before the weekend got underway!

I'll tell you more about the weekend itself tomorrow! :)

The Shafferland Shuffle

Good morning, friends! Happy Sunday to you! Hope you're having a great weekend and that all your brackets are going well. (I actually know nothing about brackets, but my Facebook feed indicates there may be some twists taking place!)

Meanwhile, here in the land of have-no-clue-about-brackets, here's what we've been up to!

* Well of course you remember that last Sunday was the changeover to new time. Oh help. I drank a lot of coffee that day. It was communion Sunday at our church, and it was rest day at our house. Despite losing an hour, it was a really lovely day of naps and Bible study and watching TV and taking it easy.

* Braeya and I did laundry on Monday. (HA!) I've never seen her camp out by the washer and dryer like this before. I don't know if her favorite shirt was in there or what. Who can figure that girl out much of the time!!?!? I spent all day prepping for speaking, which included taking pictures of random things around our house like our jar of stones! And whenever I can document Ryan reading, I try to make sure I do. (Last minute Bible study review prep for him.)

* Tuesday morning, on the way to school, Sister told me she liked my curly wig. I hated to disappoint her that it was my real hair, but in case it really was a good hair day, I took a picture. I think Tuesday was the craziest weather day I've ever seen - even in Indiana! Fog, snow, sun, rotating throughout the day. It was so weird! We had Bible study that night, and one of the ladies brought angel food cake and strawberries for a snack. Her strawberries were so tasty. It made me want summer even more!

* Ryan had a carry in at work on Wednesday, so I got up and baked cinnamon rolls for him to take. Do you know how hard it is to bake cinnamon rolls and wave goodbye to them? Sigh. We were both pretty exhausted by the end of Wednesday, so it was good to have a whole night at home to read and catch up on things!

* For as weird as the weather was on Tuesday, it was SO PRETTY on Thursday! Sunshine for most of the day and a chance for a quick walk? Yes please! I spent the day packing for the retreat I spoke at this weekend - checking, double checking, and triple checking my lists, and snacking on more of those delicious strawberries. Three cheers for leftovers!

* Friday morning, Ryan and I headed out for the retreat where I spoke this weekend. We stopped at a coffee shop on the way so we could have a little lunch date, and then we got all set up in our room for the retreat! They were expecting about 120 women for this one, and they were just so kind in getting everything ready to go for us. The first session went well, and we felt very loved by this group!

* Yesterday was a full retreating day, and we enjoyed learning from others as well as serving the ladies! One of my friends attended the retreat and suggested lunch at this 50's style diner in town, so we went. WOW! Such good food. Ryan wanted a picture with his pie. I didn't blame him!

So that's been our week! We are wrapping up our retreat this morning and wouldn't turn away a single prayer. My last session is particularly close to my heart and even though I don't for a moment doubt the power of its message, it is going to be a hard one to deliver!

The Saturday Six

One.

Farmhouse finds at IKEA? It's like the most fun of all the worlds! I just told Ryan last week we need to go back to IKEA and spend more time there. I miss it already!

Two.

I had an article featured on Annesley this week. A few thoughts on my upcoming turning-forty chapter!

Three.

April 7th, you guys! Trading Spaces will be back on TLC on April 7th! YAAAAAAAAYYY!!!! (If you missed the first run a decade or so ago, let me just tell you it was fun. Hoping it will be again!

Four.

Do you like Peeps? I think they're kind of a love/hate thing for most people. (I'm not a fan.) But like them or not, what do you think of these new flavor ideas? 

Five.

Oh. My. Goodness. A mom gave her daughter's dollhouse an honest-to-goodness Fixer Upper style makeover. ON A DOLLHOUSE! It is adorable!

Six.

Source

If you've been reading here very long at all, you've heard me talk about the Dashing Dish website and my love for it. I stumbled upon it in the early days of Pinterest and have been hooked ever since. Katie Farrell is the creator of the site, and she has a passion for helping people live a healthy lifestyle through clean eating and exercise. She creates recipes that are healthy versions of beloved dishes, and we have made a lot of them. I don't pay to be a member of many things, but I do pay for this and find it well worth the investment!

Back when I worked at WBCL, Katie published a couple of books. One was a devotional and the other a cookbook. Lynne and I both interviewed her during my time there, and she is as delightful to speak with as she is on her website.

Just a couple of months ago, Katie released a third book, and the title of this one is Nourish. This book is a combination of Katie's story and her practical advice for transforming not just your life, but your way of thinking so you can live a healthier lifestyle.

I knew bits and pieces of Katie's back story from reading her blog throughout these last few years, but the book gave more details than I'd read before, and it was helpful for me to understand exactly where she was coming from in her own battle with food/weight/self-image. I think it's always great to know the person giving you advice comes from a place of personal wrestling and isn't just shouting commands.

What I really appreciated about this book is something I have never before seen in any book on this subject, and it makes me respect Katie even more. Most of the time, books on health, nutrition, and exercise ask you to subscribe to a specific lifelong plan or buy into a particular method that's guaranteed to make a change. What bothers me about those plans (some of which I have even done!) is that most are not sustainable for life. Most will work for a time - maybe even a decent amount of time - but not forever. Not in a way that allows you to really live and enjoy life while maintaining the requirements.

Katie doesn't do that. In fact, she even goes so far as to say that when she realized she had a problem with food and asked God to help her, she began her transformation with prayer and Scripture reading. God led her to the verse that says we're not to conform to the pattern of the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And for Katie, that's what an approach to food and exercise is all about: a transformation of the mind.

She teaches basic principles for healthy eating - the things to gravitate toward and the things to avoid and why, but she doesn't preach a calorie-specific plan or tell you there are some things you can never have again as long as you live. She offers suggestions for why your relationship with food might be destructive and ways to replace harmful thoughts with helpful ones.

She offers the same principles with exercise, too, and above all, she teaches that all bodies aren't created to look the same. Some people are naturally bigger, some are naturally smaller, and what matters most is that you find the healthy spot God created you to live in. She also teaches how to treat every area of life as an act of worship, including food and exercise.

I really appreciated Katie's guidance, and even though I've been a believer most of my life, I learned some good spiritual truths in the pages of her book - a bonus to the healthy tidbits I learned.

While the book is decidedly focused on nutrition, the overall theme of nourishing your body can apply to so many things that cause people to stumble. You might even find help for some other concerns within its pages!

I highly recommend this book, especially if you struggle with your body-image. It's very easy to read. She doesn't get too theological or too academic in her descriptions, and her words are so encouraging.

So glad I bought this book, and I declare it a keeper!