It's Snow Pretty

Yesterday was one of those delightful teases of spring. Sure, it was cold, but the sun made a full appearance for the entire day, so by the time I got home from work, our sun porch felt all springy. The neighbors were out with their (apparently new) dog, playing games, and it reminded me of just how much I long for spring to arrive...and stay!

With all this promise-of-spring so fresh in my mind, I hesitate to post these snow pictures, because I fear it will invite winter to return. Nevertheless, it really was so pretty, and I want to remember it later! This was just a week ago, and it was one of those absolutely perfect, wet snows. The morning after it fell, the wind stayed calm, so the snow stayed put in all its fluffy beauty.

Even with all the snow, we did have a little hope of spring by the end of that day!

Hello, pleasingly plump robins! It's snow good to see you!

Marion County Tour

This past weekend, while we were celebrating Valentine's Day in Indianapolis, we decided to official mark this county off our tour schedule! (If you're new here, we are in a quest to visit every county in the state and are 1/3 of the way to our goal.)

Despite Marion County's status as the home of our capitol city and consequently home of so much to do, it was actually challenging to come up with our plan, because we have already done so much there!

It all went back to our very first date, when Ryan planned an amazing day in downtown Indianapolis. We did a paddleboat ride on the canal, went to the zoo, and had a picnic in White River State Park.

Then, right before we got married, he took me to my first Colts game - at Lucas Oil Stadium.

We went on a double date to the Melting Pot - back in our first year of marriage, when we often went on double dates with our friends Mike and Angie. (They have since moved to the Pacific Northwest and have made me fall in LOVE with that part of the country...via photos!)

We spent our anniversary in Indianapolis, actually, enjoying a hotel right on Monument Circle (even though our donuts ended up mysteriously eaten from our room), watching the lighting of the tree on the circle, going to a Gaither Christmas concert at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, checking out another Colts game, and touring the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

We went on another double date with Mike and Angie - this time to Fogo de Chao for a proper food coma.

I planned a date for Ryan to see Pentatonix at the Old National Centre. (We stood outside in line for an hour and a half, where I developed actual icicles on my eyelashes.)

Ryan planned a surprise date with a downtown city scavenger hunt!

We did an escape room (with a bunch of other people we didn't know) and had a blast!

We had a fancy date night at the Eagle's Nest, a rotating restaurant downtown.

We went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - and the Christmas lights downtown - and had dinner at Scotty's Brewhouse.

We celebrated Ryan's 39th birthday with lunch at Giordano's and coffee at a downtown coffee shop. (And a failed attempt to tour Lucas Oil Stadium.)

We walked with our friend Pat in the kidney walk two summers ago.

On a very rainy day, we had coffee at Porter Books and Bread, near Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park.

And on our way home from an anniversary trip, we did a Christmas tour of Garfield Park Conservatory.

So as you can see, we've done quite a few things in Marion County, but we hadn't officially marked it off the list.

 I learned that the county was created almost 200 years ago and was named for Francis Marion, a Brigadier General from South Carolina. The county grew rapidly in population a few years later when the state capital was moved there from Corydon in southern Indiana. It is the largest county in the state!

As you saw a couple of days ago, our official county tour was a two day stay, inspired by Ryan's amazing Valentine's Day surprise getaway!

We stayed in a super cute Airbnb on the 10th floor of an apartment building overlooking the canal with a breathtaking view of the skyline. Everything about that place was vacation perfection, let me tell you.

We ate dinner at Burgerhaus - which was right in the same building where we stayed.

And we got coffee at Quills - which was a cute coffee shop ALSO right in the building.

So all that was Valentine's night.

The next morning we got up to the most AMAZING sunrise right there over the skyline. Indy, you sure are pretty.

We got all packed up so we could check out by ten (boo...the one bad thing about the Airbnb...super early checkout) and headed back to Quills for more coffee and a muffin...

AND!!!!!!

Guess who happened to be passing through the city on the way to visit family? Our dear Mark and Lynnette and their new baby! Because I was fighting germs, I didn't hold the baby (which very nearly caused me to keel over right there on the spot) but OH my she is cute as a button and has grown so much since we met her in November!

We spent about an hour together before they had to get on their way, and we moved on with our county tour, but what a fun blessing this was!

Our next stop was to walk the canal, which wasn't new for us, but it was new for us to walk it in the winter. It was just as beautiful, ice and all!

It was also bright and we didn't have our sunglasses on us.

We found the paddleboats we rode on our first date!

And we got a picture with "our hotel." On our first date, we did a picture with this hotel in the background, and when we started planning our wedding, we decided we wanted to stay in that hotel o our wedding night. Of course, getting married in Florida sort of put a wrench in that plan. Ha! We've still never stayed there, but we still take pictures with it any chance we get!

We also found our Airbnb building! In this first photo, I'm pretty sure we were the third balcony from the left on the top floor.

We ate lunch at a Chick-fil-A in the mall...

And headed home via IKEA (which is actually in another county, so I won't feature it here).

This was such a fun date. I loved it!! Thanks, Marion County, for giving us so many years of fun memories!

Little Bits of Legacy

Back in my teens and early twenties, I had a long list of people I prayed for on a regular basis. (I am a bit embarrassed to admit I'm not as consistent in my prayer lists as I once was. My prayer habits have changed over the years, and while not all those changes are bad, this is an area that needs work.)

I spent hours over the course of those years pleading in prayer on behalf of some of these people. I never told them I did it. I never plan to tell them I did it. Goodness, some of them didn't even know I existed. I just felt led to pray for them, so I did.

Now and then I have the personal privilege of running into a few of those people. Some of them still don't know me, but I know them. And I know when I see them that those prayers weren't wasted. In most cases I don't know for sure what God did with all the words I prayed, but I can see He's working in them, so I know those moments mattered for something good. It warms my heart and boosts my faith.

This week I had a chance to see a moment like this from another angle, and it gave me goose bumps.

You know I've been working in the church office for these past several weeks, and one of the joys of that time has been getting to know the staff in ways I never had before. They are a great bunch of people that I thoroughly enjoy working with each day. They're funny, encouraging, thoughtful, devoted to the Lord, and purposeful in their work.

One of the ladies who works part time in our office is also quite a prayer warrior. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, she wrote out prayers for all the staff members and emailed them to us. I treasure that little paragraph of a prayer she wrote for Ryan and me.

Yesterday she came into my office after lunch and hoisted a shopping bag onto my desk. "Do you have a minute for me to show you something?"

I swiveled in my seat to give her my full attention, and she pulled a Bible from the bag. The leather cover was worn and cracked, but she peeled it back to reveal the blank pages at the end of the Bible filled from top to bottom with carefully written names.

She told me that years ago, she felt led to pray daily over the youth of the church she attended, and she would pray and pray until they were no longer a part of that church and she couldn't keep track of them anymore. As she turned page after page of names, she went on to say that of the ones she knew about, most were serving the Lord to this day, and it was an encouragement to her to know that her prayers mattered.

She finally landed on the page she wanted and spun the Bible around to me. "There," she said. "I thought you might find that interesting."

There, in the middle of a page, was a carefully written RYAN SHAFFER.

My Ryan.

She had gone to church with him probably 25 years ago, in a different building, different denomination, different city. She'd written his name in her Bible and prayed for him every day. His address was written to the side - and at the end of the line was a checkmark and a note that he had started attending a different church. Her call to pray for him had ended, but she'd stayed with it for the time God nudged her to do it.

And now here she is, 25(ish) years later, attending church with him again, praying for him again, and simultaneously seeing the answer to the first round of prayers she prayed over him.

I handed that worn Bible back before I had a chance to read over all the other names. After all, they weren't my business. But I had to wonder what kind of legacy she left in all these lives that she prayed over so faithfully.

I know this wife is grateful she prayed for a teenage boy back in the day. Her legacy in his life matters to me.

Valentine's Day!

For being the tradition-loving people that we are, I've noticed we really don't have traditions for Valentine's Day, other than to celebrate it whole-heartedly. I don't think we've done the same thing twice any of the years we've been married!

* The first year we were married, we stayed home and Ryan grilled a whole beautiful dinner for me. We exchanged gifts, I got roses at work, and it was a beautiful day!

* The second year, we had the day off together, so Ryan made me breakfast, we exchanged gifts, and then we headed to Fort Wayne for a marriage retreat - and shared a DeBrand chocolate float!

* The third year, we had a fondue date at home, complete with gifts, sparkling grape juice, flowers, candles, and NO CROWDS. 

* The fourth year, we celebrated a day early with a cooking class! Though we celebrated on the actual day with a low-key, at-home date, the cooking class was our big adventure and it was so much fun!

* The fifth year, we did finally go out to eat on the actual holiday! Dinner at Ruby Tuesday, dessert at Orange Leaf - and a token trip to Lowe's. Because of course!

* The sixth year, we went out to dinner again - this time to Red Robin! We made an impromptu stop at the Cake Bake shop for dessert, and I'm dumbfounded that we got a seat. This place is booked with reservations months in advance all the time. I have no idea how our luck turned out so great, but I loved it! 

* Last year, Valentine's Day fell on a day we were scheduled to care for Ryan's mom, so we shared the day with her. I made a special dinner and we took it out to the cabin. 

This year, Ryan outdid himself in making the day sweet for me, and I soaked up every single minute.

He took me to work in the morning, stopping at McDonald's on the way to get me a breakfast burrito. Haven't had one of those forever, but I surely did love it! (Sorry for my not-so-awake look.)

I knew he was going to pick me up at the end of the day and take me to Indianapolis, but that's all I knew. I haven't had a single day crawl since I started this temp job, but that day c-r-a-w-l-e-d. So slowly. 

Just a few minutes to go!

When he picked me up, we had to stop at a viewing for one of his former patients, and even though we got there when it first started, we still had almost an hour wait in line. Once we got back on the road, I started getting really curious about where we were going to land!

I started asking for clues as we got closer to our destination and I finally learned that we were staying in an Airbnb! 

It turned out to be an apartment building right on the canal in Indianapolis - with this stunning view of the skyline. It was on the top floor and a little tiny space that was cute as a button!

I seriously could have just parked myself in there for days, soaking in that beautiful view!

The building where the apartment was located had a coffee shop IN THE BUILDING. It closed early in the evening, so we scurried down there after we checked in to get some fresh brew so we could warm it up later in the evening. And then we went for our dinner! Ryan found a burger place also located IN THE BUILDING that we went to for our Valentine dinner. We only ate half our burgers, but oh my GOODNESS were they ever good!

We got a dessert to go and headed back to our apartment to enjoy the night skyline, a movie, coffee, and apple crisp!

We exchanged gifts, too! I wanted to get Ryan some gifts for our porch, because he loves it out there so very very much! A little water fountain and a sign:

And he gave me a shirt that I love! And it's true! :) 

I have loved every single one of our Valentine's Day celebrations - even as different as they've all been! But this one holds a very special place. He did a GREAT job planning!