The Final Shafferland Shuffle for 2020

 

Crazy to think that next week will have a new year tacked on the end of it. Goodness. For it being the year that wouldn't end, it has simultaneously gone so quickly! Hope you all had a good Christmas week. Here are some of the things we did this week!

* We didn't attend nearly as many Christmases this year as we always do. For the first time in our eight years together, some of the family Christmases were moved to new days, and because we don't get time off work, we had to work for those. (It was for the best, really, because we like to keep our outings on the smaller side.) Last Sunday, though, was a Christmas gathering with Ryan's side of the family. We haven't seen any of them (except his step-dad) in six months, so it was nice to see them again. We got home just in time to go back on duty for a few more days.

* Monday was the WillowBridge Christmas, which I told you about already. We enjoyed an evening with our WillowBridge family, which in some ways felt like a true family Christmas, because these are the people we have seen every day for the past six months! We had breakfast for dinner, played games, and watched as the tenants unwrapped their gifts. It was a fun night!

* Tuesday was a regular work day, which included office work AND spending time with Miss Isla. Tuesday was also the day Abby's floors were finished, and we could take the official after photos. It was a good day!

* Ryan thought it was a good idea to do a little last minute shopping on Wednesday. (We had a couple of quick things to get.) The truth is I barely survived a pre-Christmas Wal-Mart. Goodness. Made it home, finished up all our work chores and then we began our two day stretch off work! We watched a movie that night and enjoyed resting by the fake fire. :) 

* My family's Christmas was on Christmas Eve this year, so we we drove back to our old stomping grounds again to meet up with them for lunch and a gift exchange. We were grateful for a good weather day to drive in and a nice time together with my parents and sister!

* We were off work on Christmas Day, but because of all the rescheduled gatherings, we actually didn't have to go anywhere the entire day. I declared it a delightful day - and it concluded the year of spending every single holiday on our own! We slept in, made breakfast together, exchanged stockings, and enjoyed our time very much.

* Yesterday we were on duty alone, and our two incoming tenants came over for day passes. We ordered pizza and gave them their gifts. Ryan put together the pretty pink princess tent for the one tenant's daughter - and I thought it suited him well. Also for entertainment that day, Ryan tossed grapes in the air to eat them - ha! And though yesterday was admittedly not my finest day, I am (as the mug says) grateful for Ryan and his constant love! 

The Saturday Six

 

This is the last Saturday Six of 2020! Hope you enjoy these random finds!

One.

It was too cloudy here in Grabill to see the Christmas star this week, I did enjoy Callie's thoughts on the event, so I'll share them with you! Did any of you get to see it?

Two.

January is coming, and I'm resolving to be more consistent about diffusing oils in our apartment. We do it in spurts, but we don't do it with the consistency that we should. I found this pretty amazing list of diffuser blends if you want to check out some winter-inspired ideas for your own home! (I don't own all these oils yet, but this might give me ideas for the ones I need to get next!)

Three.

I know I've talked about this general idea on the blog at some point before, but I'm bringing back the subject. :) This past Christmas was the first time we really shared any online wish list information with our families. We have been making a running wish list for ourselves (on Amazon) for things we'd like to get for Abby the RV, and we shared that list with family when they asked for gift ideas. It worked really well and reminded me that I wanted to find a site where you can add ideas for gifts from multiple sites - not just Amazon. So I looked that back up again and think I will try Checked Twice. Anyone else use that already and have any ideas?

Four.

Looking for something fun to do on New Year's Eve? Even if you're just with one other person, this video scavenger hunt idea could be really fun! Use the blogger's ideas to create your whole list or to give you ideas to add to!

Five.

We will be keeping out some of our Christmas decor for January (and maybe February) to serve as winter decor. Here are some ideas for sprucing up a vintage sled, if you have one, and not all the ideas are super Christmassy!

Six.

I thought I would share some ideas to try for the month of January (a few each week) if you're looking for ways to be purposeful! Here are some ideas for January 1-3, and then I'll post more next week!

1. Start a new Bible reading/study plan.

Maybe you received a new devo book or study guide for Christmas, but if you didn't, you can look online for different reading plans. Some carry you through the whole Bible in a year and others can carry you through a specific topic. It's up to you! But I can't think of a better way to kick off a new year than to start a new reading plan! (Here is a chronological reading plan if you want to give it a try. It's not the same one we used, but Ryan and I read the Bible through chronologically a few years ago and loved it.)

2. Set up a new calendar or planner.

2020 was a pretty terrible year for calendar/planner usage for most people. After all, most plans were canceled, right? Even if 2021 begins in much the same way, it can be a great thing to return to the land of planner usage. Keep track of birthdays and anniversaries...make lists of things to do within your own home and habits...get some organization back in your life. You never know how much it might help!

3. Get a mani and/or pedi...in blue?

This falls on a Sunday, so going to a salon for a mani/pedi may not be possible or desirable for you. But you can pull a Bekah and do one at home! Winter feet are setting in, so at the very least, you could soak your feet and put lotion on and try out some fuzzy socks you got for Christmas. But you can add in some extra fun by trying some new polish. I see a lot of recommendations to go blue for winter, so maybe you could try that! If blue isn't your thing, pick your favorite to bring some shine and sparkle to your day! (And if you're trying to increase healthy things in your life, you can try out a non-toxic polish. I'll link again to the one I've read good things about, though I haven't tried it, called Ella and Mila.)

Merry Christmas From Shafferland!

Merry Christmas, blog friends! 

In keeping with this year looking so different, we are enjoying a different kind of Christmas ourselves. We'll be home with Miss Braeya Jo, having a Shaffer Christmas, and we're really looking forward to it!

We are excited to sleep in a bit, enjoy our stocking exchange, have great food, and make cookies together. (At least that's the plan.) 

And as we do that, we are looking forward to some extra time to spend in gratitude for the reason for Christmas...for the birth of a Savior that happened many years ago in another time when the year looked a lot different than anyone expected. 

We are grateful for His birth, and we are grateful for all He has seen us through this year. We are grateful for provision and joy and hope. 

Though today's thoughts are short, they are heartfelt. We are so glad to spend a bit of time with you each day in this space, and we wish you the merriest of Christmases!

Love,

Ryan, Bekah (and Braeya)

Christmas at WillowBridge

 Merry Christmas Eve to all of you!!! Hope you are able to enjoy this day, regardless of what you may be doing! Since we worked Thanksgiving this year, we have Christmas off, and we're looking forward to it!

Also, before I launch into today's festivities, I want to wish my niece the happiest of birthdays. She's the best Christmas present I ever received! (And yes, I know she's not mine. But 11-year-old Bekah thought a baby was the best present ever. 42 year old Bekah still feels the same about the baby crowd.) Happy birthday, Cassie!

I wanted to tell you about the WillowBridge Christmas, which we had earlier this week! Since we won't all be together on Christmas day, we celebrated early, and we really had a wonderful night.

We started by reading the account of Jesus' birth from Luke 2 and Ryan prayed for our meal and our tenants. (And then the one prayed for us, as I told you about earlier this week.)

We had breakfast for dinner, and I solidly failed to get any photos of that food. Womp womp. Justine made a French toast casserole, I made Amish breakfast casserole (which felt extra appropriate since we live in Amish country) and we had fruit, chocolate covered strawberries, and even some biscuits and gravy. It was all delicious!

One of our tenants had requested to play the plastic wrap game - which I would guess most of you are familiar with, but for those of you who may not be, I'll catch you up to speed. You can gather whatever you want for prizes. You can do all candy or you can mix it up with little trinkets and fun stuff. We got all our prizes at the dollar store and did a mix of practical stuff (like batteries, tape, and small bottles of laundry detergent) and fun stuff (like nail polish, unicorn everything, and candy). We got a gift card to the coffee shop for the big prize in the middle, too. 

Ryan worked hard to wrap everything up in the (TWO ROLLS) of plastic wrap. If you haven't done it before, you basically start wrapping the plastic wrap around the prizes and keep twisting, turning, and rolling until you have a big ball of prizes encased in plastic wrap. There are different versions of how to unwrap it. We did the version where you have to wear oven mitts to unwrap and everyone gets 30 seconds at a time. 

They had a blast with it! It got pretty crazy and competitive for a while!

Then it was time for presents! I can't begin to convey to you what an enormous blessing we received from a group of women from a local church. They reached out to us and wanted to help with Christmas. We had no idea that helping would wind up with supplying all of Christmas for us. In writing an email to thank one of them, I said something like, "I feel like a mom who realizes her children have been given a far better Christmas than she ever could have provided herself." It was true. We did some things for the tenants, and we did them with love, but the enormity of what they experienced that night was all provided from generous friends who wanted to bless them.

I was so thankful that they seemed to realize how loved they were by these people who don't even know them. 

Here was our tree, pre-opening:

One of our tenants got us some gifts, and she had put SUCH thought into them. She gave me a coffee mug that says, "Mama needs some coffee." Indeed Mama does. (Here I am with my mug. My face was supposed to affirm the message, but I realize I just look confused. I really love the mug!)

It was fun to watch them dive into their gifts and have SUCH fun opening them.

Wait. He's not a tenant! He was trying on the headband one of them got. Ryan may not be able to model the unicorn wear. LOL!!!

Oh, it was so much fun. We had the best time. It took us a while to clean it all up, but it was a really wonderful evening, and it warmed my heart so much.

Our first WillowBridge Christmas was a success, and it was because of the great love of those who provided gifts, stockings, and more. What a blessing!

Merry Christmas from WillowBridge!

An Update on Miss Abby! (Part 2)

Last month I gave you a peek at some of the work we had been doing in Abby, our little fixer-upper RV. Even though we've had busy days and cold weather, we have made some progress on our project, so I thought I would show you an update!

After working in every spare minute for several weeks, Ryan primed and painted all the cabinet doors and drawers and got those installed. That made a HUGE difference in looks from all the oak of before! Take a look:

It's so bright in there with the white cabinets!

Next up? The floors. When we bought Abby, the front half of the living space had carpet and the back half had linoleum. we pulled up all the carpet, which was several years past its prime, but the linoleum wouldn't come up smoothly. Quality adhesive at work there!

Though Ryan can do flooring and has done it several times in our previous homes, he knew putting down our new flooring in Abby would be incredibly time consuming. He was going to have to put something over the entire surface to compensate for the difference in the linoleum and wood, and there would just be so many detailed cuts and such with all the angles and corners. 

Sometimes you have to know when it's better to DIY and when it's better to value your own time and hire the job done. It is super super super rare for Ryan to hire anything out, but we decided together that here at the holidays and with our busy work schedule, this was worth paying someone else to do. So he hired a guy who brought help along with him and after three days of work, the job was done, and we are so pleased with how it looks (Bonus: I'm so pleased that I had all those hours with Ryan instead of FaceTiming him while he worked outside and I worked inside.)

Because I didn't want the guys to think me the Bekah-razzi that I am, I didn't take pictures of them at work, but I did grab pictures of the progress. Here is how it looked after they put down luan to take care of the mismatched flooring.

Then they put down the flooring we had previously picked out. (We went with peel and stick tiles to help with the weight of the RV.)

We are so crazy happy with how it looks!!

So with these two big projects out of the way, what's left?

* We have purchased some backsplash to put in the kitchen area, and we need to install that.

* We are putting up new covers over the purple upholstered corner panels and adding more for a privacy curtain between the cab and the back.

* We have to go get our new couch and install that. 

And from there...she'll be done except for decorating. But she'll be usable! :) Just in time for the heart of the Indiana winter. Woo hooooooo!!!!

I'm so happy with how far she's come and the makeover we've been able to give her. Hope you like her too!

The Best Gift

 I had plans today to update you on Abby the RV, because it's been a while since I gave you a sneak peek. Alas, the biggest project happening with her was delayed by a few days, so I need to wait another day or two to tell you about that. But it's coming! 

Meanwhile, can I tell you about a sweet moment we had yesterday?

Last night was the WillowBridge Christmas. I have so much to tell you about that and all the goodness our local community poured into our tenants. But I (ahem) may have taken a lot of pictures and the party may have gone late and I may not have all the pictures sorted and edited. So that will come later, too.

There were many gifts opened here last night, but I want to tell you about the best gift, which didn't even come in wrapping paper.

Our Christmas dinner was actually breakfast for dinner, and we decided before we ate and got lost in games and gifts, we would read the account of Jesus' birth and pray together. So I read from Luke 2 and Ryan prayed for our dinner. As he prayed, he named each person in our building. 

He prayed for Tim and Justine and the work they do here with us. He prayed for each of our tenants by name and specifically mentioned the joys of the personalities that bring us delight. He prayed for the babies and their sweet little lives. He prayed for our one tenant's boyfriend, who was there for Christmas, too. 

As he finished the prayer and we all started to turn our sights toward biscuits and gravy, French toast casserole, and other delights, one of our tenants said (almost hesitantly), "Can I pray, too?"

Not gonna turn that one down!

We all bowed our heads again and she prayed the sweetest prayer that I wish I'd recorded. In it, she thanked God for the two of us (we'd been missing from Ryan's prayer since he didn't think he should probably bless himself and name his own best qualities). She told God what she loved about us and said that she knew He'd given us a hard job in calling us to WillowBridge, and she wanted Him to know we worked really hard and cared about them.

I probably don't have to tell you I was in legitimate tears when that prayer ended.

I've told you before that this job crosses over into feeling like parenting at times. We're not their parents and it's not the role we have in their lives. But sometimes the work we do feels parental to us - and to them. And because it does, there are days when we wonder if we are doing anything right at all. Are we making a difference? Are we getting through? Do they hear us? Like really really hear us? 

So to hear her words of affirmation was truly the best gift of the night. She wanted to pray. She didn't want us to be left out. It was the best. 

I'm grateful the night went well. I'm grateful they enjoyed the food, had fun with the games, and loved their gifts. I'm grateful for the village - small city, really - who delivered Christmas to our door. But most of all, I'm grateful for the glimpses of genuine love.

It's really the best gift. 

Lights!

 One of my most favorite things about the Christmas season is getting to see all the warm and cozy lights everywhere. (I also love it when people don't take them down immediately after Christmas, so I can continue to enjoy some extra sparkle and twinkle on those long, dark, cold winter days in January and February!)

Because of our schedule, it hadn't worked out for us to go looking at lights yet this year (sadness!) so Saturday night, after we finished all our grocery shopping and such, we drove around Fort Wayne, looking at lights. I'd actually seen a list of some of the best-of-the-best residential light displays, so we just plugged in those 10 or so addresses and drove around!

(Fort Wayne does have the Fantasy of Lights display in a park, and we did drive through it the year we came to Fort Wayne for our anniversary trip, but we didn't go this year. I've heard the lines are long, ,and we didn't have time enough to do both that night.) 

But here! Take a look at some of the other fun we had!

We got gift cards to Common Grounds from Gateway Woods at the Christmas party, so we stopped in before we left town and got ourselves some Christmas coffee:

Then we did a couple of Christmas shopping stops, and as we headed to get our groceries, we made an impromptu stop at Wendy's. I honestly can't even remember the last time we had Wendy's! I feel like it was still warm weather! October, maybe? September? That's crazy because it is one of our most ever favorite fast food stops.  

Before he ordered at the drive-thru, Ryan asked if their dining room was open (we hadn't seen anyone in there when we drove in) and they said yes! I'm fairly certain we haven't eaten INSIDE a Wendy's since February. Around here, anyway, though most sit-down restaurants have a partial capacity, the only fast food restaurant we've seen allowing dine-in is Culver's. So this was a huge occasion! We sat in there by ourselves and dined away!

It was as good as we had remembered. ;)

Then it was off to grocery shop for ourselves and for the WillowBridge Christmas - and then we could go look at lights! I'll share a few of the pictures I snapped from the car. 

See Santa peeking out the window?

And now...Christmas is a little more complete!