Random July Fun

 

I feel like I have a bunch of random little things that deserve a spot in an update, but I haven't done a post like that in a while. So today seems like a good day for it, doesn't it? Here are some July randoms for you!

* Back at the beginning of the month, I met up with one of my WBCL coworkers for lunch at this adorable coffee shop called Crimson House. I'd had coffee there before, but this was my first time to try food. This is the half-size chicken salad, and it was SO good. Their house ranch is a blessing in a cup, let me tell you! 

* We have had some SWEET sunsets this month. I love them all.

* Early in the month, I filled in at Love INC while the office manager weas gone. Lexi got to come along for the ride a couple of the days that week, and she thought it was the BEST.

* The sunrises weren't too shabby this month either!

* I don't like peaches, but Ryan does, so I made him a peach cobbler this month. He loved it. I tried it. Still don't like peaches.

* Ryan and I spoke at the Rotary Club in Decatur this month. We only had about a week's notice that we were going, and I thought Ryan did a superb job pulling together his thoughts and delivering an excellent talk! 

* Yard update! We have some green! A lot of the green is actually weeds, but we have green. Mowable green. We've overseeded the reseeding we did after the first seeding died. Also dead? Most of our plants. This whole thing has just been one miserable experience that we really are trying our best to learn from - somehow.

* I love this girl so much that I simply cannot stand it. Her snuggles are the BEST. 

* He loves this girl so much that he simply cannot stand it. Her hugs are the BEST.

* Braeya kept us up ALL night one night - wanting to play, wanting to talk, the whole bit. The alarm went off and we dragged our sleepy selves out of bed. A few minutes later, Ryan sent me this picture, which he took while he got ready for work. Sound asleep. 

* We headed out to grocery shop last Saturday morning at 8:45, and before we left town, the sky turned to this. That is a MORNING sky, not a night sky. We turned around and went back home for a little bit until it seemed safer to be out and about. 

* Car wash date! We always take a selfie in there. Also, a shout out to my new sunnies! My old ones broke about six months ago, but I've still been wearing them. Ryan finally convinced me to spring for some new ones. ;) 

* We represented Love INC at a church on Sunday...our first official booth/table setup since arriving! Thankful the station taught me about setting up booths!

* Annnnnnnd yesterday I got to see best friend from childhood onward...and I did the math. We have been friends for THIRTY-FOUR YEARS!!!! Pretty impressive since we don't even look 34, right? :) She came to see our new house, visit Lexi, and she brought her adorable daughter, too. She and Lexi became fast friends! 

So it's been a fun month! And now you're caught up on the random happenings of July! 

It's a Parade!

We are learning our new community slowly but surely, and we are grateful for the many friends around who clue us in to things we definitely don't want to miss!

Last week's don't-miss-moment? A parade! I LOVE parades! And Adams County has a parade in conjunction with the 4H fair, which is actually something our home county does NOT have. One of the families in our small group lives right on the parade route, so they invited our small group over for dinner and to enjoy the parade from their yard!

I took cheesy potatoes - and it's possible I didn't pay attention to the amount of cheese suggested and mostly doubled it. Those potatoes were cleaned OUT, and I think the people stopped just short of licking the spoon. So there's a tip for you: double the cheese on your next batch of cheesy potatoes!

We ate inside because it was pretty sticky out that evening. I didn't take group pictures because...well, I'm still new. But I did get this gem of Ryan and me!

We did move outside for the parade, but amazingly enough, it was much cooler by then. It helped that a tree blocked the sun as it set, so the shade went the extra mile in cooling us down. 

Here's another fun fact. There's a guy in Fort Wayne who flies his plane over festivals and parades and flies a WBCL banner behind it! I'm friends with him on social media, so I not only got a picture of his plane, but I was able to borrow HIS picture of the parade from the air! (Photo credit: Tim Blomenberg.)

I did nab a few pictures whilst dodging flying candy!

My friend Julie and I wondered what happened if there were any emergencies in the county, since we seemed to see all the vehicles from every corner! 

Extra creative points to these people: ride in a boat!

Little tractors...

...and BIG ones!

Baton twirlers. I would have dropped mine a thousand times. Props to them.

This one wasn't on backup duty either, I guess! :) 

I always feel sorry for bands marching in the hot parades!

This guy made me dizzy. But this was a fabulously creative float. 

It's good to be prepared for ALL seasons at once. I approve. 

So adorable!

Though we live on the wrong side of the state to be in the RV manufacturing capital of the country, there is a decent industry here, and there were THREE RVs in the parade. I was so excited! 

Fun night, fun with friends, and fun parade!!

PS - Another tip is to not put your coffee on the curb. Someone landed a piece of candy RIGHT in it. 

Sunday Sentiments

 

This week I finished up the third book in the Precepts Bible studies on Genesis. The first book was a four-week study about Creation (though I stretched it farther than four weeks), the second book was a seven-week study on The Fall, The Flood, and the Nations, and then this most recent book was a six-week study on Abraham called Becoming a Friend of the Faithful God. 

I've studied Abraham's life before - more than once, actually - but this time was different. It probably is the most in-depth study I've done on his life, and I didn't realize that along the way of my slow, careful study, he started to feel like a friend to me, too.

Never before have I immersed myself into his life story and seen how deep the push and pull of his desire to be a faithful man of God and his stumbling with sin and selfishness. Never before have I seen how deep - truly deep - his love for Sarah. Never before have I realized just how deep his faith was, especially in light of all he did not have in his lifetime (like the Bible, for example) to teach him.

This week, I studied Sarah's death, followed by Abraham's, and I nearly cried as I read. 

It struck me so profoundly that when Sarah died, the only way he had left to show his love and devotion to her was to properly bury her. They were in a land that, as my study pointed out, belonged entirely to Abraham as part of the promise, but he actually legally owned none of it and had to purchase land to bury his wife. 

The people of the land had such deep respect for him that they wanted to just give him the land as a gift, but he would not hear of it. He insisted on paying a fair price for it. Part of that, I'm sure, was because he was a good and sound businessman. But part of it felt to me like a man who wanted to give this one last gift to his wife, and it only felt complete if it was truly his. 

In this study, I noticed Sarah's occasionally bossy and complaining side. She manipulated things by insisting Hagar have a child in her place and then got angry when she did. Everything she asked or told Abraham to do, he did, and then she would come back and tell him to go fix what he did. Though I know Sarah had good, faith-filled qualities too, I must admit, I am not sure I would have loved living next door to her! But despite the grief she sometimes caused him, Abraham stayed fully devoted to her through her whole life and into her death.

And then when Abraham died, Ishmael and Isaac came back together to bury him beside Sarah. They put aside their own lifelong differences to honor their father. And even in death, Abraham was with Sarah, though he had gone on to marry one more time after she died - and he had more children, as well. 

When I finished the story of his life, I felt like I had said goodbye to a dear friend. I learned much from him in this study. I know that since the Word of God is living and active, I will have many more opportunities to learn from his life. But for today, I am grateful for all I have learned from this dear friend. 

The Saturday Six

 

If you've been reading here very long, you know how much I love lists! List-making comes easily to me because it's just part of what I love, but in recent years, I've made some specific kinds of lists that have made life in general SO much easier. I thought I'd share a few of those lists with you today in case you need to simplify/organize your life a bit, too!

One.

A gift suggestion list. I started doing this a few years ago, and I am so glad I did! In our family, we still give gifts at Christmas and birthdays. When I was a kid, I could sit down and scribble out a lengthy wish list for either of those occasions, but as I got older, those lists were harder to make! I owned most of the things I wanted - either from collecting over time or from just buying things for myself. So I made a wish list on Amazon and started tossing things on it when I thought of something I'd like to have, but I didn't need it in this exact moment, so there wasn't an urgency to buy it. If I ended up getting it for myself, I removed it from the list. Anything still there around Christmas or birthday time could be shared with family as a wish list. It saved me the hassle of trying to think of things on command at wish-list time, and it offered ideas of things I really needed and could use! (For my birthday this year, my sister gifted me a set of extra-heavy-duty pot holders and oven mitts from that list. I got to throw away my gross, burned-through ones from a decade ago, and the new ones are pretty amazing!) 

Two.

A recipe list. I cook most of our meals from the Dashing Dish site, but sometimes I find gems from other random places around the internet/Pinterest, or I use recipes shared from friends. I realized one day that if I rely on pinned recipes, I'm in real trouble if the recipe author takes down his or her site and I can't access the information anymore! (Or if our internet is down...) Then there are the times I know I have a great recipe, but I can't remember the source. So a few years ago, I started a running file in a Word document in my computer. When I find a recipe I love enough to keep, I put it in my document and immediately print a hard copy for a binder I keep with my cookbooks. Then if I can't access my computer, for whatever reason, I still have a list of all my favorite recipes. And if I need to search for a key word, I can look it up in the document. It's a win-win! 

Three.

A travel packing list. While we are not full-time travelers, we do take a handful of trips throughout each year. Some are full vacations and others are overnight trips for a variety of reasons. For a long time, it felt like I perpetually forgot something (minor and yet simultaneously important) on each packing adventure. It might be the sound machine, it might be my phone charger...you get the idea. So I finally made a master packing list in Word. I included everything that could potentially need to come on EVERY trip, regardless of length. When it's time to go somewhere, I save a copy of the master list, rename it to that particular trip, and delete the things I won't need. (For example - if it's a winter trip to a snowy place, I probably won't need bug spray.) I add in the specifics for that trip - like a fancy dress for dinner, or whatever - and use that to pack. I also have a master packing list for Abby to make sure we don't forget any essential RV equipment! This has sped up my packing process SO MUCH!!!

Four.

An accomplishment list. I saw a suggestion on Pinterest to make a "skills and accomplishments" list. I don't necessarily have one of these, but I have something similar, and let me tell you why I think it's important. My list includes places I have done public speaking and links to online articles I've written. This is very helpful for me if I'm submitting a pitch to speak at an event or write for a company. They want to know what I've done, and it's so much faster for me to have all that information at hand. For you, having some sort of similar list of the things you've done could help if you're applying for a job or an opportunity to be part of something. My mind always freezes when I have to think of things on the spot, so keeping this running list is helpful. Ryan and I are also making something similar to this for our work at Love INC, so we can hand a list to the board at each meeting, reviewing the things we have accomplished since the previous meeting. It's great accountability! 

Five.

Location lists! Last year, when Ryan and I were camping in a large state park, we knew it was a park we would want to return to again (probably multiple times, actually). So one evening, we walked around and made a list of sites we would prefer to have the next time we came. (On our first visit, the park was so full, and we had to take what we could get when we reserved. We ended up in the very middle of everything. It wasn't awful, but it wouldn't have been our choice.) So we looked for spots with a better view, some decent space, etc. Later in the year, we went back and we did get one of those spots. It was perfect! This year, while hiking in another park, we wandered over to the campground to make a similar list so when we eventually camp there, we know where we would prefer to stay. I just open a note on my phone and type in site numbers for this. If you don't camp, this list could be tweaked to include hotels or Airbnbs you want to try where you're going. 

Six.

A funeral list. Last year I wrote a little blog series about the things we wish we had known before Ryan's mom and step-dad passed away. The last post in the series was about funeral wishes. We did have a list of things from Ryan's mom about her funeral wishes, but unfortunately we did not have that conversation with her until after the brain tumor was well underway, so her answers to some questions were not fully accurate. (For example - she said she wanted to be buried in her bathrobe. If you knew her, you would know that was NOT her. And we did NOT do that.) Allen died so unexpectedly that there were absolutely no directives on his funeral. I think the kids did a great job honoring them with both funerals, but it really is helpful if you make a list of your wishes - just in case something unexpected happens. It's not fun to think about, and I get that, but it can be really helpful to your loved ones in their grief!

The Story of Us...in Pictures

Here is a fun fact you might not know about me. Back in my high school days, I was a huge fan of Point of Grace. (It's not that I'm not a fan now, but back then, I wanted to be in Point of Grace.) I guess maybe there are a few of you who might not know who I'm talking about, so if that's you, let me help! :) Point of Grace began back in the 90s when 4 college girls sang together at their school - and then stayed together after they graduated. They ended up recording many albums, and most of the early ones I know by heart - including all the background vocals. Along the way, they had a couple of personnel changes and are actually a trio now, but they still travel and sing! (They are also much more country now than they were when they started, but I still love their sound.)

I realized that I actually wasn't following them on social media, so I started doing that a few days ago, and I scrolled through to read a whole bunch of posts. I found one that felt profound to me, and it has inspired my thoughts to you today. It was written by Leigh, and she said, "I was given some great advice after I got married... Keep pictures of one another close to your heart and in view. I love that advice! This picture was taken after our baby shower for my daughter. Dana and I are so happy in this picture; we couldn't wait to meet our baby girl. Do you have pictures of your loved one that remind you of sweet times? I would advise it."

Well if that doesn't just speak our language, right?

Though I just now read the advice, it's something we have always done. I look around our home, and I love seeing the story of what God has done for, in, and through us told in pictures. 

* In our kitchen, we have a picture from our engagement photo shoot. Ryan's mom took it (which I love), and we're sitting on a park bench drinking coffee and gazing lovingly at each other. I choose to keep that particular picture in the kitchen because of the coffee, but I loved that whole night of photos. We went to our favorite park and she took dozens (hundreds?) of photos of us having a great time together. 

* In our foyer, we have a picture taken at the front of the church this past Easter, when we had our little buddy with us for the weekend. I had worked so hard to put together our outfits that I hoped would kind of match, and we were excited to be able to take him to church on Easter Sunday morning. It was our first Sunday in this new church. I didn't keep the dress, because everyone hated it. But I love the picture (one of the few of the three of us that we were able to get someone else to take!) and am so glad we have it. 

* On our living room wall, we have two 8x10 frames with pictures from our most recent fall photo shoot. Each year I update to new pictures from that year, and for that year, I love remembering the fun we had at the most recent photo shoot. (We always have a blast at them.) This past year, one of our Gateway coworkers did the pictures for us, and she was so much fun to work with. We actually had to do it in two parts, because it started raining as soon as we showed up for our original appointment! We appreciated her making time to work us in a second time!

* Also in our living room, we have a picture of us sitting on the beach on our honeymoon, a picture of Ryan proposing to me, and our first family picture with Lexi - who is SO TINY!!!!! We also have pictures of us with each of our immediate families, and a picture of us on the beach with our wedding party. So many memories wrapped up in each of those pictures! 

* In our office, we have the photo of us walking away from the camera, hand in hand, and this was the photo we sent in to have our cake topper made! (Our topper was a black acrylic cutout of that picture, and I still LOVE IT!)

* Our office is also full of group pictures of the Bible study groups we have led and the various groups of coworkers we've shared life with over the past few years. Each of those people shaped us in ways that continued to make us who we are.

* Though our bedroom mostly has wedding pictures, we have a few others scattered around, including the collage of hand pictures (pinky promise swear, holding hands, praying together, and wedding ring display) printed all in black and white. Every single one of those pictures tells the story of how we began, and I treasure them! 

I think Leigh was given great advice, and I join her in passing it on to you. Display the photos. They matter. They don't have to be pictures from professional settings, although they can be. Just take pictures that share a memory that inspires you to continue to press on toward becoming who you are in Christ with the people God has put in your life to walk beside you. If you don't have a spouse, don't think that pictures aren't for you! Display your friends, your family, the kiddos in your life...all the people who help shape you! This is the story of you!