Sweet Memories, Round 4

I am continuing my Friday memory-keeping, in which I look back over this last decade of life that Ryan and I have shared. I have loved looking over these memories and reminiscing about all the fun things we've done! 

Month 37: Making the Memories

This month was actually terribly ordinary (which is not a bad thing AT ALL). I camped out on the pictures of our Christmas with Ryan's family, because we had no idea that in just a couple of years, we would be celebrating our last Christmas with Nita. As I looked over our gathering from this year, I saw so much joy in the family. Everyone was all dressed up, we had a great meal together, there were new babies, and it felt like everything would always be this way. As I look back, I am so very grateful that we captured these memories, just so we can smile at them now! (Also, can we pause to appreciate the beautiful grapevine tree? Allen made it.

Month 38: Ca-CAW!!!!

This memory just made me straight up LAUGH. It was from right at the start of the month. I had read online that many of the Indiana state parks have a New Year's Day hike of some kind. They're free and are intended to get people out in nature. We had a park not far from where we lived, so I asked Ryan if he wanted to go for the hike. He had to work that day, but it was an evening hike, so it worked out. It was SO COLD, so we were buried under about 100 layers of clothes and looked like Puffalumps. The hike was an owl hike, and we never saw a SINGLE OWL on that hike. But we did get a big kick out of the lady calling for them all the way down the trail: "Ca-CAW!!!! Ca-CAW!" We still say that sometimes. 

Month 39: Shafferland on the Move

This was the month we decided to take the leap and move closer to Ryan's work. I was working from home, so there was no real need for us to stay in Marion anymore. (It had been the midpoint between our jobs when we both commuted.) We ended up finding a home in Kokomo that was literally three doors down from Ryan's work, which would mean instead of driving 45 minutes each way every day, he could walk 5 minutes each way. WIN!!!!!! The whole process of buying our first home together and putting our Marion house on the market was a wild exercise in faith. This photo was one Ryan's mom took on the fly while she was on the phone with him hearing about our upcoming move. The cross that shadows the faith...perfect. This picture was significant to us during that season! 

Month 40: Buying our First Home Together

This was the month we officially signed for our first home together. The night we went over to walk through the house for the first time as owners was SO chaotic. We got possession of the house a week sooner than planned (no complaints there!) and happened to be dog-sitting a Great Dane at the time. We took him with us for our first walk through the house and in the first five minutes, he peed right in the middle of the white carpet in the living room and tore a hole in the screen door. It wasn't the serene evening we planned, but it was memorable!!

Month 41: The Surprise Move

Our friend Shawn had a day off work and access to a trailer, so even though Ryan was at work, he offered to come move as much of the stuff as we had packed if we wanted. (Now THAT is a good friend!) We ended up moving earlier than planned - and in stages, rather than all at once. After Shawn moved the bulk of our stuff, we rented a U-Haul and finished up with the last of the things. We also spent this entire month demoing, renovating, and painting the new house, making it our own! (My mom said we are the only people she knows who take a move-in-ready house and completely redo it. :) 

Month 42: Selling the Marion House

And for all the lovely hellos, there have to be some goodbyes, right? This was the month we officially sold our house in Marion. It was the hardest house-goodbye I've ever done, because I had lived the first sixteen years of my adult life in that house. That was our first home together. That had been my grandparents' house. But we were so excited for the new owner, and as far as I know, he still lives there. He got married and has a baby now, and I love it that he has established a life and family there in that home that was created for life and family. 

Month 43: Dates, Dates, Dates

We spent so much of the past couple of months working on the house, that this month seemed devoted to going on dates. We wanted to explore every inch of our new hometown. We went to the Strawberry Festival, a Jackrabbits baseball game (minor league team in town), Kokomo Beach (water park), Ribfest, fireworks in our neighborhood, and a drive-in movie. WHEW! It was a lot of variety in a single month, but it was also a lot of fun, and we appreciated the extra time to do things like this...time given to us by the gift of NOT COMMUTING.

Month 44: Garage Makeover!

This was the month we completed our garage makeover! We wanted to use our garage as an extension of our home, so we insulated and drywalled it, painted it, and put down a flooring treatment. We definitely used that garage a ton, and this was time and money well-spent. (Bonus: we were later interviewed by a newspaper about this makeover!) We loved how it turned out, and I think this is one of our best DIY projects ever!

Month 45: CRAZY and FUN!

How to even pick just one thing from this month??? The crazy Shaffers started the month by pulling an all-nighter to drive to Kansas to surprise my family (by showing up early) for my niece's wedding. And then there was the wedding itself...which was fun! Then we came back home and there was a tornado right by our house. And THEN we hosted my mom's surprise birthday party for her 80th birthday. OH! And we went to my 20th high school class reunion. You know...just a few things for a month.

Month 46: Fun County Date

Thankfully this month calmed down from the last one. One of my favorite memories from this month was a county tour! We went to Tippecanoe County, where we have some friends, so we were able to see them in addition to visiting a small zoo and hiking in a state park! It was a really fun day - and gorgeous, too!

Month 47: New Era in Speaking

Earlier in the summer, I had spoken at a retreat in Ohio, and Ryan did not go with me. It was a weekend retreat, and the warfare I experienced was SO intense that I instituted a new policy: no more traveling without Ryan. We hate being apart anyway, and I need him to support me in prayer when I'm traveling and speaking. So this month marked the first time we traveled TOGETHER for a women's retreat. It was fall and the leaves had started to turn. The campground was on a lake and we had a house all to ourselves. It was like a mini-vacation AND a work event all rolled into one. We had the best time. And I have not forgotten the cinnamon roll we had for breakfast one morning. LITERALLY the best one I have eaten to date. STILL.

Month 48: Hosting Together

We wrapped up this year of marriage by hosting a craft night in our newly renovated garage. It showed us (again) why we love hosting so much and (I think) ushered in a new commitment to be the couple who opens their home for others. 

It was a crazy year full of SO much change. But what a heart-filling year it was, too! 

TEN MONTHS!

 

Our sweet Lexi Grae turned ten months old yesterday. 

She's grown a lot in ten months:

Can you even believe it???

I thought I'd show you some of her adventures from the past month! :) 

She's started doing this thing that cracks us up. If she's sitting on the couch, and we reach over to pet her back or belly, she just starts leaning slowly sideways. If she leans toward the back of the couch or a pillow, she will lean into that completely. Otherwise, she just falls over with all her legs spread out wide like, "SCRATCH ME!" Watching her topple is so funny. It's like slow motion.

So far, she's not too old to give great hugs. I'm sure the day is coming. 

She still waits with ALL HER MIGHT when Ryan comes home from work. Her entire backside trembles while she waits. (Unfortunately, now that school is back in session, she sometimes gets the school bus confused for Ryan's car and goes running to the door to welcome him...and it's not him. Sad day.)

It's started to be cool enough in the evenings to sit outside sometimes. She has her own chair and spends her time overseeing everything in her view. 

We also hit the part of her life where she murdered every stuffed toy she had. We had a good run with all those toys, but now we have to have harder toys, because the stuffies were all gutted. We got her this hard ring tug toy, and she thought it was the enemy. She just barked and barked at it. It's sitting in her toybox, waiting for her to figure out it's NOT after her and actually is fun to play with. 

My sweet cuddle girl. (Funny story: a few days ago, I was taking a nap when she ran over and plopped on top of me. She stretched out beside me with her nose against mine and started whinnying like a horse until I acknowledged her presence. Then she went back to sleep. LOL!)

Hoping for scraps. (That was a no.)

She LOVES Ryan. And she LOVES to lick his head. 

Got to see Grandpa this month! They were both pretty happy about that.

Walks are still life. She loses her mind with joy the minute we put on our sunglasses. She knows. (And boy is she disappointed when the sunglasses go on because we're leaving for church or something!)

They're both the cutest!

So that's an update on Lexi! She watched the Queen's funeral on Monday and spends a lot of time watching home improvement shows, too. Give her a holler if you need a kitchen remodel. She should know how! 

I don't even know how it's possible that she is going to be a year old in two short months, but it's true!

The REST of the Weekend!

 

...which actually included no rest.

It was ironic to me that after teaching about being still, the minute the retreat ended, I had to hurry into the public bathroom at the hotel to change into a dress so Ryan and I could make our way to a wedding! We had almost exactly the amount of time we needed to get there, making a QUICK stop for lunch on the way. 

I can't post much about the wedding, since the bride hasn't posted anything, but I can show you our cute date picture!

The venue was GORGEOUS and the ceremony was simple and sweet. I adored the bride's dress. So pretty. And she was so pretty IN it!

After the wedding, we drove home, pretty tired from the long weekend of activity. We saw SIX deer on our way home, which you know totally made my day, but it also terrified me because I was so afraid one of them would dart out in front of our vehicle! (I kept yelling, "WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS!!!" - but I'm guessing that didn't mean much.)

And then on Sunday morning, Ryan spoke at a local church to represent Love INC. Speaking of gorgeous buildings, this was definitely beautiful!

The windows were just stunning. 

We set up our table...

...and Ryan gave the message. (The minister was out of town for the weekend.) Ryan did a great job not only sharing about the work of Love INC but how all of us are called to do our part in the Body of Christ! 

I was so proud of him. He did an amazing job!

And that concluded our weekend of speaking a little bit of everywhere. (Ryan also prayed over dinner at the wedding, we really did speak at every single thing we attended.)

The End of a Retreat

The retreat where I served this past weekend was a two-day event, so we wrapped things up on Saturday! The first session that day started at 8 a.m., so we had to get up at 6:00 to get ready and have breakfast. Ryan was SO excited for biscuits and gravy! (And apparently reading the paper.)

After breakfast, we headed to the day's first session. There was a sweet little kitty lurking outside the window, and she kept trying to get to my finger through the glass!! 

The ladies who led worship did another great job - even for so early in the morning!

 After that session was over, we had a little free time, so Ryan and I took a few minutes to run over to the patio furniture place we love so much and do some dreaming! (Playground equipment, too - for Ryan.)

We got some coffee and then went back to the hotel to pack up our room and check out. The final session was at noon, but we had to be checked out by 11.

The last session went well (or at least I hope it did!) and now all I can do is leave the weekend in the Lord's hands and trust that He will use the message however He will!

Thanks, ladies, for inviting me!! You were a blessing to me! 

The Start of a Weekend Retreat...

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at a women's retreat! Events like these are picking up again after having been canceled for so long and speaking at them is truly one of my favorite things to do! 

The church who invited me to come is located in Huntington, but they held their retreat in...Shipshewana! We were just there a little over a month ago for our family vacation, and I told Ryan I think I've stayed at the Farmstead more than I've ever stayed anywhere else in my life. I'm trying to think if I even have stayed at another hotel or Airbnb more than once in my adult life. I'm not sure I have! But if I have counted correctly this weekend marked the seventh time I've stayed at the Farmstead. I actually happen to love it, so it all works out!

Our room was HUGE! It was completely comfortable, and Ryan turned the wardrobe in the corner into a whole Narnia experience.

Because of things like...working all day...driving an hour and a half to get there...an accident detour...and such, we arrived right when they were starting to have dinner. They brough their own food and ate there in the retreat room. Ryan helped me get my table set up, and I had to grab a picture of the little "Be Still" wood pieces they had on each table.

After dinner on Friday night, we had the first of three sessions. A trio of ladies led worship before I spoke, and they did a fantastic job. 

After the Friday evening session, the ladies had breakout sessions to attend, but we went back to our room. We were flat out exhausted from all the events of our last month, so we hopped in our jammies and crawled in bed. (Remembered our weighted blanket this time!) We turned on Dateline and neither one of us has any idea how that turned out, because I'm pretty sure we were asleep by 10 p.m. ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! We are the coolest. Call us for all your entertainment needs.

I'll tell you about our Saturday adventures tomorrow!