Exciting News!

 

            I love days like this one. I love sharing good news, and today is a good news sort of day!

            While you know I love a good story, I’ll start with the news and backtrack to the story. How’s that? Today I am so pleased to share that Ryan has a new role at work, and I am simply bursting with joy!

            For those of you who might be newer here, let me give you a little background and perspective. When we moved to this area in the spring of 2022, Ryan found a job as the director of a local nonprofit and was there for about nine months. It became clear in that time that the organization was already past the point of being viable and surviving in this area, so Ryan felt it was best to resign. Shortly after his resignation, the board voted to close the affiliate entirely.

            That was a hard season. Ryan is a hard worker and passionately gave his all to trying to bring new life into the work, and it was hard to walk away and harder still to see it close behind him. But when he left, the Lord opened the door for him to become the Transportation Coordinator at Swiss Village. Though he had never done that exact kind of work before, his history in therapy and working with older patients definitely served him well.

            He purposed to bring fresh life and organization to the department and also made a personal goal to meet the residents, learn all their names, and get to know them. And for a year and a half, he has met all those goals. He is well loved by the residents. They trust him, they enjoy his fun-loving nature, and they all know him, even if he hasn’t driven them anywhere. He is so much more than a driver even to those he has transported. I’m proud of the ownership he took of the role, doing it the way he knew in his heart it should be done to honor and serve the residents to the fullest.

            It has been so inspiring to watch from the outside. I have loved seeing him soak up the opportunities, volunteer to help wherever and however he can, and establish rapport with the residents, their families, and the employees there, too.

            This month he had the opportunity to step into a new role in the same organization, and I think I cried for about a day when he told me it was really happening. I cried because I am so proud of how hard he has worked and how God is redeeming the hard seasons in beautiful ways. It truly has been an answer to so many of my prayers for him!

            Currently, he’s working both roles to an extent, but he has officially started in his new capacity – as the Sales and Lifestyle Coordinator. He will work with those who are considering a move into independent, residential, or assisted living, and will assist them throughout the application and move-in process. He’ll continue to oversee the transportation department and will assist with activities and social services, too.

            He’s SO excited to use all the things he’s been learning over the last year and a half, and I’m so excited to decorate his office!

            He’ll do a wonderful job – and has already started doing so. I can’t wait to hear the great ideas he comes up with and see him thrive in his new responsibilities.

            Ryan, I’m so proud of you! I don’t know that I’ve ever been happier for anyone – EVER – in a new job! God has gifted you in so many ways, and I am thrilled you have a chance to use them and invest in so many lives as you go!

Town Party, Country Party

 In the first season of Little House on the Prairie, there’s an episode called Town Party, Country Party. Mean ole’ Nellie Oleson invites the girls to her house for a fancy party, and then Laura and Mary invite everyone to their house for a country-style party. Nellie didn’t find that one nearly as fun, I’m afraid. And of course, there’s the whole competition thing that always flares up among girls of that age. Tucked neatly inside are important life lessons, and clearly, Mary and Laura really did have the better party, even if it wasn’t as ritzy.

            Sunday night, I had a little party at our house, and while I prepped for it, I went through my fair share of sweating that I was the country-party version of the hospitality. It’s silly in every single way, because none of it was true, but it made me pause to consider how many of us don’t want to offer what we have because we fear it might not be as good as what someone else can offer.

            You see, several weeks ago, the ladies in our Sunday School class decided we needed more fellowship in our lives (not wrong!) and devised a plan to get together once a month, on a Sunday evening, just to hang out and talk.

            Last month was our first gathering, and we showed up at one of the ladies’ homes on a warm and sunny Sunday evening. We sat around what would have been a campfire, if it hadn’t been almost 90 degrees in the blazing sun right in that moment. We enjoyed some snacks, we took turns playing with puppies one of the ladies brought along for fun, and we caught up on life. All the while, the host’s kids and husband played a game of flag football in the front yard, and we got to enjoy listening to that while we chatted.

            I signed up to host this month’s gathering, because I knew it would fall on fall break weekend and the crowd might be smaller. Since our house is small, I didn’t want everyone to feel squished. It was all very strategic, and I felt great about it until last week when I sent out the reminders. What if no one wanted to come? What if I made all this food and no one showed up? What if they think little houses by the water are dumb? What if I’m Laura and they’re Nellie?

            Except none of them are anywhere CLOSE to Nellie. They are all sweet as can be!

            So we cleaned the house, and I washed all the throw blankets so I could roll them up and put them in a basket to keep people warm as the sun went down over the lake.

            I pulled out hot chocolate packets, bags of flavored tea, honey sticks, and latte pods so they could have warm drinks with their snacks if they wanted.

            I timed the baking of a fresh apple crisp so it would be warm out of the oven when they showed up (and the house would smell like cinnamon!) and grabbed some ice cream to go with it. I made one of our favorites – taco dip – and paired it with a bag of tortilla chips. Then I panicked that I didn’t have enough food, so I ripped open a new bag of trail mix and poured it in a bowl and stole some of Ryan’s pretzels for another bowl.

            I turned on the TV to one of the fake coffee shop channels with the comforting instrumental music playing in the background and set out the flowers my friend gifted me this weekend. (Stunning!)

            And then the hour arrived and cars began to pull into the driveway. Lexi lost her mind with joy at all her new friends that had come just to see her. We pulled more camping chairs out of the garage and everyone made a big circle to sit, talk, and enjoy the stunning display of leaves over the lake.

            I took them inside, gave them a tour of the house, and let them load up plates, bowls, and mugs with snacks and drinks, and then we ate and talked for the longest time.

            Ryan took us for a couple of spins around the lake as the sun went down, and Lexi ran from one friend to the next, trying to give equal love to everyone.

            When we came back, it was almost dark, and we scooted all the chairs a little closer to the fire and kept talking.

            It was the best night, and after the last person left, I realized that there’s no such thing as town parties and country parties. It’s all just a lot of fun talking to the people who share life with us every week. I’m so glad I was brave enough to take a turn!

Workshop Day

Last Thursday I took a little road trip to travel up near Albion to attend a Run Hard. Rest Well. workshop. I’ve been doing some contract work for them, and this was the first time I had attended an event in person.

            I had to leave home pretty early, and of course that was the one morning we had patchy fog! It wasn’t too terrible until I got close to my destination, and then I had to take it easy on some winding roads.

            The event took place at Camp Lutherhaven, which I’ve heard so much about, but I’d never visited. I only made a couple of wrong turns before finding my way into the parking lot.

            The fog was pretty thick there, so it also took me a while to find the building. But once I found it – it was in the clear! (Isn’t fog weird? Super thick and then a few hundred yards away: clear!)

            The workshop lasted a couple of hours and was really thought-provoking, even though I was familiar with the material presented. I had the chance to sit with one of the small groups for discussion, and I learned some intriguing insights from them!

            (Selfie for Ryan so he wouldn’t forget me!)

            He ran home at lunch to feed Lexi and they sent me a selfie so I wouldn’t forget them!

            After the workshop, I helped clean up and then I stayed for a while to talk with Brenda, the founder, and do some brainstorming with her.

            By the time I headed home, I was ready for coffee, and I was pretty sure I had passed a little local coffee shop when I made my way through Churubusco earlier in the day. I found it again, pulled in the parking lot, and took note that it was 1:59 p.m. I’ve noticed that 2 p.m. seems to be a popular closing time for local coffee shops around here, so I looked up their hours to see if they were staying open later than that. I wasn’t about to walk in with a minute to close! Thankfully they were open until six, so I hopped out of the car and treated myself to a sugar free s’mores latte. SO GOOD.

            The trees were GORGEOUS on the ride home. So bright and pretty! I was driving, so I couldn’t get pictures of them, but they sure made for a lovely commute.

            It was a fun and different sort of day. I enjoyed it! 

Sunday Sentiments: Campfires and Coffee

 

I’m reading a memoir (review coming soon) written by a lady who had such a deep love for the Little House books that she spent several years wrestling with how the stories within impacted her own view and understanding of life. It has been fascinating to read about her inner tug-of-war between the reality of Laura’s life and the romantic ways she wrote about life.

            It’s pushed me to think about my own view of my life and how I embrace the lessons to be learned from the hard things and appreciate the goodness of the beautiful things. Am I doing enough of both? Always good to evaluate.

            It’s a much bigger topic than a little Sunday blog post, but I want to share with you some of the ways my heart filled up last night as I lived in the goodness of the beautiful things in front of me.

            We had small group last night, and I made one of my favorite dessert recipes – both a favorite to make and a favorite to eat. It’s a no-bake cheesecake berry trifle that has the perfect amount of creaminess, tang, and flavorful berries, and it’s one of the healthier choices in desserts, too, which I appreciate.

            Our pitch-in meal was filled with all kinds of absolutely delicious offerings, including homemade bread, sweet potato chili, and those absolutely addictive pickles wrapped in a hug of cream cheese and sliced ham. And to pair with the berry trifle? Coffee from Colombia, brewed slowly in a proper percolator. A thrifted percolator, which made it all the more delightful in my mind.

            After dinner, we set up the camping chairs around the fire pit and told stories while the sun set and the moon rose high and bright. We refilled the coffee cups, pulled the chairs closer to the warmth, and kept telling stories.

            I left with a gift of a fresh flower arrangement, but more than that – a full heart. I’m thankful for friends, delicious food, warm fires, Colombian coffee, and fresh flowers. I’m thankful for the chance to slow down and appreciate some simple joys.

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

Happy Saturday, friends! Hope you are enjoying your beautiful fall day. The leaves are so pretty here right now. I have loved the drives I’ve had this week and the chance to see so much pretty color out there. Hope you’re enjoying them too! And here are a few fun things for you to check out, too!

ONE. 

I had read that Natalie Grant sang at the recent Dove Awards, during the part of the show where they honored those who have died during the last year. You can watch the whole ceremony here, but if you just want to see that one song, it’s worth the time. It starts shortly after minute 55 and is a beautiful rendition of My Tribute. She did a tremendous job.

TWO. 

I read this post this week about the idea of a Commonplace Book. While the idea is not new to me, I did not know it had a name! Such a book is a journal of quotes from books you have read and loved. This is a great solution to capturing quotes from books you can’t write in (borrowed from friends or libraries) or for anyone who doesn’t like to write in books. While I fear it will double my reading time to create such a journal, because I tend to underline A LOT, I think it could be a valuable tool for helping me capture lines I love so I can look back on them all in one place!

THREE. 

You know how it goes when you keep running into the same message over and over and you know God is trying to tell you something? Yep. Happened to me this week. When I stumbled on this article about saying no in order to say yes…I thought it sounded awfully familiar. That’s because I had run into the same idea from a different person in a different place the day before. Mmmm hmmm. I hear you, God! And I don’t just hear. I’m listening. GOOD words in this post and a good reminder that no and yes can be equally important answers when following God’s call on your life!

FOUR. 

I am sure I have shared this link in years past, but it’s okay to share again! My real-life friend and name twin, Rebecca, has created a beautiful business writing and sharing adorable crochet designs. With cold weather upon us, perhaps you are looking to take up crochet – or find new patterns for your existing skills. She has a whole treasure trove to choose from!

FIVE. 

If you have five million dollars you’re looking to spend, this amazingly beautiful property in Ohio could be yours! This was built around 1930 and crawled straight out of a book. My goodness. I look at a lot of old houses that are usually partially accurate, but at least from the pieces shown of this one, they’ve kept the feel of the 1930s all the way through. Stunning inside and out! (And it comes with two cottages, so you can bring friends! Pick me! I’m a friend!)

SIX. 

If you like to pray for people and want to send them a note to tell them you did just that, here’s a template to print your own at home! Happy mail makes me happy to send AND receive, so I love this idea!

BONUS!

Here are this week’s capsule wardrobe offerings!

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Monday, October 14, 2024

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Friday, October 18, 2024

Foodie Friday: This Week's Winners!

 

This week, instead of sharing a recipe with you, I want to share with you some links to recipes/places I’ve loved so you can love them too!

As I told you a couple of days ago, this week I (loosely) followed the Skinnytaste meal plan released a couple of Fridays ago. I am excited to tell you we had some winners from this plan, and even though I linked to a few of them Wednesday, I want to tell you specifically what I liked about them – and anything I changed.

Meal Prep Breakfast Taco Scramble – First of all, this was a double-win in our house. We both LOVED IT. If you are not a morning person, you absolutely need to make this ahead, because the potato portion takes close to an hour to bake, and if you’re like me, no productive life is lived before breakfast, so prepping and THEN waiting an hour is not a good decision. Also using knives this early…not a good decision. But I made it one evening, portioned it out, and then BOOM! Reheat and eat.

I did make a few adjustments to this one. I used my own, homemade seasoning salt. I used mozzarella cheese instead of the Mexican blend, simply because it’s what I had on hand, and I didn’t want to spend more money on different cheese. I also used a whole bell pepper because it’s an easy way to increase veggie intake. I also make my own taco seasoning in bulk, so I used that in place of her outlined ingredients that are essentially the same thing. This was so good and so filling.

One Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta – Another winner! I really love one-pot meals because they are so much less cleanup. (Full disclosure: Ryan does dishes here, so it’s not my own mess, but I try to be mindful of the mess he will have after dinner!) It wasn’t that time-consuming to make, it was flavorful, and it was filling!

I’ve been buying chickpea pasta at Aldi, and I like it. I can’t tell the difference in flavor from regular pasta, and it doesn’t leave me feeling as heavy as regular pasta.

Shrimp and Andouille Sheet Pan Dinner  - Know what else I like? Sheet pan dinners. See above for the reason. 😊 This one came together pretty quickly, but I did make some modifications along the way that probably helped the time factor.

I used smaller, deveined shrimp – because we had some in the freezer. But I always buy it deveined and without the tails because I do not care to mess with shrimp to any further extent. I did not use Creole seasoning, because we aren’t really into it. I just used my homemade seasoned salt. I used a bag of frozen broccoli, because I do not care to spend the time to cut up a head of it. I used a package of chicken sausage, because it’s what we had in the freezer. No cayenne, either. 😊 And I served it with the crispy potatoes featured next.

Roasted Baby Potatoes – Ryan raved about this one! I took everything in the ingredient list, threw it in a gallon plastic bag and shook it up to get the potatoes good and coated, and then I tossed it all on a sheet pan with parchment paper to cook it. Worked like a charm.

Air Fryer Fish Sticks – I am just learning to be a fish lover. And so far, the only fish I truly like is tilapia. But it’s a fragile little fish, so I purchased cod for this one. I can handle cod. It’s not my favorite, but it was certainly easier to handle for coating. I liked the breading and had ALMOST enough to coat all the fish. (I just ate the leftover pieces plain and made sure Ryan got all the good parts.)

We have an air fryer feature on our oven, so I just put the fish sticks in the air fryer basket we have for the oven and didn’t need to shake or turn them mid-fry. That helped. I think this might get messy otherwise. I really liked the tartar sauce. Neither of us care for sweet pickles, so I used my homemade dill pickles (chopped up) for the tartar sauce. The breading was really good. And it definitely tasted better fresh than warmed over. Soggy breadcrumbs are not the best. Also, this one does take more effort than I sometimes like to put into dinner. But it was fun and tasty.

Coleslaw – I have shared about her coleslaw recipe before. It really was perfect with the fish sticks. As a reminder, I buy the premade cabbage/carrot mix and just make my own dressing according to her recipe.

Crock Pot Pork Roast – I also dearly love a good slow cooker recipe, because there are days when there simply isn’t time to cook at mealtime. I made this one earlier this week when we had a super busy night. The minute we walked in the door after we finished all our activities, it was hot and ready to go! I did not do the polenta part of this recipe. I don’t even know enough about polenta to know if I like it. But I know I like everything else in here! (I did switch out the vinegar: used white instead of balsamic.) It was so very flavorful.

Fall Brussels Sprout Salad with Apples – I never ate Brussels sprouts until I was well into adulthood. I like them roasted and raw. I can’t handle them steamed from a frozen state. Too slimy for me. But this recipe was really good! I did use Feta instead of Blue cheese. It’s what we had on hand. I was able to make this one super quickly, and it paired well with the pork roast. 

Lots of goodness in the kitchen this week. And let me also give a quick shout out to a latte I had on the road this week. I traveled up to Albion for a workshop, and on the way home, I was getting sleepy, so I stopped at Busco Beans in Churubusco. WHOA. I had a latte made with almond milk and sugar free s’more syrup. SO GOOD. And the people in there were so sweet. I talked to them for a bit and thanked them for being open past 2 p.m. when most coffee shops close. If you are in the area, you should check them out! Sweet little place!

Autumn on the Lake...Two Years Later

 

Two years ago today, Ryan and I stood in the kitchen of this little lake cottage and signed a million papers to make it ours. I sit in the same kitchen today, writing this to you, and I find it hard to remember life before this lake.

            An exaggeration, of course. I have many memories from each of the homes that have been ours throughout twelve years of marriage. I have favorite spots from each of those places. I have favorite days from each of those places. I was formed and shaped by each of those places.

            But when I say we signed for this house two years ago, that seems so short. And yet it seems we’ve lived here forever. The memories are deep and concrete – as are the dreams.

            Ryan and I still shake our heads at the before pictures of this house. We still wonder what we were thinking. And we are still glad we thought it.

            Today it is home. It is not after. But it is home. I wrote about the promise we saw in this place just last month, when I commemorated the two-year mark since we first saw the house.

            Today I celebrate again, but in a different way.

            Today I celebrate the sacrifice Ryan (especially) put into the hours of work on this place. When we purchased it, Lexi was just around a year old, and the amount of time we felt we could be away from her was minimal. Painting with an energetic dog didn’t sound like the best plan, so on the days and evenings we would work here together, my time would be abbreviated so I could spend more time with her. Ryan, though, put in long, long hours nearly every night after work and many Saturdays.

            He worked in emptiness – the house void of warmth that comes from the tangible markers of home and the people that make it home. During the times I came to work, I’d look around and wonder what it would be like when it was truly home. What would it feel like when we brought in the things that transformed and warmed?

            Two years later, I can say, it’s wonderful. The trees outside the window are the same warm hues they were two years ago today. The lake waters ripple like they did then. But inside the house – and outside it, too – home has arrived.

            The stories housed in the books I love so much have made their way onto shelves.

            Our plants are growing and thriving with lakeside sunlight pouring in.

            Our coffee pot chugs to life so we can, too.

            Our giant blue hug of a couch has found a spot where we can rest and rejuvenate.

            And here we live, and nourish, and celebrate, and pray, and grow.

            And it feels like it’s always been this way. It feels like forever, and we hope it will be forever. (We’ve learned not to put God in a box on that, but if it were up to us…)

            Happy two years at the lake. Autumn on the lake is gorgeous. It promised to be so two years ago and delivers yet again this year.