Travel Thursday: Highs and Lows

 

I have had so much these last few months, looking back over our birthday trips, and each time I become freshly grateful we made this tradition, mostly accidentally, that first year we were married. This week’s trip down memory lane (memory waters??) is a look back at our vacation two summers ago, when we visited North Carolina and West Virginia.

                Here are some of my favorite memories from that adventure:

·         Sweets & Seats! Our first night out, we stayed in Asheville, North Carolina. This was a rare repeat visit to a city, but the last time we were there, it was winter, and in fact, we were there during a heavy snowfall that mostly shut down the city. This time we were able to eat outside, walk the streets, and listen to live music. After our dinner was kind of a fail, we went in search of a dessert spot and found Sweets & Seats. We split a piece of cake that was SO good – and the coffee was some of the best we’d ever consumed. It was such a cute little place.

·         Our whole trip was crafted around going to see the Biltmore, which we also saw in the winter, but summer is a whole different look. We had been gifted tickets, but no one told us we needed to reserve a tour time ON those tickets, so we couldn’t get in when we arrived. We would have been able to get in much later in the day, but we opted out. Instead, we enjoyed it from the outside and walked around the gardens (which were obviously not in bloom during our winter visit).

·         During our winter visit, we had tried to see the Billy Graham Cove, but it was closed for the snowstorm, so we went on this visit instead. My two favorite things were standing behind his traveling pulpit, and seeing the gorgeous prayer chapel Billy and Ruth designed.

·         We scrapped some of our original plans to drive part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and drive up Mount Mitchell. This was one of my favorite things on the whole trip!

·         Then there was the whitewater rafting. Ohhhhh the whitewater rafting. You remember that, right? If you have forgotten, Ryan asked if I’d be up for trying it, I said a solid (and repeated) NO, so he signed us up for some other water adventure. But when the day came, the water levels were too low for whatever that other adventure was, so they upgraded us FOR FREE to whitewater rafting. Ryan told me later that when we arrived at the launching point, he really did not think I would be able to do it. That makes two of us. But I did it. I cried all the way through it, I had a massive welt on my leg for a month, and I didn’t think I’d ever stop shaking. But I did it. (And we got the picture package to prove it.)

·         On our way home, we stopped at the original Bob Evans Farm and loved eating there and exploring the grounds!

Memorable times. Memorable times. 😉

Wednesday in the Word: Goodness of God

 

One of the tricky things about being in ministry is figuring out what to do with hard days and seasons. I am, after all, still human. Things still stir up anger in me. I will probably always wrestle with fear. I still get overwhelmed. When those times come, I sit and stare at the reality in front of me and try to figure out what to do with it.

                It feels like an occupational hazard to own it out loud, because people tend to expect you to have a handle on these things and sail through them seamlessly. Sometimes it’s hard to know who to talk to when you are the person other people talk to when they have similar struggles.

                Anytime I share something on social media, I feel intense pressure to make sure it’s completely honest while being completely encouraging and completely beneficial. That’s a lot to ask from one post representing real life on planet earth.

                The last few days have been challenging for my heart. I can’t even spell out all the things that have filled the days without saying things that aren’t mine to share – or things that are just private. (Remember privacy? Does anyone have that anymore?)

                And so I sat down last night with my journal in hopes that spilling my brain into that would help me make sense of hurt, disappointment, overwhelm, anxiety, anger, fear, and anything else that really needs to get out of my head and heart.

                It did help. I knew it would. Journaling always wins at that.

                After I wrote the words, I stared at them and wondered…what do I do with them? All this truth is spilled out on these pages, and now I must act on it. I must figure out where to start to take forward steps, because otherwise it’s just complaining and then returning to life as I know it.

                Ryan and Lexi were napping, so the house was quiet. I opened my Bible and found my way to Psalm 92. It begins with this:

                It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.

                So I did that. I gave thanks for every rotten, hard, overwhelming, unfair, confusing, out-of-my-control, irritating situation. (For the record, not every situation fit every one of those categories. Life is, indeed, not that dire.) And then I spent some time just praising the Lord. He’s worthy of that regardless of any circumstance. And then I reminded myself of the truth: He’s steadfast in love every day, right through everything. And He’s faithful always.

                Nothing changed about my circumstances, but I uncovered peace for my heart. I remembered the goodness of God – personally. And the same God who has been good throughout my whole life will not fail to be good in each of the situations surrounding me now!

Tuesday Tales: Back2School Bash

 

I had grand visions of writing a big post about our church’s Back2School Bash and showing you pictures of all the fun we had. Turns out when you’re running a snow cone stand, you don’t have time to take pictures, so I think I have two for you. But I can tell you about it!

                I’ve done photography at this event the last few years, but honestly, my favorite thing about serving at events is getting to work alongside Ryan. And since we did different jobs at this one, we never got to see each other once the day began. So this year I asked if he’d be up for doing the same job, and he was super excited about that.

                He’s done snow cones before, and he loves it, so I signed up to make those with him. Two of our friends rounded out our team, and we figured out a system in no time flat.

                Ryan fed the ice into the ice shaver and packed all the snow cone cups for us. The kids (and the big kids!) told us the flavor(s) they wanted, and the rest of us pumped flavor and poured snow cap on top.

                I loved watching the kids try to figure out their flavor combos. Only a very few wanted every single one. Cotton candy and blue raspberry were, by far, the most popular flavors.  A handful of adults just wanted plain ice. (It was hotttttttttttt out there, so that made sense.)

                The time absolutely flew. I think we were an hour and a half into the two-hour event before I even looked at my watch. Whew!

                I loved serving with Ryan. I think we should do that again next year.

                And as for the rest of the event…just imagine bounce houses and crafts and face painting and free donuts and carnival games and haircuts and shopping and backpacks and music and prizes….just imagine it!  

Menu Monday: Nourishing Body and Soul

 

                Starting this past Monday, Ryan and I elected to do a bit of a protein-focused, clean eating reset just to help us get back on a better track. We’re using a strict start and hope to park here for a month or so while we retrain our bodies away from sugar. We know that in that time, we have some events that may not allow us to hold as tightly to it, but for the days we can, we will. This first week afforded us the chance to eat at home every night and have leftovers for lunch each day, so it went well!

                In this phase, we are eating a lot of protein and non-starchy vegetables and abstaining from grains, dairy, and most fruit. We’ll be adding all that back in soon, but this is the starting point. The meals I’ve made are filling, and we don’t have any kind of restriction on them. We eat until we are satisfied. So below are the recipes I used as guides, though I did have to modify some of them to eliminate cheese or some veggies if they fell into the starchy category.  Honestly I’d keep all these recipes in full even after we move out of this phase.

                I think the things I miss the most are my morning toast and my yogurt and granola. They’ll be back, and absence will have made my heart grow fonder. I’m just sure of it.

Monday: Sheet Pan Chicken and Broccoli

What We Modified: I made this recipe as written – minus the teriyaki sauce. I will make this again later, and when I do, I will use G. Hughes teriyaki sauce, because I do love their dressings and marinades.

Tuesday: Grilled Tilapia and Sauteed Zucchini

What We Modified: Ryan grilled our tilapia, which is the only way I can handle fish, and I made this sauteed zucchini recipe. I had massive zucchini from our garden, so I just cubed it in larger cubes rather than using the baby zucchini the recipe calls for. Otherwise, I followed this recipe.

Wednesday: Ground Turkey and Green Beans

What We Modified:  I really loved this one. I left out the onion (for now) and used cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. (And since I wasn’t using regular rice, I didn’t need the broth.) I skipped the mustard and Worcestershire sauce. I used green beans from our garden, and this was a delicious meal!

Thursday: Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

What We Modified: I didn’t remove anything, but I did add diced dill pickle, because we love it in chicken salad. We ate ours over salad greens, and Ryan added boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, more pickles, and some pepitas on his.

Friday: Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps with Leftover Zucchini and Asparagus

What We Did: We didn’t have a ton of the chicken salad left, so we added leftover veggies to round out the meal.

Saturday: Chicken and Mushrooms with Roasted Zucchini

What We Did: I made the recipe but it didn’t feel like it was going to be filling enough, so I sliced up some of our garden zucchini and summer squash, sprinkled it with seasoned salt and Italian herbs. Baked it at 425 for about a half hour. It was delicious!

Sunday: Taco Salad

What We Did: I browned some ground turkey, added taco seasoning and served it over mixed greens with salsa on top. We missed our cheese and chips and yogurt, but it was still good!

Sunday Scrapbook: Moments from the Week

 

Ryan and I are not sure what happened to our week. It kind of blew up out of control and left us spinning. Most of it wasn’t bad, by any means, but it was just…whirly. So to the best of my memory, these were the highlights of this week!

As I mentioned Friday, last Sunday was our 164^th monthiversary, and we had a low-key celebration that was, nonetheless, delightful. So much rest and great conversation, and right now, that’s what we have the margin for. I am always extra pumped when a celebration day falls on a weekend, because then we can enjoy allllll the time together!

I worked from the church Monday morning and then worked from home in the afternoon. Lexi was super excited to have me home and stretched out next to me and the pile-o-commentaries. I’m busy prepping for my fall Growth Group that I’m teaching (on the book of Acts) and completely lost track of time studying! All of the sudden, it was time to make dinner!

Look at our pretty girl and her new haircut!! I wanted to cry with joy because she did so well at the groomer’s. We are making progress in overcoming whatever happened to her at (a different) groomer’s a few months back. It makes me so happy to see her love where she goes and come home with a good report!

I adore this picture Ryan took of Lexi helping me with my morning Scripture writing adventures. We do this every morning, and she always snuggles right up while I write. It makes me so happy to have a picture of it! (Three cheers for a husband who documents.)

Thursday was not my finest day. It wasn’t a bad day. It just wasn’t great. I struggled to keep a joyful spirit about me but was admittedly struggling, so Ryan suggested we go for a sunset walk. It helped so much to get out of the house for a little bit and enjoy this beautiful sky! Apparently too many hours at my desk with work and homework got the best of me.

Friday evening we went out to the church to help set up for the Back2School Bash on Saturday. We worked for quite a while, then it poured, and then we worked some more. But after the rain, check out this beautiful rainbow that appeared beside us! I always miss the rainbows, so I took far too many pictures of this one.

And then yesterday was the Back2School Bash! For the last few years, I’ve been the photographer, but I really wanted to work with Ryan this year, so we joined the snow cone team! It was a lot of fun! We worked with two dear friends (I didn’t ask them if I could post the group picture – so just imagine them here!) and had the BEST morning. Also, may I highly recommend working around ice on a super hot day?

So that’s a wrap on the first week of August. I think we better hang onto our hats because the remaining weeks are likely to follow suit.

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

Good morning, friends! Ryan and I are so excited to help with our church’s Back 2 School bash today. Snow cone duty for the win! So while we serve up all the ice, here is a little sampling of fun finds for you to enjoy!

I saw these on another blog roundup and LVE THEM!! Free printables for each state of the US and the state flower for it! I am printing off the one for Indiana. I’m also adding the Peony Festival to my list of events to attend one day. Doesn’t it just sound lovely? Anyway. If you love your state’s flower, check this out!

Angie Smith (writer…wife of Todd Smith from Selah) is hilarious, and this reel she made was so good, I had to watch it multiple times. I think she and I might be long lost twins (clearly she’s the pretty one) because we are two peas in a pod. The hotter she got in this video, the more I identified with every single piece of it.

Ryan and I are continually looking for ways to spruce up our spaces, inside and out. Our outside spaces are a bit challenging for us, partially because they are small, partially because of lake HOA rules, and partially because we don’t want to spend insane amounts of money to create things. I found this post with some great suggestions for making a small space feel cozy and beautiful. I want to make sure I hang onto these ideas, because there are some good ones in here! Maybe you need some ideas too?

Several years ago I did a Bible study from The Daily Grace Co. called “Preaching the Gospel to Yourself.” It taught the importance of personally remembering the power of the Gospel message because…we tend to forget. I appreciate Scotty’s take on it here. It is true that we expect those around us to remember, but OH how often we forget the basics and the magnitude of this beautiful message.

I do not own this top, but I’m on an email list for a blogger who recommended it. It has great reviews, and it certainly comes in a variety of colors! I think it has a lot of cuteness and personality, so I thought I’d share it with you, too! I really love a shirt that can be dressed up or down without a lot of effort, and I think this one fits the bill!

I always, always, always love beach house tours, especially when said house is all decked out in blue and white. KariAnne’s Cape Cod beach cottage is all those things, and it made my heart SO HAPPY to see it. Also – can we appreciate her love of Nancy Drew? I loved reading Nany Drew. And I saw several spots in that house where I could read Nancy Drew. 😊

Friday Fun: Celebrating 164 Months

 

This week marked another monthiversary for us! I have to warn you here at the beginning of the post that this month’s celebration was most decidedly NOT our most adventurous. But it was still meaningful to us, and that matters, right?

                164 months fell on Sunday, so we dressed up like a gender reveal and headed to church. (Quick note: Ryan surprised me with this new shirt last week! He just wanted to gift me something pretty and picked it out himself. I love it, so I wanted to wear it Sunday!) I had meetings and he worked in the sound booth and we didn’t see too much of each other until church was over, but we had a good morning anyway.

                We came home and enjoyed leftovers for lunch – and you’ll notice we didn’t waste any time getting into our Sunday afternoon jammies!

                Naps. Of course.

                And then we went for a long walk with Miss Lexi Grae. She was so excited to be out and about!

                We ended the day with a golf cart ride and a little ice cream in the park.

                Maybe next month we’ll have an adventure to report, but we thoroughly enjoyed our restful day together!