Tandem Bikes

If you were tuned in to BLT this morning, you heard the tale of the tandem bike. You remember the one...ding ding! HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

This adventure is best fulfilled for you by sharing pictures...so here you go.

After a leisurely afternoon by the pool, Ryan and I walked down to the little rental store and got our tandem bike.

WITH tires that work on the beach.

And let's not forget that precious bell.

 

See how his left hand is already hovering by the bell? The beginning of the end, folks. The beginning of the end.

 

My thoughts on our trial run around the parking lot.

 

(It occurs to me now that we were going the wrong direction, per the little arrow next to me. Perhaps this is why I was so scared??)

Nevertheless, I eagerly moved to the road.

Ryan's thoughts on this joyous adventure:

Even though I was scared outta my pea-pickin' mind, I won't lie to you - I love this man's adventure for life. And I love the way he draws me to do things that scare me outta my pea-pickin' mind. Just don't tell him I said so, mmmmmkay?

After darting successfully around Siesta Key Village and watching a GORGEOUS sunset.... we had a coffee date. Ryan parked the bike.

Time to ride home.

Via. The. Beach.

I wasn't kidding about how dark it was:

My last smile until we were safely back at our resort.

And at the end of the ride, Ryan said.....ding ding......helllooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

December...Weddings...and Such

Hey everyone! It's almost halfway through December and I'm just now showing up to the party! This is what a week away + half a week of catch up will do to a person! :)

First of all...I got married!!!!!!!! Thank you so, SO much to all of you who have been excited along with me and who prayed for us as we traveled to and from Florida for the ceremony...and for the wedding day itself. God completely blew our minds with how gorgeous a day He gave us and how smoothly things went. (Sans the music that stopped working halfway through the wedding.)

Can I show you some pictures? (I know - I've been BOMBARDING you all week on my own blog with that - but these are some I've not used there. I don't think, anyway....)

(All these pictures taken by my amazing mother-in-law, by the way.)

My "Jackie-O" look, as my mother-in-law called it. This is such typical Bekah. Give me my sunglasses and let me go on my merry way!! :)

 Seeing my mom for the first time on my wedding day. She cried. And then I did too.

 One of my favorite pictures. Seeing Dad for the first time on my wedding day. (Tears ALL the way around for everyone.)

 One of my favorite pictures - me with my bridesmaids! Sara's on the left and Lynnette's on the right.

 Our cake topper - the very first purchase we made toward our wedding. It's actually us. We did a photo shoot on a walking trail on a Sunday afternoon and sent a picture into a company that changed it into an acrylic silhouette. We love it.

 Our coffee toast. Because coffee is our THING.

 Sigh. How is this my LIFE?

 Posing for our very energetic photographer, Steve.

 Our amazing wedding party. Adam and Sara (Ryan's best friend and his wife) and Mark and Lynnette (my best friend and her husband).

 OH YEAH, BABY!! That's my husband!! :)

Such a fun day. Thank you, Lord!

And now I'm back and we are in the last few live shows of 2012! Hope you can hang out with Lynne and me tomorrow for BLT. Ryan will be joining us via phone too and we're going to reminisce about our wedding. (And you'll want to hear the tandem bike story.)

Maybe tomorrow I'll post the tandem bike pictures...

Almost There!

Oh y'all...this week has been so crazy busy I haven't even had time to blog. (Shhhh don't tell Lynne!)

Hard to believe that in four days...I'm getting married! It feels a little more real today since Marion (our amazingly hilarious IT guy) changed my email so I'm officially Bekah Shaffer now. I posted on Facebook that I'm now email official...so as soon as I follow that up with being God-official and Facebook-official, I should be good to go! :)

So thankful for the wildly unexpected changes God brought to my life this year through Ryan's presence in my life. So thankful for answers to 30 years of prayer.

And I can't wait to stand at the edge of the water in a pretty dress and say a forever, lifetime YES to this man who so completely captured my heart and continues to care for it so sweetly.

I'm excited to honor lives that were cut short on this earth, yet still impacted me so greatly and have helped mold me into the woman I am today.

(Our honorary bridesmaid and groomsman, representing my former roommate, Angela Kent, who died of breast cancer last December, almost a year to the day of our wedding and my nephew, Kirk Blackburn, who was stillborn when I was ten.)

I'm excited to share the elements we have planned for our ceremony - and then tell you all about them when I get back!

I'm excited to see the ocean. (Okay technically the gulf. But whatever. It's bigger than a creek. That's good enough for me!)

And no matter what happens...I'm just so excited that at the end of the day, I'll be Mrs. Ryan Shaffer!

I will be blogging over at Bekah's Bits next week, giving you peeks into the wedding! Love you all!

I'm Thankful...Even Though I'm Only Blogging Once This Month!

I'm grateful that the blog-loving Bekah decided to exercise her thankfulness muscle (it's large and well-toned) by writing weekday "What I'm Thankful For" posts the entire month of November. I'm especially grateful that she didn't expect me to participate but, instead, extended a gentle, no-expectations' invitation to take a day.

This, the 20th day of November, is that day!

There is much in my life that warrants a thank-you: my husband, Doug, and his restored relationship with Christ; our son, J.R. and our new daughter-in-law, Jeni, and new grandson, Elijah; Bekah and all that she brings to my work and personal life; and God's extravagant answers to our Mid-Morning prayers, to name just a few.

I'm also grateful for carpenters, those skilled workers who can create, build, and repair using their hands, a few tools, and a tape measure.

Doug's best friend in college double-majored in math and physics at a private Indiana school known for its rigorous academics. Yet when he graduated, he became a carpenter. When we renovated our kitchen (on the skinniest of shoestring budgets), Greg oversaw the project. He installed cabinets, hung beadboard, and built a banquette. In the living room, he crafted a new mantle, attached beadboard behind the shelves, and widened the bottom shelves to accommodate storage.

Every day for three weeks, this quiet man with a brilliant, inquisitive mind, measured (twice), cut, and hammered a new room into existence, and renewed our nondescript fireplace area . He brought the ideas in my head to life, and created areas so beautiful and homey, that I am swallowed up by gratefulness whenever I enter the spaces.

I love making a nest of pillows on the banquette and reading. If there's sunshine streaming through the window, even better!

              
The beadboard creates just the right amount of texture to showcase single items, like this birdhouse made from barn wood.

It's amazing what crown molding, beadboard, a beefier mantle, and molding on a cabinet door can do for a space -- and for very little money.

To all of the men and women who labor with their hands to create and repair -- plumbers, electricians, mechanics, and carpenters, to name a few -- thank you for your special forms of restoration.

You are appreciated and valued.


            

Holidays = "Opportunities for Growth"

I think most of you know that I used to work in Financial Aid. It was a stretch for me because I hate math. And math hates me right back. Were it not for the grace of God and the invention of math software, I never would have survived.

Much of what we did was driven by government regulation, and as you might imagine, those rules changed quite regularly. When our supervisor would call a meeting to inform us of change (and the subsequent steps we'd have to take to undo/redo/unlearn/relearn something) she always called it "an opportunity."

I loved that about her because I appreciated her positive spin on life, even when there truly wasn't anything positive to be found, but you can well imagine how I grew to detest the word "opportunity."

STOP GIVING ME OPPORTUNITIES!!!! I'M OPPORTUNITIED OUT!!!!!!

I might be out of Financial Aid, but I've learned that opportunities exist everywhere. Saturday I had the opportunity to extend warm hospitality and grace to a service guy who came to install something at the house. Instead, I stormed into the yard (in a very unbecoming fashion, I assure you) to aggressively rake leaves into bags while Ryan stayed behind in the house offering a second cup of coffee in Jesus' name and genuinely investing in the service guy.

It was with many tears and much self-disappointment later that  I tried to spill to Ryan (in coherent thoughts) just why the guy had annoyed me so much and how I wished I could have so easily had my fiance's giving, compassionate heart. In turn, Ryan gently wiped away my tears and explained how much the guy had really done to help us.

Opportunity failure, party of one, right here.

You might not work in Financial Aid and you might not be out punishing your yard (in such a way that leaves you with aching muscles the next day) but perhaps you have a great opportunity coming up this week.

Thanksgiving.

I always loved what Mark Lowry said about family: "You know what I'm talking about. You'll cry at their funeral but you don't want to go on vacation with them."

It's true! Family. We need them and yet for so many, nothing creates an "opportunity for growth" like an afternoon together around a turkey table.

Chuck Lynch joined us on Mid-Morning today to talk about how to relate to your adult children during the holidays. I sat at the engineering board furiously scribbling notes, and this was one of my favorite quotes: "God never gives us grace for other people's responsibility. He only gives grace, power and courage for our own responsibility."

Do you have one of those opportunity people in your family? The one that drives you to hide in the bathroom and taste the salt of hot tears while everyone else is oblivious to the pain? The one that drives you to make rather drastic "alternate plans" so you don't even have to attend the festivities?  Live in the freedom that you're not responsible for her. You're only responsible for you.

And I loved this too - straight from Scripture: "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." Romans 12:18

And perhaps...dare I say it? Be thankful for the person that gives you the growth opportunity. I'm not sure that today I can say I'm THANKFUL for the one in my life that God is currently convicting me. but I can say I'm thankful for the way the conflict is driving me into the arms of my Beloved.

Tweets n Blogs

Call me crazy, but it's true...God uses tweets and blog posts to speak to me. Sometimes to comfort, sometimes to encourage, sometimes to convict. But He's using them. And today, it's what I'm thankful for!

Can I share a few tweets that came through on our feed today that just blessed me?

"We want clarity & God gives a call.We want a road map & God gives a relationship. We want answers & God gives His hand" - Ann Voskamp

"To discover grace is to discover God's utter devotion to you, his stubborn resolve to give you a cleansing, healing love." - Max Lucado

"Don't expect everyone to accept, understand, affirm, endorse, approve of, or support your obedience to God. Can you handle disapproval?" - Christine Caine

"Prayer is the difference between THE BEST U CAN DO and THE BEST GOD CAN DO." - Mark Batterson

"Although we're mostly stinkers, more deserving of discipline than mercy, our Redeemer chooses to lavish us w/affection. Makes my heart leap!" - Lisa Harper

"It's only 7:45, and already I need to start today over...resetting my attitude at the Throne of Grace." - Carol Floch (Appreciate the honesty!!)
Maybe you're not into Twitter for yourself...but I tell you...it's worth following some of these folks just to be inspired! And every now and then...a good laugh accompanies a few of them!

And then there are the blogs. The ones I know I can get great encouragement from. Check some of these out!

ANN VOSKAMP - Blogs at A Holy Experience. Always such good things to take away from her deep and practical approach to life!

ANGIE SMITH - Blogs at Bring the Rain. She's on a trip with Compassion right now and her blogs are so heart rending!

THE (IN)COURAGE GIRLS - from Dayspring. Angie and Ann are actually both part of that circuit, but there are many others too and they take turns blogging much inspiration.

MANDY - Blogs at Biblical Homemaking. She does it all and still manages to be relatable and lovable.

BETH MOORE - Need I say more? The Mama of the Living Proof Ministries blog has great, moving things to say - alongside her daughter Melissa and her assistant Lindsee.

CAROLINE ROTHSCHILD - Blogs at Jane Caroline. The daughter-in-law of Jennifer Rothschild is wise beyond her years and I love her style.

Thankful for all these people and how their words lift me up - from 140 characters and beyond!

Random and Frivolous

I told Lynne during BLT this morning that I really feel like I'm hogging the thankfulness factor on here this month. Been trying to coerce her into writing a blog post, but y'all, she's been SO BUSY. Some days are a 3 diet coke day for her and that's so serious. SO serious.

Today, perhaps in honor of We Like It Wednesday (and yes, I know it's Thursday, but we talked about them on BLT) - I'm picking some random, perhaps frivolous, things I'm thankful for. But I am, nonetheless, thankful.

Speaking of We Like it Wednesdays, I'm thankful for Pinterest. (HEY. I told you in the title it was random and frivolous. But I've gotten SO many good ideas for food...for gifts...for house decorations. Seriously. How did I function before Pinterest??

I'm thankful for peppermint mochas. This is hilarious to me since peppermint actually gives me a headache. (So if you're ever eating peppermint or chewing peppermint gum, please oh please do not come sit next to me. I beg you.) But the peppermint in the mocha is subtle and chocolatey enough that I can handle it and it makes me SO SO happy.

This one seems super silly to me, but maybe you can relate. Ryan talked to someone the other day that we went to high school with. I was such a wallflower in high school and most people didn't know I existed. Maybe that was you too - and you know it can be kind of a hard thing to get over. You feel...a little ugly and forgotten. Anyway. Ryan told me that this girl (who was, in my estimation, in a very high and beautiful league) told him she reads my blog and she likes it. I'll take acceptance 15 years later. Oh yes I will! Dumb, but slightly healing to me. And for that, I'm thankful.

I'm thankful for blogs. I can still remember when my co-worker Jim talked me into blogging. I resisted. I said no. I was so afraid! But he finally set UP the blog for me and gave me the password...and said, "Here. Blog." And now I can't imagine NOT blogging. I am thankful for the outlet it is for me...thankful for the friends I've met through that adventure!

Thankful for brand new Bibles. I blogged about this over at my own blog today. I love a new Bible for a new season in life, and I'd say marriage qualifies as a new season!  So thankful for the fresh, crisp pages and the journey I'll walk while living in those pages!!

That's my randomness for today. What are you thankful for today? No item too frivolous!!