So when I read about the blog carnival, "Young Ladies Christian Fellowship" (one of my favorite sites, by the way) was having - journal a normal day in your life, I grew excited. I'm not sure what a normal day is, but I decided to pick a day to journal and see what would happen. Who knows, maybe I'll win that cute brown and blue notebook after all?
In spite of the fact that I was married just two-and-a-half months ago and relocated eight hundred miles from where I grew up, I live a fairly busy life married to the man of my dreams, Ryan Shafer. Welcome to a peek in my world...
7:00 am... I have vague recollections of my husband crawling onto the bed and nestling his face on my shoulder. He kisses me and tells me he loves me. Usually he leaves for work at 6:15/6:30 and usually I am up and about, but he doesn't have to go into work until later today, and I didn't sleep well last night. I gain coherence from my sleepy state, as he leaves the room. "Honey?" I call out. He pauses on the top step. "Yes?" I use my pet name for him, "Rye-rye, drive safe...remember...you're my hero!" I can hear him grinning as he responds, "I couldn't forget that."
Two hours later I awake with a start and groan. Golden sunshine is pouring through the cracks of the window blinds. Hoping it isn't as late as it feels, I lean up on my elbows to see the clock. 9:00. I throw back the covers and bounce out of bed, feeling a little embarrassed. So much for making a good impression!
My morning ritual is pretty classic...open the blinds and make the bed... I end up cleaning the upstairs bathroom since it didn't get done yesterday and then gather the dirty laundry to sort it downstairs in the laundry room. With just two of us, I don't do wash everyday, so I sort through it - darks go in the washer and lights in the one side of my deep, double-based laundry room sink. I think laundry room sinks are pretty handy... I notice the basket of clean laundry, so quickly fold it up, leaving the piles on the ironing board since more wash will come off the line when its dry. I pray as I fold, asking God to be in my day and give me the grace to captivate my thoughts to Christ.


9:50...I pour myself a bowl of homemade granola and milk, savoring the mixture of oatmeal, dried pineapple, raisins, and grape nuts. It's a yummy mixture, having been baked with honey. As I munch on my breakfast I load my computer and quickly jog through Facebook and email, responding to a few urgent emails. I return a couple of phone calls while I rinse out the dishes in the sink and load them into the dishwasher.
Around 10:40, I pull on my tennis shoes. I try to get out in the fresh air for a walk/jog everyday. It doesn't always happen but on beautiful, sunshiny days like today, I make it a special priority. I do the long loop, walking the first and last quarter and running in between. The warm sun coupled with just a slight autumn chill combined with the exercise invigorates me.
I'm home in twenty minutes (11:00), so I pick up the mail and sort through it. Most of its trash today. ::Sigh:: I like to see envelopes with handwritten scrawls from friends, but those have become scarcer as the years go by and we all grow older. I cut out the good coupons I'll likely use and throw the junk mail away. My mom hasn't received an email from me in awhile, so I quickly jam one out to her, before turning to my writing assignments.
Last December I enrolled in the Christian Writer's Guild, a writing mentorship program that Jerry B. Jenkins started. I am wrapping up my first year in a two year course, working under the tutelage of Sandra Byrd (author of, "Let Them Eat Cake" and others). I needed to send out Lesson 17 - assignments on the devotional article and I needed to write the actual devotional article to wrap it up and email her my work.
Writing a devotional article is just the kind of writing I like, so I enjoy myself, refilling my water at intervals when I need to think through a sentence or point. I break from my writing to talk with my husband at 12:15. He always calls me at lunchtime to ask how my day is going. I love my husband!!
12:40 - Writing finished, I do some cursory editing and hit "send". I get up from the computer to eat lunch, which today is leftover salad and cheeseburger pie. I eat it comfortably curled up on our living room couch. We have two bay windows on either side of the couch, and I feel washed in sunshine. My thoughts are turned towards the questions we'll discuss and ponder together at Wednesday morning ladies' group. "How would Jesus serve in my community? Do I bring life through my service? Do I serve out of a sense of duty?"
I think about how often I commit to something and as I find myself executing the tasks I've agreed to do, find myself thinking critical or complaining thoughts. If that is the case, is my service really bringing life? Who am I serving, if my heart is not in my service? Am I just trying to look good? Do I approach people and opportunities with my goals or do I ask God what He thinks? I think I answered the questions with more questions... It will be fun to share and hear from the other great ladies in our group!
At one o'clock I rinse my dishes and find them a place in the dishwasher. My goal in the next twenty or so minutes is to balance out our financial planner and sort coupons by their expiration date. I sprawl out over the office/music room floor and set to work. While I never loved math in skill, calculations and figuring is something I love. Our financial book is split in three sections and I keep a log of every purchase that we make. Groceries are in one section, gas and miscellaneous purchases are in another and bills in another.
I leave the house at 1:25 to walk around the corner and pick up the Gingerich's mini van. For the last six weeks I have temporarily been working in their home several hours, a couple of days a week. I drive over and Lynda tells me what the agenda is for the afternoon. It's a busy time sweeping and vacuuming the downstairs floors, washing a large load of dishes and folding laundry off the line. My work is done with the backdrop of Christine and Erika's playful banter. Today is my last day working for them and I'll miss the little girls very much. The highlight of today was getting to do some babycare since Chelsea (not quite three months) woke up before Lynda returned. I reveled in the sweetness of baby smiles as I changed her diaper and she amiably cooed and grinned.
It was around 3:20 when I dropped off the van and set home on foot. I took a little detour to try and get away from a yipping beagle that chose to pursue me and arrived home a little later than usual. With a piano lesson around the corner, I poured a glass of water and picked up some odds n' ends laying around. I set up for my piano lesson, turned on the computer and started finishing up preparations for Kids' Club craft.
Valerie Zehr promptly arrived at 3:45 for her piano lesson. She is a talented young lady who makes beautiful music, so I always enjoy lessons with her. Today she wraps up "Sonatina" by M. Clementi and we schedule the next week's work of pieces. E Major scale and arpeggio, Loch Laudam (an Irish tune), Dozen a Day technique exercise, improvising a simple Minuet, and "Etude in Style".
She leaves at 4:25 and I dive back into Kids' Club preparation. Kids' Club is a ministry hosted weekly on Tuesday evenings by our church people. We meet around 6:15 at the church, head off on our routes and pick up kids from Meadville and adjacent areas, for Bible study.
I finish preparation between grilling chicken breasts in olive oil, chives, salt and Italian seasoning. The chicken is placed in a casserole dish, covered with spaghetti sauce and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. I stick it in the oven and put water on for rice, while I begin broccoli. In the interim periods of time when nothing needs my immediate attention, I do the dishes, set the table and wipe the counters. I like to have a clean kitchen when we sit down for supper.
My favorite time of the day is 5:15 (this varies from day to day): when Ryan comes home! Usually I meet him at the door and he picks me up and kisses me, but today I'm stirring the cheese sauce which can't be left, so...Ryan comes to the stove to greet me. :)

5:30 rolls around...Ryan is out of the shower and working on last minute Kids' Club preparation. Our supper - chicken parmesan, cheese sauce over broccoli and rice is ready, so we eat. Bon appetite!!
We don't have to leave until 6:00, so I clean up the dishes so Ryan can finish his preparation. I'm done before he is ready, so I sit down for some beloved minutes at my digital grand piano. I finish two scores from Jane Austen's movie "Emma" and its time to skedaddle...
We get to the church and I talk with Carla, the Kids' Club coordinator, about my new route. I have some extra time, so I get my classroom ready. I am the head teacher of the nine and older girls in our club. Andrea Nisley and I leave around 6:40 to pick up our kids - three new ones, from downtown. Since they are new I bring a sign-up application for their mom to fill out.
Kids' Club is from 7:00-8:30. Once all the kids are gathered, Geryll and Carla open with songs, prayer and birthday wishes for whoever has a birthday that week. The kids all clamor, raising their hands high to hold the large paper with our song lyrics written on them.
At 7:15 we break for class. This is usually a rowdy time as people jump around and rush to their classes. It feels good to get everyone in our class situated around the table. I open with prayer and turn the time over to one of the assistant teachers, Meredith, who will teach tonight. The lesson is on Moses and the Israelites departure from Egypt and across the Red Sea. The girls' listen fairly well. Some of them are especially enthralled with the staff Meredith brought to illustrate Moses putting his rod across the Sea. They want to illustrate too!
Around 7:35, Meredith turns the time back over to me. I'd written some fill in the blank review questions on the board, so we talk about the lesson. Despite the fact that they sometimes put on a "cool act" and it seems like they aren't listening, they get all the answers right. Our craft for tonight is talking about fears...I hand out black pieces of paper and white crayons and each of the girls writes or draws some of their fears on the paper. Sometimes it feels crazy...I have to wonder if what we do really makes a difference. And then there are little minutes when I realize in a real way, that our work IS important. One little girl spoke about her fear of dying... When I asked her why she was afraid to die, she said it was because she didn't know if she'd go to hell if she died.
Wow. I had a moment where I was able to speak into her life about eternity and God's love and though she acted nonchalant, I know she heard what I said. When I was speaking, the classroom actually got a little quiet too (!!) and one girl - a particularly hard "tough girl", made eye contact for a split second. I have a hard time with this particular girl, because she hardly engages in class. When our eyes connected for that brief second, I knew that as tough as she acted she really listened too.
Yes, this work IS important.
We wrapped up the class time with a rowdy game of musical chairs and "Upset the Barnyard", followed by a snack, before we gathered together again at 8:15 for singing, prayer and dismissal. Until we dropped the kids on our routes off and got home it was 9:15.


Ryan and I felt tired since the last several nights have borne fitful sleep, so we poured two small glasses of milk and grabbed a couple of frosted sugar cookies and headed upstairs. Our evening ritual is pretty classic too - changing into our pajamas, brushing teeth, removing contacts... We snuggled into bed together with our evening snack and spent the next hour talking, teasing, laughing...discussing everything from our days, to Kids' Club, to our hearts. Finally we listed off to sleep, for another day was standing by...at our little house in Pennsylvania. ~


P.S. And that new day dawned earlier, as we woke at 5:30... ;)
Go to:

   Full, amazing and transitional! A lot of phrases flit through my mind as I recollect; a lot of different events have formed the last couple of weeks. And here I am, a married woman, mistress of a cute little home in Guys Mills, Pennsylvania.

    My wedding day was all that I imagined and more. Everyone tells you to relax and take it easy, you will remember your vows, you won't fall flat on your face going down the aisle, this is the best day of your life - so breathe in, breathe out, relax... ?!?!

     It was all as they wisely counseled and if something went askew, I didn't have a clue. I realized more than ever, what a blessed woman I am, as the best day of my life did unfold. I was surrounded by a whole churchful of people who love me (and my husband), care about us, and support us. Not to mention the many people who couldn't make it - praying for us and sending their best wishes. I especially felt the support of our families, who gave so much to us - their time, energy, money, resources, insight, over the years and over the weekend. Is anyone more blessed than I(we)?

     Than my dearest and greatest friends, girls who came from far and wide - Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Ohio and etc! It was fun to laugh and giggle for a few spare seconds now and then on Friday as they chipped in and made stuff happen... but it was fifteen minutes before 11:00 am, I felt the friendship of my dearest friends keenly. I couldn't remember half of my vow...I kept getting stuck and I was consequently getting the jitters. Four of the dearest gals in the enire nation stood in front of me, tucked back in a corner of the church and painstakingly walked me several times through the words I would share with my husband.  My sister Andrea, and best friends...Bethany and Hannah Ankerson and Rachel Rowland. Afterwards, they put their arms around me and one by one, they prayed for me. They prayed for peace and calm, unsurpassable joy, they thanked God for our friendship....one last time we single girls shared a bond that nothing can sever.

      My wedding was perfect. I only remember seeing Ryan as I walked down the aisle. I remembered my vows with not an ounce of trouble and as I turned with my new husband and "For the first time ever, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Shafer" was announced... my heart soared!

                                                                                     ~

     Ryan and I had a lovely honeymoon on the St. George River, in a picteresque log cabin nestled along the riverbank, only fifteen minutes away from the ocean. Our week went far too fast, but we made lots of memories together in our first days as a married couple. We spent our wedding night in the Hideaway Suite at historical Brewster Inn and from there journeyed to Warren, where our cabin was located. It was a week of swimming, laying out in the sun, a long, explorative canoe trek, touring the ruins of an old fort, walking the 1 mile breakwater to Rockland Harbor Light, visiting Owls Head Lighthouse, memorable laundromat experiences, delicious pizza, making cheddar cheese popcorn a tradition, Welch's grape juice and candlelight, learning more how to love eachother. It was a week I will never forget!

      We drove back up to Newport to say good-bye to my family, Saturday morning. We showed them honeymoon pictures, packed our car "up to the gills" with boxes and odds n' ends of stuff, and gave tight hugs, before driving away. I remember watching Ryan leave all those times when we were dating and longed for the day when I could ride off with him, as his wife... With a last wave good-bye to my family, I gave a happy sigh: that time had come. Stopping in at Mom and Dad's gave us a late start and it wasn't until 2:30 am Sunday morning (August 16th), we rolled into the driveway of our new home. The porch light was on and after thirteen plus hours of driving, it looked like a welcome sight!!!

       Ryan was off work for another week, so we spent the next seven days setting up house, together. I could think of nothing else I would rather do than establish our home together. Several grocery shopping ventures and many furniture manuevering, unpacking boxes, organizing, decorating and rearranaging hours later...we were settled. Our house was a home. We saw little other people and did little other things that week...it was fun enough to just be together and work through the kinks of housekeeping. We started a ritual of walking in the evenings, celebrated Dad Shafer and Davy's birthdays, and took one evening to shop with wedding gift cards and eat at Olive Garden in Erie.

      August 24th was Ryan's first day back at work, and real life started to happen. :) Contrary to what many people seem to presume, I am not bored, I do have things to do, and I don't feel tied down. There's been more than enough for me to do this past week. I've started writing up thank-you cards, I make lunches and suppers for my husband, wash and hang laundry, weeded all the flowerbeds, spent around four hours ironing (shower curtain, bedskirt, and our whole wardrobe of ironable clothes), set up blogs and Facebook, talked with my family and a few friends on the phone, gone walking, met my neighbor boy Billy, walked to the post office and to Norma's for some groceries, had a housewarming party, unwrapped and put away gifts from our housewarming party, played volleyball one evening with my husband, ventured down to the FBCS volleyball games and played a little another evening with my husband, Ryan and I started studying Ephesians together in a Literary Study Bible, and we are reading together out of Dr. Leman's book, Sheet Music. I had Christy Zehr come and visit me Friday afternoon after her half-day of school and I got to know her better.

       I'm simply not bored, nor do I ever intend to be. In a couple of weeks, I begin my classes again with the distance writing course I am taking and I am already sorting through requests for piano lessons. It looks like teaching has followed me to Pennsylvania (and that is not meant to sound like a complaint, for I love to teach). My other goals are to make yummy meals for my husband, get to know my neighbors better, take-up learning Spanish again, improve the online magazine/website I coedit with my friend Heather Terrall, keep writing for my column in "Tapestries of the Heart" magazine, keep laundry caught-up and my house tidy and comfortable, freelance write (and make money), forge stronger relationships with my church family and become a part of the community. If I manage to have any spare time after that, maybe I can read some of the books on my wish list or finish some scrapbooks that have unfortunately become perpetual projects.

        This post has been written in intervals...between fixing my hair, dusting the furniture and sweeping all the floors, planning supper, doing laundry, returning a phone call, and picking up some random items around my house. I'll eat lunch soon, go for a 2-mile walk, and then open my doors and welcome my new sister Karen for a visit this afternoon... Here I am everyone; back on xanga - welcome to my world.