Thank you Daylight

The incredibly obnoxious simulated cookoo clock sound was screaming from the cell phone across the room. I squinted one eye lid open just long enough to realize it was still dark outside. I stumbled, sluggishly across the room and hit the snooze button. Three snooze buttons later, I finally peeled myself out of bed and groggily brushed my teeth.

It was definitely too early.

I stepped out of my room and was met by unexpected silence. If anything is true in a Shaffer house, (especially such an extraordinarily full Shaffer house) I am not the first one up in the morning. Ever.

It was definitely too early.

I climbed the stairs expecting to hear little girl giggles and the muffled sounds of cartoon voices. But there was nothing. Silence. Even from the grandparents room.

It was Definitely too early.

I opened the girls bedroom door and found Jaime, face down on her pillow, with blankie haphazardly draped over her tossled hair. Paige’s face was nearly pressed up against the window of her top bunk, and she was nuzzled down in the pathetic remains of her disheveled covers.

“Girls….it’s time to get up.”

No response.

“Giiiiirls…it’s time for school.”

Jaime began to stir. I sat on her bed and rubbed her back, trying to coax her fully awake.

“Come on honey, it’s time to get up.”

With tightly squinted eyes, a classic and notable three year old morning afro, and a waving hand desperately trying to escape the wispy strands, Jaime responded in a croaky voice.

“But Mommy, I’m sleeping.”

“I know honey, but it’s time to get up and go to school.”

Jaime peered at me as if I had lost my mind.

“But Mommy, I’m sleeping!”

Such discussions are expected with teenage children, even middle schoolers, but this morning, I got the profound priviledge of dragging my three year old from her cozy nest, and forcing her to get ready for school. Thank you daylight savings. Thank you for this terrifying glimpse into my future.

Style

We have been involved in some interesting discussions lately about worship and musical styles. In light of these conversations I thought I would ask our readers.

1) What is your favorite style of music?

2) What are two of your favorite worship bands?

(popular and obscure are welcome answers)

Busy…busy…busy

Well our last few days have been busy. Really busy.

Wed night, Ben’s sister and niece arrived. Thursday we had worship practice until almost 11:00. Friday Paige had a pizza party at church, and we went out to dinner with our worhsip leader and his wife. Saturday we played and sang at church, then rushed over to Josh and Stacy’s house for a delicious dinner with Becca, Joshua, Kenny Rebekah, Josh and Stace. At about 11:00 the boys decided they were going bowling and ditched us all to find an open bowling alley. Stacy and I fell asleep in her bed, and Ben drove me home around 1:00 in the morning. Then it was up at 7:30 today to get ready to go to worship practice and then play for the service. We finished up with Dion’s pizza with the Shaffer conglomerate and now everyone in our house is sleeping. (except me) whew…

Not to say we didn’t have a blast. Thankfully, tomorrow things should calm down a bit. We have Bible Study again tonight, and it should be the biggest one to date. We are having a real live Kenyan coming! He goes to our church and has been living in the States for 10 years. Our pastors told him about Ben’s childhood and he was very excited to meet us. We finally connected today, and he is planning to come over tonight!

His face lit up this morning when Ben greeted him with “Jambo bwana.” (which means “hello sir.” in Swahili)

He heartily grasped Ben’s hand and answered “Jambo!”

It will be a great night for him to come, because Ben’s whole family is settled in, and they can enjoy plenty of Africa stories.

Blessings!

Moving Day

Well, after a week of a million decisions, changing decisions, then making a million more decisions, Ben’s parents are moving in! They are going to start sleeping here tonight. It’s just in time, because Ben’s sister Jesse and her daughter Olivia are ariving this Wednesday evening to stay for two weeks! Family everywhere! I absolutely love having a full house.

We enjoyed a full house and full tummies last night as well. We hosted “Fondue Night!” It was absolutely delicious and so fun! We have been incredibly blessed with wonderful friends and wonderful chefs as well!!!

Tonight we are going to have a full house again. There are going to be about 15 adults and possibly 7 kids coming over for barbecue and bible study. It’s going to be a blast. We are starting our series on Intercessory Prayer tonight, and I am looking forward to the impact it is going to have on all of our prayer lives.

We are going to try to get Ben’s parents in and settled before 6:30 so that we can be ready for the crowd. Moving furniture, emptying closets, grilling 20 burgers, studying about prayer, chasing kids up and down the stairs, entertaining enough people to fill every seat in our living room and most of the floor space…Sounds like a typical day at the Shaffers! Come join us if you can!

Sing…Sing a Song…

This past Saturday night and Sunday morning, Ben and I did something we haven’t done in quite a while. We helped lead worship on a stage, with microphones and everything! (I gotta say, I’ve missed the microphones! They do so much of the work for you.) We have been leading worship meetings in our home a couple of times a week since we got back, but leading worship with a whole band, and a large congregation in front of you definitely carries a very different dynamic.

This past year has been so good for our hearts in this particular arena. We were given the wonderful privilege of laity. In this season, the Lord took us on a journey that has changed the way we view and do worship forever.

Worship is for Him. No one else.

That gets lost somehow in the grind of every week worship leading, with the lights, and the crowds of people. But when all of that was gone, and it was just me and the wall in front of me, my heart got a chance to be honest. I got to ask myself,

“What am I really doing? And who am I really doing it for?”

I will be eternally grateful for this past season, and I am so interested to see what this new season holds. It seems we are going to be helping out on a more regular basis at our church, and the thing that surprises me the most, is how excited I am. This weekend was just plain old fun! The joy is there like I always wished it would be. God has so kindly allowed us to take the simplicity we have learned in the silence with Him, and bring it with us back into the spotlight.

Two weeks ago, the Lord showed me a vision while I was getting prayed for at church. I was in a tower of a huge castle. I was in the bed chamber of Jesus. I was a song bird, and He was holding me in His hand. He showed me that He has been keeping me on His night stand, to sing only for Him. But now He has a new place He wants me to rest and sing. He carried me over to the window sill and placed me on it. He told me, “I want you to sing out there, what you see in here. And sing to Me in here, what you see out there. This will be your post now. I am releasing you.”

After I had that vision, I went up on stage to give a word to the worship leader. After I had given it to him, he asked me sing over the church. (He had never even heard me sing before!) I said, “Right now?” He said, “Yes, Sing over us.” So I did. I sang spontaneously over the church for about 10 minutes.

Two people, came up to me after I was finished singing and said, “It sounded like the Lord was releasing you.” That exact phrase! God is so cool.

Well, it’s definitely a new season, and I am thrilled to see what is waiting on the horizon!

The Book



Well, for those of you that didn’t know, I wrote a book about a year ago. A little over a year ago actually. It is a novel, and it has been sitting on the shelf, pretty much since I finished it.

A couple of months ago, a sweet friend of mine offered to edit it for me. She just finished it this week, and we had breakfast yesterday to discuss it.

She loved it!!!

I was so encouraged by our talk, and I have a ton of work ahead of me in plowing through the grammar edits, re arranging some plot development, and re-writing the first chapter. But hopefully, it will be complete in the next two months, and then I will begin the process of trying to get it published.

Please pray for me when you think of it, as I will be in the thick of writing again for the next few weeks. I am so excited about this story, and I have been blown away by the feedback I have received. It has been so impacting to people, in ways I hoped, and in ways I could have never expected. I can’t wait to put it out there for everyone to read.

I’ll let you know when the final draft is complete! So exciting!

Hong Kong

Now I am not referring to Jesse’s (Ben’s sister) early childhood announcement of being finished with her food, but I am sharing a new Shaffer family development.David and Debbie (Ben’s parents) have been offered jobs in Hong Kong starting August 1st! The place they will be working is a very well developed Christian School.  They are thrilled and also sad to be so far from family.  To cushion the blow a bit, they are planning to move in with us for the rest of their stay in America, as soon as they are able to sell their condo! We are so excited! They will be in China for the next two years, but will be able to take long visits back to America during Christmas and summer.  Yea for China!  

Known

Now, I am not one who keeps up very well with pop culture, in fact we don’t even have television. And for anyone who does keep up, this post will seem excessively late. But I heard recently about the sudden death of Heath Ledger (an actor, for those who are less in touch than me). I was searching the web today, and saw a short tribute video to his life, but sadly, it was a tribute to the pretend characters he has played in his short career. Obviously these are far more readily available, but it got me to thinking.

What is it that people will remember about us when we die? Or in this case, what is it that people want to remember?

Our culture is so strange. We love the idea of knowing people, but so rarely actually like the day in day out emotional rollercoaster of actually loving someone. Heath Ledger was not the man portraying strange and eccentric characters on a screen, any more than we are the polite smile we show the nice waiter handing us our coffee, or the meaningless small talk we bring to our business meetings.

Heath Ledger was not an award, or a nomination, or a nice handful of photographs for the latest gossip magazine. He was a father, a friend, someone with dreams, just like us.

How do the people in your life know you? Do they know your polite conversation? Do they know your ability to entertain a whole room? Do they know your career status? Do they know your tax bracket? Do they know what house you live in, and how much equity you’ve gained? Do they know your great salesmanship, or your ability to meet a deadline? Do they know what family you are from, or your high expectations of those around you?

Or do they know your dreams? Do they know your passions? Do they know how you love, how you give, how you lay down your life? Do they know the status of your heart? Do they know you are beautifully made by a Master Craftsman? Do they know your story?

A handful of people really knew who he was.

How many people really know you?

These thoughts have been swimming around in my head, and have challenged me. I pray they will challenge you to be brave.

To know…..and to be known.

We will be returning….

Seriously, we are still alive. Things have taken a turn for the busier; but we will be back. Here’s a glimpse into future posts: “My awesome day off”, “An update on my parents” and the best-seller “Early morning theology with my three year old” So stay tuned! We will have witty and enjoyable things to say! 

New Pictures

 I know we have been rather terrible about this, but we have finally gotten back into shutter bug mode, and have a new slew of pictures for everyone to enjoy.  It’s mostly just the girls hamming it up, but that’s all anyone really wants to see anyway!  So click on the ”More Photo’s” at the bottom of the flicker panel and you can take a little glimpse into the last month around here.

Love to All!