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You are here: Home / 2010 / Archives for April 2010

Archives for April 2010

1 Corinthians 5

April 30, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

This is kind of heavy stuff for a Friday afternoon but I just can’t get these verses out of my head.  I shared them with our small group last week and it wasn’t enough to get it off my heart.  I was shuffling through my Bible last week looking for something and ended up on 1 Corinthians 5.  It’s kind of long so I’ll let you link over there to read it.

But basically Paul is writing to the church where there has been some unrepentant and blatant sexual sin in the church and no one is doing anything about it.  In fact, they’re kind of proud of it.  And Paul basically says “What the heck are you doing?  Throw the guy out of the church!  I’ve told you before not to associate with sexually immoral people!”  And I think so many Christians stop reading there.  And that’s how many get their stance where they need to keep sinners out of the church and at arm’s length in general.  They’re bad yeast!  They’re going to ruin us all!

But I love what Paul does next.  He says, “I know I said not to associate with sexually immoral people but I wasn’t talking about people of this world!  In that case, you’d have to leave this world!”  That line cracks me up!  He’s giving a big DUH to the church.  He’s saying of course I don’t mean not to associate with unbelievers/non-Christians who sin.  That’s impossible!  You’d have to fly right out of here to accomplish that.  But he does say, don’t associate with Christians who are living a life of sin!  Oh yes, he says if that person calls himself a Christ follower and they are sexually immoral or greedy, an idolator or slanderer or drunkard or swindler, don’t even EAT with them.  Bottom line, they’re hypocrites. So here it seems Paul is saying it’s better to associate with the non-Christian than the Christian!  In fact, he says of the non-Christians, who am I to judge them?  They’re sinners.  They’re going to sin.  God will judge them.  Not me.  Not you.  If someone doesn’t profess Christ, quit expecting them to act like it.

I don’t know about you, but this makes me start asking a lot of questions, just a few of which are:

What do I do with the Christian friend that isn’t acting like it?  Where does grace end and truth start?  To what level am I responsible for them?

How do I change my views of attendants at church? Or those that don’t attend church?  Or those that shouldn’t?  Man, that’s a tough question.  Paul is so clear but that concept is so foreign to me!

Or more important, in what ways could I be accused of being a hypocrite?

I don’t know if I have answers yet but the verses and questions are burrowing way down deep.

Have opinions?  I’d love to hear them.

Filed Under: spiritual stuff

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman Weekly Update

April 29, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

2010-04-28

This post is actually really hard to write after being down for 2 days with a stomach bug.  You should see the grimace on my face. 

Cheese Grits

These came out really well.  They were super easy to make and thought they had a great taste for what they were.  I say that because I’m one of those sweet grits girls not savory.  The taste reminded me a bit of the grits in shrimp and grits and I do like shrimp and grits.  But I don’t know.  Overall, I still just like butter and sugar in my grits.  It’s one of those things where I’ll eat it if it’s in front of me but I probably won’t be adding this into our meal rotation.   The kids didn’t care for it so no reason to have that many grits around.

Chicken Fried Steak

Getting towards the end of this book is kind of hard.  Because I made all the recipes up front that sounded so yummy.  So the recipes I’m making at this point are for check list only purposes.  So I’m not a huge fan of chicken fried steak.  It’s another one of those I’ll eat it if it’s in front of me but I don’t have it my rotation.  This didn’t go 100% as planned as the oil burned the first few pieces.  Mine wasn’t a nice golden brown like hers.  In fact, I couldn’t even convince myself to add the picture in the collage.  However, overall I thought it was a good attempt.  The kids ate it and really can’t ask for too much more than that.

Fried Chicken

I will never, ever, EVER complain about fried chicken again.  KFC, I’m bowed down in awe.  It took me forever to get this done.  PW had so many instructions about the oil temperature and I simply could not get mine to stay at the temp she required.  I even switched pans midway through. In the end though I had fried chicken and it was good.  The crust was super yummy and really what else could you ask from fried chicken?

Macaroni and Cheese

These were yummy.  Easy and yummy.  I prefer these over the crockpot versions I’ve done before.

Breakfast Potatoes

Once again I had issues with this. When I went to cube the potatoes after they were cooked, none of the skin would stay on and the potatoes were a bit mushy.  However, I threw them in the pan with the onions anyway and it was all edible. 

Migas

This dish was probably the most out of my tastebuds’ wheelhouse.  I’m not one to throw in a bunch of different vegetables and eat them. When I get an omelet, it’s a cheese omelet.  But I have to say, this had a really good taste.  Loved the Monterey Jack cheese on it.  And Heather tells me it was good with the potatoes.  The kids did not like it at all though so I doubt I’ll make a redo out of this one.  Also?  It was a lot of prep time cutting everything. I definitely would never take the time to do this in the morning.

Wow, this felt like a rough round of cooking.

I’m down to 14 recipes to make!  Make sure to visit PW’s site for more recipes!

Filed Under: Recipes

Pass the Ginger Ale

April 28, 2010 by Amy Leave a Comment

I had so many posts in mind for this week.  The plan was definitely not to leave you hanging with a haul all week.  I would have LOVED to have written some new posts but unfortunately a raging stomach bug hit me at 6:30am yesterday and I still have a glass of Ginger Ale beside my bed.  It was a rough one.  I’m on the upswing though and I’m guessing I’ll be back to regular programming soon.

Hope you’re having a great week.

PS Casey was amazing on Idol this week and I was so happy he didn’t go.

PPS Only 9 more days until I get to meet the Pioneer Woman!

PPS What was up with Glee this week?  The first time I caught it live and it was a snoozer.

Filed Under: random

Fashion Hauling – Black Dress and Glitter Shoes

April 26, 2010 by Amy 15 Comments

OK, so blame this whole post on Audrey.  She introduced all of us mommy bloggers to hauling videos.  Basically you go shopping, haul your stuff home and then share with the world what you bought.  If you’re familiar with unboxing in the tech world (beware of the geekiness), this will be a little familiar.  It’s so fun to share each others’ finds!

So I had to go to Target at lunch today and buy some paper towels (oozing Mommy Blogger here) and decided to check out some dresses for summer.  Here’s how it went (Please ignore the hair.  I left my hairspray in Kentucky last week and haven’t replaced it yet.  Maybe that’s what I should have bought at Target):

Other thoughts after watching:

I totally forgot to show you the flower headband I got.  It’s black.  I may or may not wear it.  Lexi said she’d wear it if I didn’t.  Probably a clue I shouldn’t be wearing it.

I also saw a bright red scarf at Target that would be a great accessory with the dress as well.

Finally, go buy a Help Haiti t-shirt!

 

Filed Under: Fashion

TGIF – Stream of consciousness

April 23, 2010 by Amy 4 Comments

Basically this means I just type and keep typing until I don’t want to type anymore.  Have fun…

TGIF indeed.  This has been a full week.  Not an overly busy week but just heavy.  I’ve had some heavy posts on the blog that have generated some good conversation outside of the blog.  Several of them just have me thinking a lot.  Work has been pretty busy.  I basically completed an estimated 4 weeks of work in one week.  Not to toot my horn or anything but it’s just mentally exhausting.  I was sick last weekend and into the beginning of this week.  I started birth control back on Sunday.  My doctor had suggested it for my acne and I decided to go for it even though I’ve not been on it for nearly 10 years.  I think between that and the thyroid medicine my body is out of whack.  I guess it will take time.  Lexi got a bike this week.  It’s Barbie and she’s so cute on it.  Until she rams it into one of Scott’s tools in the garage to stop and gives me a heart attack.  She’s going to have to learn to use the hand break!  She also had a friend over all day today.  They played so well together and really today was one of the quietest days of work I’ve had all week.  I finally decided to catch up on Glee yesterday.  I let it play while I was working.  I have to say, it’s a good little show.  I wouldn’t put it over  Lost whose time slot it shares but still.  It will probably be my Tues 9 replacement.  Will and Emma are just too cute for words.   We bought Avatar yesterday and I have to say it’s kind of a boring movie the second time through and without 3D.  They tend to hang out with the scenery and it’s just not that impressive, even on HD BluRay.  I’m buried in laundry.  I’ll probably be doing that all day tomorrow morning.  I may go with Scott to the church and do some yard work but I don’t want to be the only girl there and I’m pretty helpless.  I wouldn’t mind pitching in if I can though.  Water runs maybe?  I made some cranberry cookies  at Scott’s request and no PW recipe that was.  They were crumbly and not sweet enough.  Definitely not to my liking.  It’d do better as a coffee cake type deal.  Emma and Lexi got into silly bandz this week.  They seem like a waste of money but it reminds me of having slap bands when I was little and it makes it all better.  I like the idea of them sharing with their friends too.  While I’m sitting here Scott has just discovered YouTube on his PS3. Please shoot me now.  He’s cackling.  I don’t know whether to laugh or roll my eyes.  He’s so funny.  Well, I’m exhausted.  Think I’ll go to bed a little early.  Really looking forward to a day off tomorrow.  And please, someone break the YouTube function on our PS3.  Then again, maybe I’ll record him and load it onto YouTube.

Filed Under: random

Bowing My Head

April 21, 2010 by Amy 17 Comments

prayer3

Another long one!  Sorry!  I debated even posting this but I figure if I’m open enough to say I’ve got questions, I ought to post any answers I feel like I have.  I’m never saying I’m 100% right, just explaining what I feel like I understand right now.

Nearly two months ago I blogged about some doubts I had about prayer, predestination and free will.  As I said, I prayed about it which is weird I know.  How can you pray about whether prayer works or not?  But I did.  Here were the pieces to the puzzle I knew:

  • We’re told to pray
  • Jesus prayed
  • I’ve seen prayers being answered
  • I believe I have free will
  • I believe God is omniscient meaning he knows the past, present and future

For some reason, though, I could not put the pieces together.  As I blogged before, if he knows the future, how is it free will and if I don’t have free will and everything is set, what’s the point of praying?

[Read more…] about Bowing My Head

Filed Under: spiritual stuff

American Idol Top 7

April 20, 2010 by Amy 10 Comments

Casey – I have to agree with Kara on this.  That did not help him stand out one iota.  While it was good singing, it was just an eh performance.

Lee – Honestly, I did not enjoy that much at all.  It was difficult to understand him and I didn’t feel like he connected emotionally.  I was SO off from the judges.  My only solace is Heather is watching with me and agreed.

Tim – Parts of that I liked but I felt like he missed a lot of notes and didn’t carry the song as strongly as it needed.

Aaron – Wow, I think I liked the country twang on this song.  Barring a few missed notes, I’m impressed.

Siobhan – I agree with Simon.  Wrong song.  Old-fashioned.  I kind of checked out while she was singing because it was boring.

Can I just pause here to say I’m starting to feel like a Debbie Downer reviewing this season?  There is no one that making me shout from the roof tops about their performance.  When Danny was on, I couldn’t quit talking about it.  When Chris Daughtry was on, you couldn’t shut me up.  I guess this season is just different.  Blah.

Michael – See what I’m saying?  That was just eh for me again.  Will anyone be talking about that performance tomorrow? No.

Crystal – THANK YOU, MAMASOX!! That was amazing.

Favorite: Crystal

In trouble: Oh, how to pick? I’d say Michael.

 

 

Filed Under: tv

Top Ten Tuesday: Lexington in Pictures

April 20, 2010 by Amy 21 Comments

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is a little different.  I blogged on the conference itself but we did get to do just a tad of visiting around Lexington.  I thought I’d share a few pictures.  It’s a good thing this is only a list of 10 because that’s just about all the pictures I took. 

May I just say if you cut Lexington open, it’s blood would run blue?  Everything was blue.  I’d like to say it was all because of University of Kentucky but I think it’s just living up to the name Bluegrass State.  But, seriously.  Everything was blue.

After God showed up

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at The Uprising

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     Scott and I headed for the highly recommended deSha’s. 

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Do you see that?  That’s yummy blue cheese dressing and some seriously good corn bread back there.

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The steak and potatoes were yummy, but uh, the beans looked just like that when we left.

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Just on the other corner downtown Lexington proudly displays their fountain.  I had more than one local mention them.  We had a very random stranger take our picture.

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Just a snippet of the fountains.  Charlotte actually has a very similar set of fountains.  It felt like home.

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On the way back to the car I spotted this cutey, cute Prom number in a dress shop window.  I’m not sure I’d let my 16 year old wear it.   But it was cute.

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Besides, a true Lexington girl would wear blue.

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See?  Even the local police officers have the blue thing down.

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Horses might be the other thing Lexington bleeds but sadly, I did not get any pictures.  But oh, the fences and pastures and horses and races and barns.  Lexington loves their horses.

Lexington treated us well (except for the crazy traffic!)

So tell me, have you ever visited the Bluegrass State?

See other Top Ten lists over at ohamanda.com

Filed Under: Top Ten

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Hey! I'm so glad you're here. I'm Amy, working mom of 3 in the Southern suburbs. I love Jesus, my family, books, chocolate and coffee. I write about faith, parenting, adoption, marriage, fashion, and design. Read more here

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