Archives for November 2010

Radical Chapter 8

November 9, 2010 by Amy 22 Comments

There are only 2 chapters of Radical left. And I can sum Chapter 8 up pretty fast.

Everyone is scared to go overseas on mission and be killed. But death is a reward, not a punishment.

I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say no one wants to be a missionary not because they don’t want to do the work or they don’t care about people who don’t know Christ but because no one wants to die. I mean, isn’t that the assumption? If God calls you to Africa or Asia you will eventually die an untimely death? I’m not even trying to sugar coat that because it’s the truth. Everyone gets scared when you start talking about going overseas. There are planes to crash, needles to run into, jails to sit in, hurricanes and earthquakes to survive. I mean the list goes on and on. So many reasons not to GO.

You know that song by MercyMe Bring the Rain?

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I have to admit. I usually don’t sing that out loud. Because really? Do I want anything that brings Him glory? I mean, seriously? Am I ready to go on the front lines of unreached Indians and be cannibalized just for approaching like Jim Elliot? I’m not going to lie, I don’t know if my battle with fear has gotten that far.

But Platt suggests if you’d just take your lens and zoom out just a bit you’d see that the stories after these untimely deaths weren’t so untimely after all. God uses the pain and death to bring glory to Him. The tribe that killed Jim Elliot was eventually won to Christ by his wife Elizabeth. And that’s the catch with Christianity. It’s not about you. It’s not about your pain. It’s not about your death. You have to have a kingdom mindset and care more about others than yourself. And when you do, death can be a reward when it accomplishes His purpose.

But I’m going to be honest and say this chapter is a struggle for me. Because I don’t worry about me in my death as much as I worry about those who love me. My heart breaks when I think about my kids losing a mother. Yeah, that’s tough to even type but that’s the truth. But if God calls me to that end, He will take care of my girls. I know that. In my head at least. Maybe not in my heart yet.

It’s at this point I kinda want to throw Radical in a closet and forget that I read Chapter 8. You too?

See what others think over at Marla’s.

To Post or not to Post “Good”

November 8, 2010 by Amy 15 Comments

I heard someone once say something similar to this on Twitter: “I wish when someone did something good they’d just keep it quiet. It’s what Jesus would do.”

We had just come out with the Sisterhood of the Traveling Belt and I have to admit I felt a twinge of guilt. Maybe I should have just sold the belt and given the money without making a web site, inviting people and asking them to share. I knew a random person on Twitter wasn’t who I should be looking to for my guidance. But still. I felt it. But of course I know that by sharing, more than a thousand Africans have been given water so how was that a bad thing? None of us were doing it to be showy. In fact, the whole drive behind it was to do less for ourselves.

As my life is becoming slowly more radical and the blog continues to grow, I’m turning to Scripture on how to handle this. I know that I know that Scripture does not contradict itself but there are some verses that are conflicting for me right now and I need to know how to resolve it because I know it does.

The first set would seem to support the “keep it quiet” stance that comes from Matthew 6:3-5

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

And the second is from Hebrew 10:24

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

So there it is. Do you see the problem? On one hand I want to share and encourage other Christians to step out but on the other it seems our giving should be in secret.

With a wider audience, I think bloggers especially have an awesome opportunity to spur other Christians on. I know I am prodded and encouraged when I read of others’ ideas on how to help the needy. And many bloggers are asking their readers to join them in the process. I think of the belt but also Marla encouraging readers to give Expecting books. Or even on a larger scale, the Compassion, World Vision, and Samaritan’s Purse Shoebox bloggers.

So what’s a Christian to do?

I have had it explained that in Matthew, it was directed at the folks that were talking about it JUST to get a pat on the back and say, look what I did! There was no real compassion behind their giving or announcement. They weren’t announcing to get others to join and help but for others to praise them.

In any case, it does say to do it in secret. Was the intent to say keep it quiet if you’re doing it for the wrong reason or always, no matter what, keep it quiet? If that is the case, how does blogging (or just sharing in general) fit into the commandment to spur one another towards good deeds? It doesn’t seem right to only make suggestions for others on what they should do and never talk about what you are doing. That in fact, seems more hypocritical to me.

I’d like to say I have an answer but I don’t. I’d love to hear what you think. What’s a blogger to do?

Emma and Lexi’s Build-a-Bear Party

November 6, 2010 by Amy 8 Comments

Today Emma and Lexi had a combined birthday party. Yes, we had the family one for Lexi’s at the house this week but this is the “big one” with their friends. I don’t make them have combined parties but when they have a choice to have separate or get to invite an extra friend (because of savings) they choose the combined party. We’ve never held or attended a Build-a-Bear party and was pretty curious how it would go.

First blog-worthy moment of the day is that we forgot the card to our camera. Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law we had a photographer for the afternoon. I’m going to try to use pictures that don’t prominently show the other kids so here we go.

First off, you pick a set price for how much you want to spend per kid. Base price is the $10 bear that is offered in two colors plus however much you want to spend in clothing/accessories for each kid. So we decided not to do any accessories, but they could pick a full outfit. So the party helper set out all the outfits that were that price. It was SO much easier to only have 7 or 8 choices instead of that entire store plus accessories. Some of them were pretty bummed that they didn’t get shoes, etc but I told them their parents could bring them back for that and that seemed to satisfy them.

The next thing they did was really cool. Each kid got 3 hearts instead of the normal one. He had them prepare the first heart by doing different things like rubbing it on their hip “so they’re hip” or rubbing them on your nose so “they know you” and then finishing with a wish and a kiss. The cool part was the first heart of each girl went into Lexi’s bear and the second set all went into Emma’s. The third was for their own bear. Sweet, right?

The guy we had to do the party was FANTASTIC with the kids. Waiting for 10 other kids to get their bear stuffed is not the most fun thing to do but he got them to play games for probably 45 minutes. The first game they passed a heart around and Lexi had to determine who had it when she turned around.

They also played charades. Emma got “robot” and I thought for sure she was going to be bashful and back out but there she went, doing the robot. One of my favorite moments!

Next the girls got to wash and then dress their bears.

Here is Lexi’s.

And Emma’s. They got the same outfit but different colored bears.

I loved this…the guy brought out 6 big containers of bows and let the girls each pick out FOUR. You would have thought he’d just dumped a million dollars on the floor.

Finally , the kids do a fashion parade to the front of the store and take a group picture. It was SO cute watching all the girls holding their dolls. Several people walking by ooh-ed and aah-ed. Very cute moment.

Oh and they present each of the girls with another special bear that each guest gets to sign.

The bad part about our Build-a-Bear is that it doesn’t have a room for the cake/presents. So we left the store and squatted in a few tables in the food court.

A little story about the cake.

I painstakingly ordered the cookie cake yesterday. It was supposed to be the normal round one that said “Happy Birthday Emma and Lexi”. Well, we went to pick it up and it was not ready. He said, I thought it was supposed to be 3:00? No, 1:00. Then he pointed at a design of a super hero. No, Build-a-Bear. He promises it will be ready in 20 minutes. So Scott leaves during the party to get it and comes back with this humongous cookie cake that says “Happy Birthday Bennett”! Turns out the whole order was for someone else and they never could find ours. And this one read “Happy Birthday Ben”. Scott told them to fix it by putting Bennett on there. And THEN we had to pay TWICE the cost than the original size. GAH! Oh well, no one could care less and everyone was starving after building a bear so we dug in.

My favorite moment of the day of course was Emma opening her American Girl Doll. This picture just makes me so happy.

Thank goodness for Groupon that was put out yesterday though as every single guest we invited showed up and while I am SUPER glad they did, my envelope system sure didn’t. But I think I can safely say my envelope system’s memory will never outlast the memories we made today.

Italian Walnut Salad

November 5, 2010 by Amy 8 Comments

I need to tell you about this salad. It doesn’t really have a name, I just made it up for this post. In fact, the salad was my mother’s creation on a whim. She’s good at salads like that. I LOVE a salad, but I’m extremely picky about the dressings. I can tell you every restaurant in a 10 mile radius that has the “right” kind of ranch. I’ve tried so many recipes but have never found one I like. Anyway, I’m digressing from THIS dressing and salad.

We had lasagna for Lexi’s party on Wednesday, so Mom put together this oil and vinegar dressing she had served a few weeks ago and took note of the proportions.

Italian Dressing

1/3 cup of oil (I used olive)
1/3 cup of vinegar
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tblsp of Pampered Chef’s Italian Seasoning Mix

Now, there may be a right way to make this dressing but here’s what I did.

Pour the vinegar, seasoning and sugar in a jar
Shake.
Add the oil.
Shake.

Voila! I poured about 1 tablespoon on my salad right away.

You can also use a blender. In that case, you can pour the oil in as the other is mixing with the blender on. It’s best to let it sit to get all the flavors, but mine tasted just fine right away. You can store in the fridge for 2 weeks. (According to a quick google search. Please don’t sue me if you get a tummy ache).

Anyone that likes their dressing a little sweet will LOVE it.

But the dressing is not all that makes this salad wonderful.

The other secret is to take just a few pieces of Candied Walnuts, chop them up and spread on the salad. YUM. MO. Now, if you not only have a sweet tooth but ALSO like a lot of crunch to your salad, this is PERFECT.

The rest of the salad can come and go. Cheese, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, whatever you please. But don’t skip the dressing or walnuts! I’m sure Mom would jump in here and mention that she likes cut up pieces of apple and sometimes raisins in it too.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the New Permission to Peruse

November 4, 2010 by Amy 15 Comments

It’s been a LONG time coming. I’ve been needing to update my theme for quite some time but I finally buckled down this week and did it. It’s quite a departure to go sans color and maybe I’m getting old but this one doesn’t hurt my eyes as much. Let me know if you have any issues!

Lexi’s Cupcake Flower Birthday Cake

November 3, 2010 by Amy 16 Comments

This weekend I realized that omigosh, Lexi’s birthday is in 3 days and we haven’t picked out a cake yet. Normally, they can not WAIT to finally pick out a cake from the grocery store. They have always loved going by the cake case and deciding on which they will pick for their birthday. Well, sadly I think they are getting a bit old for that so a cake was not on the forefront of my mind. So a-googling I went! I was inspired by this cupcake cake and thankfully Lexi approved!

And this is what we came up with:

It’s not as professional as the inspiration and Lexi REALLY wanted blue flowers instead of the pretty pink but overall, I’m super proud of it and Lexi LOVES it.

And I’m happy to say we took some pictures along the way so you could see how it’s done!

First, Lexi wanted yellow cake. Sorry to all my chocolate-loving family including myself that will be eating yellow cake tonight.

Next, Daddy got involved a cut some board to 20×30” and wrapped it in tinfoil.

After the cupcakes cooled, I arranged them how I wanted them. I put the puffier ones in the middle with the smaller ones would fit better.

Then I made some of my mom’s icing. I separated them into 4 bowls, the largest going to the blue that is not pictured. We used this really cool NEON food coloring I got from Harris Teeter.

Then, I got to decorating. This is approximately 9pm at night so sorry for the bad lighting and hair.

Then, dear goodness, I actually broke out my cake decorating set. I have to say, I had fond memories of my mom doing this very same thing the night before my birthdays. Mom, thanks for all the hard work you always put into our birthday cakes! I put 3 purple dots at the edge of each flower near the middle. And then outlined each flower so it made it look more like one cake.

And I just have to include this bad picture because it catches me going, “Oh my, is this going well? I’m really not sure!”

I used the rest of the purple to write “Happy Birthday Lexi” on the side. Given my bad handwriting skills, I felt like it went well.

And then, I used my spatula to “paint” a stem with the green.

And that’s it!

Oh, until we get to the end and go, oh my, how are we going to keep this covered until tomorrow? And then Scott’s resourcefulness and OCD took over.

I think it’s safely covered until the party tonight.

Here is my mom’s icing recipe I used:

1 cup of Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract

Dump all of this in a bowl and blend with a mixer. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk.

Good luck on not eating it before it makes it to the cake!

Happy Birthday, Lexi!

November 3, 2010 by Amy 6 Comments

“I can’t believe I have a 6 year old!” I keep repeating that to myself to make sure I understand that my BABY is 6 years old. I mean, LOOK, she doesn’t even look like a preschooler anymore! Just that picture taken this morning before school says so much about her.

She loves everything bright and glittery. She loves dresses. She loves her picture taken. She loves long socks that are fixed just so in her tennis shoes. Which by the way, she wears so the mulch doesn’t get in her flip flops and irritate her. Her school teacher, whom she was getting ready to go see in this picture tells me she loves everything neat and tidy. She’s a sweet girl that is respectful and well-behaved.

When she’s at home, where she is in this picture, sometimes she’s dramatic and admittedly fake-cries when she doesn’t get her way. And when that happens or she gets hurt, she always, always wants a hug. Well, she ALWAYS wants a hug anyway. And lately, gives two kisses, one on each cheek and sometimes a 3rd on her Daddy’s head.

She loves playing on the computer and coloring and Barbies. She loves jumping on the trampoline and playing school. And anything her big sister will do with her.

She’s a complete joy to our family and I feel so blessed to be her Mommy!

Catch-up

November 2, 2010 by Amy 5 Comments

I think I inadvertently went into a bloggy break. So what have we been up to?

Halloween! We spent the weekend getting the girls in and out of their costumes. Saturday morning we tried to make it to a local festival but it was just too insane and turned around and went home. Saturday night we thought we could hit a few neighborhoods but the only one we could find was at WalMart of all places. The kids actually liked that quite a bit. On Sunday we spent FIVE hours in between our old church, my parents’ church and my parents’ neighborhood. We have two very packed pumpkins to show for it though.
I’ve spent lots of time running errands to different stores using up all my Swagbucks, eRewards and OpinionOutpost money to start Christmas shopping. Having Christmas presents before December 15th is a huge deal around here.
I’ve been planning the girls’ birthday parties. Tomorrow is Lexi’s birthday and Emma’s is in a few weeks. They decided on a combined party at Build a Bear this Saturday. Tonight’s task is making cookies and a cake.
I started my reading list for the INSPYs this year. First up was Evolving in Monkey Town. I wish I could do a full review at this point but I’ll just say it’s messing with my head a bit. The next one on my list is Hear No Evil, which has been on my list for awhile as it’s by one of my favorite Tweeple.
Budgeting, budgeting, budgeting. We finished our first month of Dave Ramsey’s envelope system and in the past few days have geared up for another month. With Christmas and Birthdays coming up, there’s a lot of shuffling going on. Overall, though, the system has been absolutely fantastic.
I finally took the girls to see Toy Story 3 this Friday. It started at the $1.50 theater which means my Entertainment envelope could finally afford it. It was well spent as the 3 of us laughed hard and then, yes, I cried at the end.
Work. I hate to add this boring one in here. But it’s been high-stress, longer work hours lately. Or maybe I’m just making it that way. I don’t know.
Friday Night Lights. The show is back for it’s 5th and final season which means it’s podcasting time again for FNLFans! Anyone else loving the new guy Hastings?
Speaking of TV in general, I’ve really pared down my list. The only shows I watch live are One Tree Hill, Vampire Diaries and Grey’s Anatomy. 3 shows. That’s it. When I get to it, I watch Parenthood, Modern Family and most recently Hellcats on DVR. During the day, I’m also still working on catching up with Everwood, Chuck and The Office. So yes, TV is still around but I’m not sitting in front of my TV for hours on end every single week night. And I love it.
And finally, we’ve just been spending time with family and friends. Whether it be having friends or family for or going to dinner or grabbing coffee with a friend or doing homework with the girls, my time seems to be spent off the computer. Can you believe it?