Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Maui Day By Day: Lahaina & Luau June 24, 2013

Filed under: Family Time,Hawaiian Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:05 pm
Exploring the Grand Wailea

Exploring the Grand Wailea

Thursday morning I awoke to the sound of birds singing promptly at sunrise. I quickly learned that this would not be a trip where I would be sleeping in. By 5:45am, Jeremy and I were out the door and down to the beach. The early mornings right around sunrise became my favorite time of day – only on island time, this didn’t translate back to the mainland. Plus, 5:00am on Maui is really 8:00am in Washington this time of year. So it wasn’t a big deal getting up between 4-5am every day. Jeremy spotted sea turtles right away and then continued his sea turtle streak the entire trip. Not a day went by when my hubby didn’t spot a turtle. He is a bit of a nature guru! Jeremy “talked” me into walking waist deep in the ocean by pulling me in. It was crazy to be in the water so early in the morning and be warm. In fact, the temperature in the morning was perfect. It was in the 70’s and less humid so it was right up my alley.

Once we got back to the condo, we waited for the rest of the family to stir and we started to get ready for our day. We knew our plans would take us to Lahaina, but we didn’t want to get there too early and run out of things to do before our luau later that evening. We decided for the morning that we would drive further south and explore Wailea. We ended up on the beachfront path and diverted to explore the Grand Wailea Resort. It was beautiful. The wedding chapel (which I had seen on an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8) was delightfully chilled with AC. I could have lived there and contemplated sleeping there at night, but they probably lock the doors so stuff like that doesn’t happen… oh well! We took pictures by waterfalls and looked through their lobby and shops. It was a fun morning. After our exploration time, we headed back to the condo to make lunch before heading north to Lahaina.

How would I describe our trip to Lahaina? In one word… HOT! The afternoon heat had picked up and their was no breeze. It made for a very warm walk around Front Street. We stopped by the Banyan Tree which was amazingly huge. We ate our fair share of samples at the Honolulu Cookie Company (we did this twice because we hit their second location in Lahaina later that afternoon). Because of the heat, my dad decided to treat us all to shaved ice which abounds in Hawaii. I had the “Lahaina” combo which was coconut, pineapple and banana! It was super tasty and a nice chill.

Luau time!

Luau time!

The luau was that evening and I was excited to receive my first Hawaiian flower lei. It was one of the reason I wanted to go to this specific luau. Some other luaus give you shell leis which I know are easy to take home, but I wanted a flower lei really bad! The time before the meal started was filled with activities – hula lessons (which my hubby did so he could play with the noise sticks), professional photographers and painters, they had island crafts and of course, an open bar. You could watch them unearth the piggy that would be dinner that night. Because of the crowd I only saw the mound of dirt which our meal was buried under. The food was really good. Our server, Randy, was super nice and reminded me of a friend back home. He encouraged us to try everything, but I didn’t do that. I skipped a few items and took multiple dinner rolls and slices of a banana bread. I’m a carb girl, what can I say! For the most part I liked everything that I took with the expectation of the pork wrapped in taro leaf. The leaf was icky. After our meal, we watched a traditional Hawaiian hula that explained the history of the islands. Overall it was a very entertaining and satisfying experience.  The only two downsides would be – I spotted two cockroaches on the lava wall by us (GROSS) and the time change made it really late night. Poor Randy didn’t have a rowdy crowd to work with because we were tired from the long day and time change. Thankfully we made it back to condo safe and sound and slept with full tummies!

Thus, ends our first full day on Maui! More adventures to share tomorrow! Woo hoo!

 

Maui Day By Day: Taking Care of Business June 23, 2013

Filed under: Family Time,Hawaiian Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:22 pm
Celebrating Mom's 50th Birthday!

Celebrating Mom’s 50th Birthday!

Aloha! I’m now home back in the Pacific Northwest. In a lot of ways I’m glad to be back in the climate I love. In fact, as I type it’s gray outside and raining. Although it’s officially summer, I don’t mind the rain. I have no outdoor plans for the day, so I’m content to stay snug inside and update my blog, make a Hawaii photo book on Shutterfly.com and catch up on my television shows I missed. I’m fairly positive that you don’t really want to hear about my plans for putting around this afternoon. I have decided in an effort to not overwhelm you, I will do a blog series on my trip to Maui. I’ll highlight each day and share a photo or two. This will allow for the length to not get too daunting. At least, that is my hope! So sit back and relax while I share with you a sneak peek into my vacation.

We left for Hawaii on my mom’s 50th birthday. This whole trip was formed around the idea of celebrating my mom’s big milestone in Maui. It eventually morphed as we added my grandma to the trip. She’ll be turning 80 this Thursday, so the trip became a birthday celebration for her as well. I should also mention that we were gone over Father’s Day, so even my dad and Jeremy got some celebrating in on this trip. We’re a party family!

Jeremy made it all fit!

Jeremy made it all fit!

The flight to Maui was fairly uneventful up until the end. I’ll let my husband explain that one since it’s his story not mine to post on the world wide web. Overall, we made it to Maui in one piece. With 7 people in our group, we were quite the force. We rented a mini-van and let me tell you, we filled it! I was really concerned about all our luggage fitting in the van as well as people, but Jeremy did his magic and all the bags fit in the back sit! It was remarkable!

Once to we made it to our condo and unloaded our stuff, it was time to take care of business. The first being that all our tummies thought it was dinner time thanks to the 3 hour time difference. We quickly decided to go to Da Kitchen which is a local restaurant that was rated well by Maui Revealed.  Da Kitchen serves local favorites like Loco Moco which my parent’s both had. I had never heard of this dish, but they have t-shirts dedicated to it over there. It’s a layered dish that starts with white rice then a hamburger steak then two eggs and covered in brown gravy. I went for a teriyaki chicken sandwich since I knew what that was! I don’t like ordering mystery meals! After the birthday dinner, we drove back to to Kahului to visit Costco (a place we would go often) to get food and supplies.

First time on the beach!

First time on the beach!

The fun thing about Costco in Maui is that they have items in their stores that we don’t have. They have an entire aisle dedicated to macadamia nuts. They have pastries in their bakery that are local favorites. We picked up sweet rolls with fruit and cream cheese on top. The great thing was that the rolls weren’t overly sweet – more like a slightly sweet dinner roll – so the fruit and cream cheese paired with it nicely.  We conquered Costco with a full cart filled to the brim with meal options and snacks.

Back at the condo, we continued to settle in and make ourselves at home. We all headed down the the beach which was a block away from our condo to watch our first Hawaiian sunset. This was my first time dipping my toes into a “warm” ocean. Surprisingly, it was colder than I thought it would be, but I adapted quickly. I don’t think the Oregon Coast will ever be the same after Hawaiian waters.

Our first day was full of a lot of business. We had to travel and get settled into the condo, we went grocery shopping, but still made time to celebrate Mom’s birthday and explore the beach right outside of our window. It was a good day and the start of our adventures! More updates to come! Stay tuned!

 

A Retreat and A Conference April 26, 2013

Filed under: Parenthood,Travels,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 12:53 pm
Tags: , , ,

The last seven days have been a bit of a whirlwind for me. The weekend was spent in Seaside, OR for our annual church ladies retreat. I got home on Sunday afternoon and repacked my suitcase so I could take off early Monday morning for Coeur d’Alene, ID. Our pastoral team attended our network’s Annual Conference there. While I don’t want this to be a pregnancy blog, it’s hard not to mention how being pregnant played into these two trips. First off, people treat you differently when you’re pregnant. Going away to the beach with 90 ladies made for a few awkward moments for me. Everyone means well, but I had some crazy moments. It’s hard to not feel like yourself and then to not be treated like yourself. Overall, the biggest downside for me was that I didn’t have enough energy to keep up with the schedules and the hopping from retreat to conference was just a little too much. Lucky for me, I have no plans for today! It’s been a total recovery day! I’m staying in my pajamas and catching up on recorded TV shows. Of course, I’m doing laundry, but I’m letting the house wait until tomorrow.

A Gray Weekend at the Beach!

A Gray Weekend at the Beach!

Starting off with ladies retreat, the theme this year was “Dare to be:____”. The purpose was to fill in the blank with whatever you felt that the Lord was laying on your heart. I was really stressed about filling in this blank, because honestly I had no clue what I was going to put there and at the end of the conference you were supposed to turn in a card with the blank filled in. My perfectionist side knew I had to come up with something because just like a homework assignment I couldn’t leave it empty. I had joked with a friend that I should put dare to be a mom. It was just a joke but then I found myself being pressured to put that answer, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want a word that would put me in a box. I’m a little tired of being put in boxes. It’s too hard to define me by one aspect of my life. It’s too multi-layered. After a lot of thinking and praying, I came up with this: Dare to be defined by God alone. It was perfect! I have been feeling the weight of my many roles lately and wondering how I’m going to add “mother” to the mix. It was overwhelming me. I decided that I’m done being labeled. I’m done trying to fit into boxes. I’m done trying to be one thing or another. I’m ready to just let the Lord speak to me and have his love define my life. To him, I am more than I what I can offer people. Seriously, let that sentence sink in, I am more than what I can offer people! I live my life thinking about how I can serve my church, serve my family, serve my husband, serve my friends, and now serve this little life growing inside me. But who am I apart from these things? When it’s just me and Jesus? I needed to be taken back to that base level relationship where I am just me. Being just me is okay with God. He loves me and made me this way. He wants a relationship with me because I am his special creation – no other reason! It’s time to make things simple.

A Sunny Week on the Lake!

Annual Conference was held in Coeur d’Alene, ID this year which is a beautiful lake side city I visited over a decade ago and loved. I was so excited to return there! The only downside is that the conference was held all day and then the evenings were filled with dinners out. By the time dinner was over it was usually between 8-9pm and I had been going for 12+ hours. All I wanted to do was go back to the hotel and go to bed.  This conference could have happened anywhere because I didn’t really do much in Coeur d’Alene besides attend the conference, eat and sleep. I was so tired after the late nights at the ladies retreat and the long days, that I was a bump on a log most of the time. Darn pregnancy energy level.  Annual Conference is meant to inspire pastors and propel them forward in ministry. This year was hard on me. As everyone is dreaming of plowing forward in ministry, I’m contemplating scaling back so I can raise a family. I still plan on being involved in ministry -I’ll continue to teach and lead beside Jeremy, but I also plan letting some things go. My biggest fear is that our child will feel second place to our jobs and I don’t want them to hate the church and hate God as a result of that. I want to be intentional to put my family first. Honestly, I don’t know how that looks yet. I’m not sure what things will work for our family and what won’t. All I know is that my life is going to look different. It was hard in an environment where everyone is pushing forward to know that I’m going to be pulling back. There can be some guilt that comes with that. Logically I know that raising a family is an extremely spiritual endeavor and that I’m going to be more accountable for raising my kids than leading a ministry. My head and my heart struggled with priorities and where I am going and what my life is going to look like.

I could have gone into detail about the weather and the hotel rooms and the food we ate, but I thought I would get to the heart of the matter. This week away brought up more within me than I expected. It was rough stuff at times as I processed, prayed and sought the Lord for direction in my life. I wasn’t a social butterfly,which I felt bad about, but this year is different. I’m in a different spot and my life is going to keep changing in ways that I can’t even expect or imagine. There is nothing wrong with where I am at and I know that many ladies have been in my place trying to figure out that same balance and wondering how they can do it all. I’m realizing that I probably won’t be be able to do it all, but that is okay. As I let myself be defined by God alone, I have a feeling that there is going to be amazing freedom to just me! I’m excited for that! Praying I can walk in that daily and let go of all the other definitions and expectations!

 

Camping Adventures! August 26, 2012

Filed under: Family Time,Travels — Amy Scott @ 7:48 pm

I’ve taken a short break from the blog. This weekend I was out of cell range and that also meant no wi-fi! So no blog! It was great to get outside and go camping with my hubby and sister (and of course, the little dog too). It came at the perfect time for me because they’ve been painting at work and the fumes were starting to get to me. I couldn’t wait to breathe some fresh air!

Takhlakh Lake with the hubby!

Jeremy had been researching new places we could go. It’s been fun to camp at two different locations for the first time this summer. The first would be Hidden Springs on California road trip and now Takhlakh Lake right at the base of Mt. Adams. It was beautiful! The lake framed the mountain perfectly and it was a very picturesque place.

There were many highlights to our camping adventure. The first and foremost for me is getting away! When I get to a place where there is no cell reception, I truly feel free. There is something freeing about not being track-able.  I know this might seem silly, but falling off the grid every now and then does a lot for my soul. The views were spectacular and the combination of a beautiful setting and the freedom of being off the grid made for a relaxing mini-vacation.

Thursday, we set up camp and got everything situated. I love making the bed in my tent and making it feel homey. We packed a ton of blankets so we could stay warm. I always layer them and make them look as much like a “made” bed as possible.  I guess I’m OCD even in my little tent home. After the site was ready to be inhabited, we look a walk around the lake. It was a nice mile hike with great views. Once we got back from the walk, we started to make my favorite camping dinner – pizza pockets! Camping food would also go on my highlights list! We eat well on these trips.

The view from the top of the lava rock mountain!

It was really cold Thursday night into Friday morning. I was surprised by the chill even though I knew it was coming. However, even with 4 extra blankets on top of my sleeping bag, I was still cold. It think the greatest downside of this trip was constantly trying to feel warm. It was a battle for heat and I was losing most of the time. Friday morning we had breakfast (cinnamon roll pop tarts, another camping food treat) and then set off to hike around the camp ground. We made our way to Takh Takh meadows and we climbed a lava rock mountain. April was the first to start scaling the rocky path and soon we were all following suit. The view from the top was worth it!  After our wanderings, we made it back to the campsite for lunch.

Our next adventure was a drive around the area to look at other campgrounds and check things out. It was so remote out there. Every campground we came to I marveled that there were people out there that knew about these places. The scariest and funniest part of this afternoon adventure was our drive on what was labeled a “primitive” road… That would be an understatement! It was like a movie scene as our truck drove through the forest in what reminded me of the jungle. There were huge potholes, giant rocks, narrow road with the branches scraping along the side of the vehicle. At times we weren’t sure if we were going to make it, but we did! Praise the Lord! There is a lot of prayer on my part for us to see the end of the road. The funny thing was I was sitting in the middle of the truck cab, so I had nothing to hold on to. Toby had settled into my lap and we literally bounced around the cab together. I was flying every which way the truck seemed to go. It seemed like some strange kind of chiropractic treatment. Or I might need chiropractic treatment afterwards! By far the sketchiest road I’ve been on.

Huckleberry stained fingers!

Friday concluded with huckleberry picking, another walk around the lake, a hot dog dinner and s’mores. Around 8:00pm, we all got talking about the cold night ahead of us and I admitted that I would be willing to pack up and head home so we could sleep in warm beds. We’d done everything we planned on doing. All we would miss was breakfast and tear down in the morning. So we quickly got the site packed up in the fading light that we had. We were on the road and heading home before 9:00pm. We got in around 11:00pm and let me tell you, it was nice to sleep in my own bed! I didn’t sleep so well with the cold on Thursday, so even though I felt a bit wimpy about coming home early, it was a great decision!

Saturday morning, April and I ate pop tarts in honor of our camping trip and watched the Hunger Games all wrapped up in blankets. It was so nice to be warm! We got cleaned up and headed out to lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant and then went blackberry picking. It wasn’t the Saturday we had originally planned, but it was pretty close to perfect in my book!

Thus ends our camping adventure and really the last hurrah of our summer! It was a great trip and one we’ll always remember… that view, that road, the lake. Summery weekends like this are going to be gone soon. It was nice to spend the last official one in August in nature with loved ones!

 

 

The Highs and Lows of Kid’s Camp August 3, 2012

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Travels — Amy Scott @ 8:01 pm

A goofy group!

I’m home! It feels so good! I’ve missed my house and my pup! It’s also been hard to be away from home during the Olympics! I’ve felt so out of the loop as the world watches and I… well… I get the highlights from Jeremy who looked them up on his phone. We’ve used the DVR for a lot of the Olympics this last week and now we’re fast forwarding through them and stopping where we like.

Anyway, back to kid’s camp! It was a week! In a weird way it was a long week that went quickly! At times it seemed like it moving at a snails pace and I would never see my home again. At other times, it just flew by like a blink of an eye. Strange and a little trippy! The whole week was pretty awesome, but like all camping experiences, there are highs and lows. Here are some of my up moments and down moments from Kid’s Camp 2012!

Some Highs

  1. Praying with students – Cabin devos and alter moments are priceless!
  2. Watching the girls win late night swim on Tuesday!
  3. Seeing kids trying new things for the first time!
  4. Watching Jeremy turn into a giant chicken!

Some Lows

  1. Lack of sleep (and not in my own bed)
  2. Eating with the savages (a group of boys from our color group with no manners)
  3. Lots of little fights amongst the girls and tattling (a side effect of no sleep)

It was a little weird for me to have my girls in two separate rooms… I stuck mostly with the younger girls since the older girls bonded instantly with their new cabin mates and they had two great leaders who were very capable. It was strange to not see them as much, but I know they were in good hands. One big downside for me was I offended one of the cabin leaders who wasn’t from our church by interrupting a moment in their cabin. I didn’t realize they were talking with the girls when I asked the girls to help the rest of the gray team to help clean up the area. I was informed that I had over stepped a boundary and that they were the cabin leaders and I needed to let them led. Yikes! I didn’t mean to interrupt a moment. I felt really bad!  I’m not a fan of confrontation and I really don’t like the idea that someone out there as a negative impression of me. However, I know my motives were always to be helpful and keep up with the girls. So I guess, I’m just going to have to take the criticism for what it’s worth and move on. I don’t want to be the type of person who can’t take criticism, so I apologized to both cabin staff members and thanked them for all they did for our girls that were in their room. It was kind of a bummer way to end the week though… oh well!

I don’t want to end on a down note, so I’ll share some more of the happy moments from camp. The kids loved the go karts and the big swing. I had a blast watching our kids drive like speedsters! Drivers education in a few years will be nuts with these kids behind the wheel. I’m always proud of the kids that do the big swing because it really can be scary! The kids are hoisted up 35 feet where they pull a rip cord and then swing back and forth through the trees. At this station, I learned how to become a harnessing pro! My fingers have the sores to prove it! I always want to make sure that as many kids can go as possible, so that meant moving very quickly!

Room 1

Room 2

An unexpected blessing for me was getting to move up to the Hillside Lodge on the last night! We stay in the Executive Lodge every year and it’s a bit rustic. It has small rooms with weird beds and a bit of a funny smell. Moving up to the Hillside Lodge meant hotel style rooms. They were spacious and had their own bathroom! Can I get a praise the Lord!?!?! I had been getting up before 6:00am so I could get a shower before the other 20+ people I shared a shower with in the EL. This morning, I slept in till 7:00am at the HL! No waiting in line or worrying about sharing! It was a nice bonus! It’s the little things that matter at camp! You’ll notice the bedding in each photo is the same, because I bring my own from home… I know… OCD!

Brent, our camp speaker, and Jeremy as giant chickens!

As always, the food was good. The worship was awesome! The camp speaker did a great job! I love spending time with our girls and getting to know the more. Yes, there are meltdowns and fights. That is what happens when you spend some serious quality time together, but overall, the kids had a great time. Another benefit to being home for camp is actually getting to spend time with my hubby. When he is at camp, he is directors mode! I see him briefly during the day and I’m usually in bed when he gets to our room. It’s a long week apart. Now my hubby has no voice, so we really can’t talk, but that’s okay! It’s just nice to be in the same place for more than a few minutes at a time!

Camp was great! It’s good to be home! The next summer adventure will be a leadership conference and a 5th grade graduation trip to the Mariner’s game! It’s hard to believe it’s August and we have a only a couple weeks of summer left! We’re supposed to be in the 90’s this weekend, so I’m going to make the most of the summer sun while it shines!

 

1,845 Miles – The Town & Country Road Trip! July 23, 2012

Filed under: Simply Me,Travels — Amy Scott @ 10:18 pm

I’m back from my amazing California road trip! It was an awesome 5 days completely packed with full from morning to night! I’m super tired, but it was totally worth it! There is something so exciting about going to new places and seeing things that I’ve heard about in books. I love expanding my map of the world and getting to add another chapter to my journey. This chapter would be entitled The Town & Country California Road Trip of 2012. It’s a long title, I know, but it fits! Since I could write forever, I’ll try to be selective and just share the highlights!

Golden Gate Bridge at Night

Day One – We drove all the way into San Francisco. We got into our hotel in Berkeley around 6:00pm (we left home around 6:00am that morning). After getting our stuff settled, we took off with two goals – find food and explore where Jeremy grew up. We had dinner at a California classic, In-N-Out, and went off to explore the Pittsburg, Concord and Walnut Creek areas. Jeremy showed me his childhood home and the places he remembered as a kid. It was cool to see another piece of Jeremy’s personal history. We ended up in Walnut Creek, where we had Cheesecake Factory for dessert. Yum! I assumed that at this point we would head back to the hotel because it had been a long day, but on a whim we decided to just head into the city. Why not? I got to see the city for the first time at dusk and into the night. Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge at night and seeing the city lights was the highlight of my day and made all the driving worth that moment.

Hanging down by the Wharf!

Day Two – Because parking in the city can be expensive we took BART into the city. It was an amazingly quiet ride. What did people do before headphones and iphones? Oh my! Once we got in the heart of the city, we took the cable car through town down to Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. We got free chocolate at Ghirardelli (twice actually), we walked down to Pier 39 and had Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for lunch. That was a first for both Jeremy and I. One of my favorite highlights of the Wharf was Boudin Bakery. They make the yummiest sourdough bread and it gets better than that! They make it into shapes – like turtles, crocodiles and teddy bears. They also have bread baskets on a track that goes around the top of the store. Bread is always moving over head. I got a mini turtle loaf and lemon bar there. Those goodies were the food highlight of the trip! We walked around downtown and saw Chinatown. We took the cable car to the Embarcadero Center and saw the world’s largest lollipop thanks to See’s Candy. Once we wondered downtown, we headed back to BART and back to our car. We headed back into the city to see a few more sights from the vehicle – like the Painted Ladies (the row houses you see at the intro to Full House). We ended up the beach to finish the evening off.

Yoda Fountain!

Day Three – Jeremy had to drive Lombard Street – the world’s most crooked road. It was crazy and a lot of fun! We made our way up to Coit Tower for amazing views of the city! We had one last San Francisco adventure in us, so we took off to the Presidio to find LucasFilms. The Presidio is a beautiful park that used to be a military base. LucasFilms has made the park its headquarters. The actual buildings are not open to the public, but we did find the Yoda Fountain and took of pictures through the windows of their lobby. It was very cool! After our adventure to find Yoda, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge one last time and took off for our camping expedition. The second half of our trip was all country, not city. It was a fun shift. We got into our camp site with just enough time to set up shop and make dinner. We had seen some huge redwoods on our way in and we were super excited to explore Humboldt State Park the next day.

The Redwoods!

Day Four – This day could be defined as looking for the next bigger and better tree. Jeremy was on a mission to find the biggest redwoods possible! It was crazy! We saw trees with names like Giant Tree and Tall Tree. Creative, huh? They were all beautiful and I was in awe as we drove and walked through grove after grove. It was weird to not be at church on Sunday, but I have to admit that driving through the redwoods listening to worship felt like church (it honestly felt more like church than church in a building). It was a fabulously free day full of exploration and wonder. Jeremy and I got back to the campsite before dinner so decided to take a hike. It turned out to be a lot more dramatic that we anticipated… let’s just say we ran into some big dogs and got off the beaten trail. It’s certainly a memory I won’t forget. We got back to the campsite and made our famous camping pizza pockets for dinner. We started to pack up our stuff when it got dark so we could leave as early as possible the next day.

On the way home!

Day Five – This morning started at 5:15am… ugh… early! We got the campsite packed up and we were on the road a little after 6:ooam. Jeremy had a few more stops on our way home through the redwoods. We saw a couple more cool trees (Big Tree and Corkscrew Tree). We drove up the coast and saw once again new territory on the ride home. We got to Jeremy’s parent’s house around 5:00pm and picked up our little dog and headed home after a little conversation. We purchased for them a redwood tree as a thank you for watching Toby. A little piece of the forest to share. Now that we’re home – I’ve been unpacking, doing laundry, and showering. It felt awesome to shower after two days of camping! My hair still smells like smoke even though I washed it twice! My souvenir of the trip while it lasts. It’s good to be home, but I’m so glad we went on this adventure. It was so much fun to spend the time with Jeremy and really let the rest of the world just fade away. It was great to be us – husband and wife – without other titles. Just us. It was perfect.

Summer 2010 took us to South Dakota. Summer 2011 took us to Kansas. Summer 2012 took us to California. I wonder where summer 2013 will take us? Rumor has it – Yellowstone! I can’t wait! There is more world to explore! I’m ready!

 

Another Weekend Away April 29, 2012

Filed under: Bible,Family Time,Travels — Amy Scott @ 6:51 pm

I’ve returned from another weekend away at the Oregon Coast. This time I got to hang out with my family for the weekend. The Scott/Reid/Carroll/Smith crew spent time together laughing, crying, praying, playing, crafting, walking, shopping, and eating together. This year my sis-in-law, Beckie, and my cousin-in-law, Cori, and I took over the planning. I offered to do the devotional time. It was an honor to pray for each of the ladies on our trip and share with them what I felt God laying on my heart. I thought I would share with you our devotional message from Friday evening:

Read Deuteronomy 6

God Moments and Spiritual Storytelling:

This is one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament. It calls us to be story tellers and remember what God has done for us. It’s not just enough to remember in our own quiet moments, but it calls us to be vocal and to share what the Lord has done in our lives.  We can’t keep it to keep it to ourselves. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get so focused on the future that I forget about the past. Now, I wasn’t there when the Red Sea parted and God delivered the Israelites from Egypt (shocker, right?), but I do have my own God Moments where God showed up big in my life. For me these were moments where God re-directed my life or revealed some life-changing truth to my heart. He has helped me conquer hurdles and obstacles. For me, these God Moments are the times when the Red Sea was parted and God showed up in a big way. When these God Moments are happening, it’s easy to see his hand and recognize his work. However, as time distances us from these moments, the details get hazy. Something we couldn’t stop talking about doesn’t come up as often. We move on and get back to life. This was a big problem for the Israelites. They seemed to have the attention span of a child. God provided miracle after miracle and yet they still didn’t trust him. Even with witnessing the awesome hand of the Lord fight for them, they were still derailed by each new struggle.

This is where Spiritual Storytelling comes into play. Since I work with kids, storytelling is a key part of helping them grasp the Word of God. It’s no different really when we grow up and become adults. We still need to have the element of storytelling. We need to be sharing with each other and the coming generations where God showed up in a big way. Here a couple reasons why Spiritual Storytelling is so important:

  • It helps us remember – when we share our stories; it solidifies the lessons learned in our hearts and minds. It keeps the miracle fresh and live.
  • It inspires us and others – I love that feeling of being on the edge of our seat as you listen to a good story. It’s compelling. When we share our stories, we inspire others in the middle of their own struggles. We are living examples that the Lord is good. Also, our stories will help us in the future. All of us will have many God Moments and have many Red Seas. When we remember how he has been faithful before, we can confidently walk into the next struggle knowing he will not let us go there alone.
  • It keeps the legacy alive – There are moments in history that certainly define a family tree. I can think of couples who have broken the cycle of addiction or abuse, people who have made commitments to change the future for the next generation. These are moments that need to be shared. Even in my own life, I can see how my parents made intentional decisions and shared the reasoning with my sister and me. We are a part of their legacy. These major decisions and life altering moments can change a family tree forever. We must celebrate these changes and also guard the next generation from going back to destructive patterns.

I realize that not every environment is safe for sharing our personal stories. Some things will be shared with only a few. However, I think there is value in sharing our stories even if it is with just a few trusted people. You might feel that everyone already knows your story, but you’d be surprised how many actually don’t.  Also storytelling isn’t a onetime thing. It’s repeating the miracles over and over. It’s about writing them down and making alters of remembrance in our lives. Don’t assume that everyone knows or that no one cares. We all miss out when you keep your stories to yourself!

 

It’s an assessment, ladies, not a test! April 16, 2012

Filed under: Travels,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 3:07 pm

Roomies!

I got to spend the weekend with a hundred plus Bethel ladies at the Oregon Coast. It was a pretty good time. There were lots of laughs and insightful moments spent with friends. The weather even cooperated! There is nothing better than strolling on the beach with the sun shining (note I didn’t mention the temperature – that was still chilly).

It’s been a few years since I last went on a retreat with our church and I have to admit I was surprised by the sessions. The teaching was powerful – I totally expected that. What I didn’t expect was taking a bunch of tests. Oops, I mean assessments!   There were no wrong answers and cheating off of your neighbor certainly wouldn’t have helped you get a better score. We took 3 different assessments. One was a spiritual gifts test, one was the DISC test with a twist, and one was core values test… Assessments… You know what I mean!

The Spiritual Gifts assessment was good for me because I hadn’t really taken anything similar to that since high school. Two gifts tied for top spot on my list – teaching and faith. Seriously, this is me! If you ask me what is most important to me, the one thing I never want to stop doing – it would be teaching! Teaching about what? Faith! These two go hand in hand for me so I think it’s special that they shared top billing! My next gift was encouragement/exhortation.  I see my passion for mentoring in this gift. I love to encourage people and bring a bright spot to their day. I love helping people sort through life. I can see this gift in full swing in a lot of my relationships. Love it! These things get me excited and I really feel like I’m living my purpose when I’m doing these things!

The next assessment was the DISC and I have to say that I had already taken this test just over a year ago. I planned on not taking it since I knew who I was. Honestly, my head was spinning from all the numbers and adding in the last assessment and I didn’t want to do another one… But I did. I felt I little quilted into it, but oh well, it’s was good for me. The twist to this test caught me off guard. At first I thought my scores were identical to the last time I took it. However, that fell under a new category – “What is expected of me”. The next category – “Who I am” – still had me as a high C, but it also added a lot of S to my mix. I have to admit at first I was upset that my score had changed. Then I realized having more S in my life was probably a good thing. Both S and C are passive, but one is task-oriented and one is people-oriented. I think this more accurately fits me. I am a high C which means I’m very focused on quality and correctness (my perfectionist nature). However S adds stability and support to my personality. The Biblical advice for both these categories was so awesome because I can see what I need in it: For my C – be more positive, avoid a bitter and critical spirit, don’t worry. For my S – be bold and courageous, be confident and fearless, be more enthusiastic.  Seriously, that is me! I need all of those things and all of those things God has already been speaking to me about. You know God is talking to you when things line up and the same voice is coming from multiple sources!

Assessments don’t define you, but they can help you figure out how you tick. I have taken many and really they have helped me convey who I am to others. Like the Myers-Brigs assessment, I know I am an ISTJ (look it up and you’ll find a perfect description of me – http://www.personalitypage.com/ISTJ.html). I can use these terms to help other see how I process. I think that taking assessments in large groups can really open eyes. You see who you are. You see who others are. Instead of it being a matter of preference or taste, you can see the honest truth about others. No judging, no trying to make them like you! We’re all different. Even the boxes we filled in on these pages can’t truly contain us. God knew what he was doing when he wired us this way. I often wonder about why God made me this way. There are so many things I would have done differently. However, after year of assessments (not tests) I can see myself for who I am. The more comfortable I am with “me”, the freer I am to be “me” – not just by myself, but with others!

The next assessment was super powerful and probably the HIGHLIGHT of my entire weekend! Totally rocked me and almost caused a panic attack! I’ll share that tomorrow, so come back and check it out!

 

Weekend Away February 9, 2012

Filed under: Simply Me,Travels — Amy Scott @ 4:19 pm

My wonderful husband surprised me on my birthday by telling me that he had planned a weekend away at the beach for the two of us. He had already found a dog sitter and made the reservations. It was a great surprise and I was looking forward to our trip. This last weekend was the weekend away that he planned. It was neat to stay at a new place in Cannon Beach, OR. We stayed at the Surfsand Resort. The best part of this hotel is the beachfront rooms are super close the lovely Haystack Rock that Cannon Beach is known for. Also, the room had an amazing soaking bathtub and I was able to enjoy some amazing bubble baths. It was a very special treat.

I was super excited for our trip, but by the time it rolled around my hubby was super sick. Poor Jeremy had a fever between 100-103 the entire time we were away. This made our trip a little more on the quiet side than we expected. Jeremy didn’t want to head home to rest. I guess he figured resting at the beach would be just the same. It was beautiful weather the entire time we were there. It was sunny and 60 most days. That weather is a treat in June let alone in February! It was sort of a miracle in my book! Even if we weren’t out on the beach as much as usual there is still something refreshing about watching the waves crash into the shore on a lovely sunny day.

Now, there are things that must be done while one is at the beach… at least in Jeremy and I’s humble opinion. I thought I would share with some of the things we love to do each time we visit. First off would have to be lunch or dinner at Mo’s. Best clam chowder! In a sourdough bread bowl! Enough said! It’s perfect! Normally Mo’s is packed with seafood loving foodies, but we were amazed to find that including us there were only 6 customers in the entire place. That’s what you get for going on a Thursday night in February. It was crazy! The next must stop place would be breakfast or lunch at Pig’N’Pancake. I love breakfast for any meal of the day and this pancake chain is one of my favorites. There is always a stop in at the Cannon Beach Bakery. Jeremy gets a loaf of their apple cinnamon bread every time. I’m a fan of their donuts and many other sugary sweet goodies.  If we’re at the beach for more than one day, we love to take the drive down to Tillamook for a tour of the cheese factory. I have taken Jeremy to the cheese factory two times before and both times the plant was closed for maintenance. You can still get in and get samples and buy cheese, but there is nothing to observe. This time it was not only up and running, but we had the whole observation deck  to ourselves! It was great. We bough some squeaky cheese (cheese curds) and had a blast having the place to ourselves.

Normally we’re only at the beach one day so that means Mo’s, the bakery and P’N’P fill up our meal needs. Since were there a couple of days, Jeremy and I got to try some new places. The first would be Pizza A’Fetta. We went there because they sold pizza by the slice. I had a triple cheese pizza slice that was very tasty. I’m not really the type of person that rates pizza… to me it’s all good usually. I was informed though by the waiter that they are in the top 50 pizza places in the US. Pretty cool. The other place we went to for the first time was the Lumberyard. The food was good. I had fish & chips and Jeremy had a turkey pot pie. The highlight for me was their bumbleberry cobbler that I had for dessert! Very good!

The trip was still a lot of fun even though Jeremy moved at a slower pace than normal. We watched the sunset on Thursday and took walks each day. Jeremy went out at low tide and collected 31 sand dollars. I thought that was pretty impressive! It’s hard to beat a sunny, warm weekend at the beach. It was a great surprise and I’m so glad we went!

 

Adventures in Chicago! Part 6 September 23, 2011

Filed under: Family Time,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:35 pm

The final installment of the Adventures in Chicago blog series. Oh my! Just like the trip, I am sad that it all has to come to an end!  Maybe I need to visit another new city so I keep up my travel blogs. It’s been fun to recount the details and relive the moments! Here are my ramblings on our final hours in the Windy City.

I’m sure by now you’re guessing that our last day in Chicago started off with Starbucks… and it sort of did… April and Jeremy really like Caribou Coffee and try to visit their stores when they are in an area that has them. So we set off on Thursday morning in search of the closest Caribou Coffee. Turns out its actually right next to a Starbucks! I needed one more purchase so I could get my free drink, so I headed over to Starbucks while the others went to Caribou. What I did next was very brave – a took a competing beverage into Caribou! They didn’t kick me out so we spent the next little bit of time enjoying our morning beverages at Caribou.

As usual, we had some time to kill before the places we planned to visit opened. After a little more research I discovered that the Cultural Center was right next to our coffee shop and it was open at 8:00am! That was good news! The Cultural Center used to be the old public library and it has two beautiful stain glass domes in it. Admission is free and along with the beautiful architecture of the building, they have local artwork displayed on the many levels.

Once we had completed our tour of the Cultural Center we took off down the street toward Barnes and Noble. I needed a new journal and this one of my favorite places to shop for journals. The building that B&N was located in was also used for a local university. B&N doubled as their student store there was all sorts of university merchandise everywhere. It was well stocked with school supplies and textbooks. It was the strangest set up I’ve ever seen. It was certainly interesting and I had a fun time exploring.

We spent the rest of the morning, looking through shops. Jeremy and I both started our fall clothing shopping which is weird for us, because we don’t normally buy “practical” stuff on tourist trips. We had room in our suitcases so decided to go for it. It’s hard to be beat a well-stocked store with good prices. We didn’t have a lot of time in the morning before Dad’s classes ended, so after the shops, it was back to the hotel to check in with Dad.

Dad didn’t have the opportunity to souvenir shop with us the day before, so we stopped by a store we thought he would like. He successfully found some souvenirs of his own and we went around the corner for lunch location. Since we enjoyed the Corner Street Bakery so much at the Field Museum, we decided to check out their store next to our hotel. I had an amazing apple chicken sausage panini (which I copied Jeremy in ordering) and a slice of pumpkin pound cake. Oh my goodness, I couldn’t finish both of them, but I’m so glad I ordered them! Amazing! I’ve never had pumpkin in pound cake form before and it was worth every bite. I even shared with Jeremy so he could experience the goodness!

We finished our lunch in time to head back to the hotel for check-out. Our hotel offered to keep our bags secure until we were ready to leave. Since our flight wasn’t until evening, we had some time between check out and when we needed to be at the airport. With the hotel storing our bags for us, we didn’t have to take them along with us everywhere we went.

Chinatown had been originally on our list as a place to visit and then had been taken off the list because it wasn’t super close to anything. Since we had a couple of hours before we needed to meet our airport shuttle, we decided to put Chinatown back on the agenda. April really struck gold in Chinatown when it came to shopping. She walked away from our time there with many Chinese treasures! We went through the stores and the thing that stood out to me was the smell of them! Some were very intense and very unique smelling! Also we saw some pretty unusual things for sale… Like really expensive dried shark fin and caterpillar fungus.

Once we felt like we had roamed Chinatown to the fullest we headed back into the heart of downtown so Dad could stop by Millennium Park. The boys had mentioned how cool Crown Fountain was and my dad wanted to see the Cloud Gate since it had been featured in a movie he had recently seen. Along the way we got Starbucks because it was very cold with the wind and it was nice to have something warm in our hands!

We got back to the hotel and claimed our bags. We didn’t have a lot of time to venture off and do something else, so we hung out at the hotel and just chatted until our airport shuttle arrived. Everyone was very tired on the ride to the airport. My dad chatted away with the driver, Jeremy and Andrew stared out the window, Mom dozed, and April and I chatted in the back seat. It was a hard conversation because I knew once we got out of the shuttle we would have to part ways and say good-bye.

At the airport, our group of 6 had to split. Andrew and April needed to look for the shuttle back to their car and we needed to check our bags and begin the long process of going through security.  I don’t think anyone was really ready to keep going forward, but it had to be done. Hugs were exchanged and we talked about seeing each other again in December. Knowing that it would be another 3.5 months before I saw my sister and her hubby again was hard on me. I will admit that I was in a bit of funk as we waited for airplane and flew home. It just didn’t feel right to be flying home and not having them be with us like they had been the whole trip.

Overall, it was amazing trip! We got to see and do all we planned and more! We walked a ton and ate a lot of good food. It was an awesome experience to all be together and explore a new city. The memories made on this trip were priceless. I sure hope the warm glow of those happy memories keeps me through to December! Family is a precious gift and this trip was a wonderful family reunion! I look forward to our next reunion – here in the Northwest!