Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

An Autumn Tradition October 22, 2011

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 2:34 pm

Visiting in 2005

Jeremy and I spent most of our dating and engagement period of time in the Portland, OR area. I was going to school there and Jeremy would drive down one day a week and we would spend it together. One of our favorite places to go was the Columbia Gorge and the Scenic Waterfall Highway. It’s especially pretty there during the autumns months as the trees in the area are changing into bright colors of red, gold and orange.

Autumn is both Jeremy and I’s favorite season and this scenic drive offers many awesome fall views. Every year we make a traditional trip to the waterfalls to take in the beauty of Columbia Gorge. Yesterday was the day we had saved for our annual pilgrimage. Each year the weather is different and that means the trees are not always the same. We’ve gone early in October and things have just begun to change. We’ve gone toward the end of October and it’s vibrant with color. Yesterday was in the middle. Things are in the process of changing, but you tell the greater colors are still to come.

I love having traditions. It’s so sentimental to have something we do every year. I look forward to it immensely! Yesterday was no exception. I got this date on the calendar early and protected it. I’ve learned that somethings in life need to planned in advance and then kept from being over-crowed by life. This trip was one of them!

Visiting in 2011

Jeremy and I had an amazing time just being together and spending the morning looking at such beauty. It’s just right outside of the city, but you feel like you are in the country. Days like this are treasured and cherished. They are not to be rushed through. However, we did keep a bit of a pace because we were trying to stay in front of the rain that was coming. The weather held long enough for us to make all our planned stops and to get some great pictures!

There is no replacement for this trip and I was so blessed to spend the day with my hubby! It is fun to visit places that mean a lot to us and we return to often! On a side note, another great time of the year to visit the waterfalls is when there was been freezing weather. They look so awesome when they are partially frozen! The drive can be a bit tricky, but it is worth the wonderful, wintery sight! The Columbia Gorge is beautiful year around and a visit is always special!

 

Marshmallow Overload October 19, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 3:14 pm

You’d be amazed by the amount of marshmallows that I have in my home. Jeremy and I have a fire pit in our backyard and every year we like to try fun, new marshmallow flavors for our S’mores. We have developed a bit of a collection because when we see a new flavor we haven’t tried, we buy it.  We had a bunch of half open bags leftover from this summer. I recently decided to “thin the herd” and get rid of some of the older marshmallows. I’m not sure why it is this way, but you get rid of something, before you know it the item has multiplied again.

One of our life group members brought three bags of marshmallows to share with the group. Two of the flavors I had seen before. The one I hadn’t seen before was pumpkin spice marshmallows. We opened the bag so we could sample them and they were very tasty. Just a week after we received the 3 new bags, we were given 6 boxes of gourmet marshmallows as a gift for Pastor Appreciation Month. We have not yet tried them, but they look very good. I think we might have to wait for a reason to share them so we don’t over do it! I like marshmallows… I’m not saying anything against the marshmallows that have been given to us. I am just surprised that I tried to take the collection down to a reasonable size and it more than doubled!

I started to think about what I could do with all these marshmallows. The bag of pumpkin spice ones had been opened, but the majority of it was left uneaten. I let my mind wander and I came up with the idea of using the pumpkin spice marshmallows to make some kind of marshmallow treat. Now the classic is Rice Krispy Treats, but I wanted to stay with the fall theme. After exploring the cereal aisle yesterday, I landed on Cinnamon Burst Cheerios. I figured the cinnamon and pumpkin combination would make for a yummy autumn treat.

This afternoon I assembled what I am calling Pumpkin Spice Cereal Treats. Using the basic Rice Krispy Treat recipe, I mixed my fall inspired ingredients together to create a yummy marshmallow treat. The recipe on the back of the bag said you could decorate using candy corn or another fall candy. I didn’t think the flavors would mix well, so I used Wilton’s Colorful Leaves Sprinkle Mix. I thought they would add to the fall theme without adding another flavor layer.

The recipe on the back of the bag also suggested using a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter to make the treats into a pumpkin. I have a large pumpkin shaped cookie cutter and I knew that if I used it I wouldn’t get enough servings out of the recipe to share with my class of girls tonight. I decided to keep it all in the 13×9 pan instead.

All I can tell you right now is that they smell amazing and look good. I don’t like to present goodies that have already been partial eaten so I must wait until tonight when I share them with my class of 5th/6th girls to sample them. Here’s hoping they are a yummy snack for my girls and for myself!

 

Life After 1000 October 17, 2011

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 1:31 pm

I haven’t lived 1000 years, but I have experienced 1000 gifts. I started this gift counting challenge on August 21st and completed it on October 10th. 50 days of intentional looking, of writing notes, of blessings. Only 50 days… it went by quickly. 1000 gifts seems like a lot, like it would take forever. I’m learning that with eyes-wide open I would probably see 1000 gifts in one day. But I’m not there. I still struggle with seeing the good in bad. I still like it when things go my way. I have a harder time counting gifts when I am out of control. However, I have learned that my desire for control is what kills the joy in the day to day moments. To experience joy is to let go and let God do His thing. I feel like I’ve learned so much in a short period of time, but I always feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what there is to learn in gift counting.

I’m still counting. I’m at 1091 as I type this blog. I have made a few changes to my gift list challenge. While counting 1000 gifts, I didn’t allow myself to use the same gift twice. I really wanted to find 1000 distinct gifts.  It was hard to do this because so many things bless me continually… like soda or Scentsy or sunshine. Now that I have reached 1000, I have decided that I will allow duplicates in my gift list. If the sunshine really moves me today, I will write it down. If they sunshine next Thursday really moves me, I will write it down. Each day the simple blessings of life are before me. Do I see them? Am I taking note? Am I grateful for my toothbrush or modern appliances? Did I notice that smile? Did that friendly word really sink in? Like I said, if my eyes were really open I would see 1000 gifts in a day, but I know that I am not that aware. I strive to be. I know that  by living my life through the lens of finding blessings, I will see them more and more. It’s a muscle that grows with discipline.

I still tend to look to the negative. This process hasn’t broken my pessimistic outlook. I wish it would. I desperately seek to see more good than bad. My only hope is that I can see all the good and remember that there is good even in bad. This last week, I’ve had some very stressful situations playing over and over in my mind. Every time I would start to worry about a person or the outcome of a situation, I would just go to prayer and bless. Instead of worry, I chose to bless. Instead of fear, I chose to bless. I’m still learning to make this a habit. It amazed me how much peace it brought me. Look for the blessings, look for opportunities to bless. This is my new outlook, this is my hope!

 

Twists on a classic October 14, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 7:28 pm

I love chocolate chip cookies! Especially the Toll House recipe in my cookie book. Recently I’ve done some twists to this classic recipe and they’ve been a lot of fun. The first variation I tried was pan cookies. It’s the same exact recipe just baked up to fill a jelly roll pan. I cut these into 2in squares to serve. The second variation I did was to add fall colored M&Ms as half of the called for chocolate pieces. It’s fun at different times of the year to use special M&Ms to give it a holiday flair. Sometimes it’s fun to take something you know by heart and make it a little a different!

 

Pasta and Pumpkins October 13, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 2:48 pm

Tuesday night, Jeremy informed me what we were going to make our own raviolis and pasta sauce for dinner. This has been a goal of his for some time now. He has a ton of tomatoes from his garden and I knew he was ready to try his hand at making homemade pasta sauce. What goes well with homemade pasta sauce? Homemade pasta!

Jeremy set to work on the sauce while I started the pasta dough. This is the first time I’ve ever made homemade pasta and it certainly was an experience! Even though I got a workout trying to roll the dough super thin, I would say it was still too thick. The flavor of the dough was good, but the once it was boiled the raviolis almost turned to bread. Not a texture I’m used to and a little dense. I will try harder next time to get the dough as thin as possible because it will expand in the cooking process. We used an Italian cheese blend and then added grated Parmesan cheese on top of the blend. The stuffing turned out well. I also learned that more cheese is always better when it comes to stuffing ravioli.

The pasta sauce Jeremy created was very flavorful. We used a packet of spices to flavor it, but the truth is we really didn’t need the packet. We had all the spices that it included in our own spice collection. Jeremy also added some extra spices and some ketchup to the mixture. He is pretty good at getting things into balance.  We both agreed that meal was good, but there were things we know better for next time. Overall, I rated it a 5-6 out of 10 (10 being awesome, 1 being inedible). We also came to the same conclusion when we attempted to make deep dish pizza a few weeks ago.  We might not get it perfect the first time, but we learning lots and having fun in the kitchen together.

After we were finished with cooking experiments, we sat down the kitchen floor and starting carving our pumpkins! Jeremy is super creative when it comes to carving. Every year I’m sadly disappointed with my own carving skills. I’m not sure why I expect to get better each year, but I don’t… My pumpkin looks so sad compared to Jeremy’s two pumpkins. Regardless of my skills, I always love gutting the pumpkin and squishing my hand around in the gooey, seedy insides. This was our first time carving pumpkins with Toby around. It was humorous to watch him smell the pumpkins, lick the pumpkins… try to eat the pumpkins!

It was a very fun and full night in the Scott household! I was certainly tired when I was done from all the focus I put into that pasta and pumpkin! When it comes to pasta – I think I have a bright future. When it comes to pumpkins – I think I need to accept I’m not an artist!

 

Applesauce Spice Cake October 12, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 12:47 pm

This weekend I decided to do some baking for my life group on Sunday. I’ve been posting pictures of all the yummy treats I’ve been creating and I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to share my goodies with them. They took notice and felt they needed to sample some of my baking! I was happy to accept the challenge.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I’ve been using applesauce and apples as a theme in a lot of my baking as of late. It’s probably because I have so much of both ingredients around my house right now. I’d already made two different kinds of cookies with applesauce, so this time I decided to go with a spice cake recipe I found.

I love the Betty Crocker app that I have on my phone. That is where I discovered this Applesauce Spice Cake recipe with a Brown Butter Frosting. I couldn’t pass it by! The spice cake was easy to make and it smelled amazing at it baked and cooled. The frosting didn’t come to me as easy, but it still turned out pretty good!

I’ve never really browned butter before and everything I read said that it burned very easily. I’m fairly positive my butter didn’t fully brown, but I was too nervous to leave it on the stove any longer. The frosting was very easy to assemble from that point on. The trick with the frosting is that it sets on the cake pretty quickly. You need to spread it and get it how you like before it hardens.

Jeremy decided that it would be a great idea to sprinkle cinnamon on top of the cake. I’m never opposed to a stronger cinnamon flavor so I let him do it. We didn’t get as even as I would have liked, but it tasted good, so in the end it doesn’t really matter all that much. I would probably just add more cinnamon to the recipe next time and skip the sprinkling.

It’s been a lot of fun challenging myself to try and make new things. I realized I’ll never develop better skills without practice. I’m really enjoying this practice phase of my cooking/baking. Not everything has turned out Food Network worthy, but it’s all been very tasty! Overall, the best part is sharing the food I create with the ones that I love! I hope they have enjoyed the goodies as much I have enjoyed preparing them (and eating them)!

 

Small Beginnings October 10, 2011

Filed under: Recollections — Amy Scott @ 2:51 pm

My love story started with a board and staff barbeque and an email. That might not sound very romantic, but I have learned not look down on small beginnings. Things that seem to be small can grow and develop and that’s exactly what happened!

It was my first month away from home. I had started college in Portland, OR and I had agreed to come home and help me parents as they hosted a board and staff barbeque at their house. I knew that coming home meant helping them set up and clean up once the gathering was over. I dearly loved the staff of my home church and I was excited to spend an evening with them even if I was only invited for manual labor.

That evening, I can remember meeting our new senior pastor for the first time. I can remember talking with my mentor, Jeannie, about a boy I had a crush on at school… Then it happened… the conversation that started it all. My parents had two chinchillas as pets. The pastoral intern, Jeremy, started asking me questions about them and we settled down in my father’s den to look at the little creatures. Our discussion soon turned to school. Jeremy had a lot of questions for me. I knew he that never had “gone” off to college so I figured he just was really interested in knowing what it was like to live on campus and what classes I was taking since he was also a college student taking distance courses. We had a good talk and I can remember his parents were literally out in the car waiting to leave and he was still chatting with me.  Once the night was over, I took it as we had a good conversation and that was that. Nothing more…

I came home again in October for what Multnomah Bible College (now university) called mid-semester break. It was a four day weekend and I was glad to be back home again with family and familiar faces. My dad had asked me to help him in the Sunday morning services as he appreciated the pastors. My dad used the illustration of PAM, the cooking spray, to remember Pastor Appreciation Month. I got to help him pass out cards the staff. Of course, Jeremy was one of the staff members on stage and I remember wondering if he would come to talk to me that morning. He didn’t… I went back to school yet again not really thinking too much about it.

This week, seven years ago, I received an email from Jeremy (this would be the Tuesday after my weekend home). This is what it said:

Hi there,

How’s school going for you?  This probably seems a little strange just getting an email out of nowhere from me.   Over the past few weeks I have found myself thinking back to when I had the chance to talk to you for a while at the Board and Staff BBQ.  I had fun talking to you and wished we could have talked longer.  I realize that you are away at college but I would really like the chance to talk to you more and get to know you more.  I was surprised to see you at church on Sunday and wanted to catch you then, but the only time I found you was in a service while up front.  Anyway, I’m curious to know your thoughts about all this.  I hope you’re having a great week and pray that your classes are going well for you.  ~Jeremy 

I’m pretty sure I read that email a million times. Like most girls, I was reading between the lines. Did this mean he liked me? Did I like him? I had known of Jeremy over the years because we both attended Bethel. Even though he was older than me (by five years, so we were never in youth ministry at the same time), his reputation for being a strong Christian and his heart for ministry were clear. Knowing his character made it easy for me to see that this a good guy and worth getting to know.

I replied to the email and we’ve been in constant communication ever since! I praise God that for 7 years this wonderful man has been in my life! I still look back on those early days of emails and phone calls. It was so simple. Nothing over the top, but those small beginnings lead somewhere really good and I am glad for them. Sweet memories fill my mind as I remember what started 7 years ago!

 

Almost finished and yet just begun October 7, 2011

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 11:03 am

A week ago I finished reading One Thousand Gifts for the second time. I’m positive it impacted me just as much reading it the second time around. I realize that I still have so much growth and change I want to see in my attitude and heart. My gift journal sits tallied at 960 gifts. Soon my 1000 gifts goal will be reached. Now that I’m nearing the end of the challenge, I’ve decided that I am not finished. I will not stop counting. The journal is long and I will fill it. I will keep counting the blessings of the Lord and daily remind myself how active the Creator is in my life.  Gift counting has opened my eyes in a lot of ways, but I know that I’m not there yet. Not where I want to be. I will keep counting until I get there or until I die… I guess I’ll be counting for a while in that case!

A certain portion of the book stood out to me this time as I read it. I think it was the key to why I still struggle to find joy while counting gifts. The counting of the gifts is supposed to bring joy to life and it does, but I wanted more joy. I want deeper joy. Something else had to be the issue. Ann’s words hit me hard as  I read, “My own wild desire to protect my joy at all costs is the exact force that kills my joy.” Wow, that is me.  I try to protect my joy. I don’t want it to be tainted or stolen so I hold on to it so tightly that I kill it with my force.

Ann uses the example of a flame. When I try to protect my joy from life’s trials, I’m keeping God’s oxygen away from my flame. In order to let the flame breathe, I need to let go. I need to understand that I will be emptied. When my hands are open to God and His will then joy will be fanned into flame. Ann puts it best when she says, “The secret of joy’s flame: Humbly let go. Let go of trying to do, let go of trying to control… let go of my own way, let go of my own fears.” Again, I just sit here dumbfounded! I need to let go. I can never do enough or control enough to keep my own joy. All the doing and the trying and the holding is what is extinguishing joy’s light in my life.

Ann goes on to say, “I can empty because counting His graces has awakened me to how He cherishes me, holds me, passionately values me. I can empty because I am full of His love. I can trust.” It all comes down to trust. I know from counting gifts that God is good and He loves me. I know that trust is truly believing and living my faith. To not trust God says that I don’t really believe what I say. Can I trust? Can let go and be empty? These are the questions that I wrestle with and desperately want to say YES to…

In one short sentence Ann sums it up, “Only self can kill joy.” Here I’ve been blaming this and that. I’ve been pointing my fingers at external sources. I didn’t realize it, but now I see it clearly. I’ve been killing my joy. I’ve been self-sabotaging living life to the fullest. It’s me! I’m to blame. Not my circumstances. Joy is found in letting go… dying to myself… accepting the hard along with the good.

Like I said before, I am not there yet. Light bulb moments don’t bring instant change to life. They shed light, but it’s up to me to do something with that I find. I know that this change of heart and mind will take practice and will be a repetition of getting it right and getting it wrong. More than ever, I am determined! I will keep counting. I will keep my eyes open. I will let go. I desperately want joy!

 

Rituals October 5, 2011

Filed under: Bible,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 12:57 pm

I’m very much a creature of habit and routine. I like to know the flow of my day and the routine of my week. The craziness of a life doesn’t always afford me my “normal” schedule, but there are things I try to do everyday regardless of what my schedule looks like. I have started to call these things my rituals. They are a great source of comfort and stability to me. Now not everyday allows me to have them, but for the most part I strive to find time for them.

My rituals have a bit of a flow to them. Not surprising since I’m the routine girl. I start off my ritual time by writing in my gifts journal. I pull this journal out first and start pondering my day thus far. If I can write out my gifts while they are still fresh, it helps make sure I don’t miss something. This isn’t the only time I write in my gifts journal, but it how I start my quiet time and it’s been good to focus on the gifts of God first before I move on to anything else.

Once I have written out all the gifts that come to mind, I switch journals to my prayer journal. My prayer journal is a sacred place where I write long hand letters to God. It is a place where I am open and honest about my emotions and what is going on in my life. I’ve always been better processing my life through words on a page. Writing things out helps me to evaluate and to understand. I’ve been writing in a prayer journal for about 10 years now and it’s a ritual that I have deeply embedded into my existence.

The prayer journal allows to me clear and quiet all the thoughts bouncing around in my head. I have shared my heart and I know I am heard by the One who loves me. Now with a clear mind, I start my Bible reading. I’ve read the Bible through in a year numerous times and this year is no exception. I love following my Bible reading plan and I’ll often read two days at time. The overachiever in me loves to “get ahead” in my reading plan, but this also allows me grace when I miss a day here or there. I know that I won’t fall behind.

The next ritual to follow is reading a chapter or two of a book. I tend to swing from novels to Christian living to leadership enhancement to ministry focused books. Reading relaxes me and inspires me.  I feel like me when I have a book close by or in hand. In fact, I often leave my current book out in the living room so throughout the day when I have time I can stop and read if the moment allows for it. I believe that it’s good to get the influence of others in my life. Whether it is dreaming alongside a novel or being challenged in my leadership capacity, I know that my life is better when my voice isn’t the only one I hear.

I would have to say that the final ritual I have started is this blog. Now this one doesn’t happen every day. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. I try to challenge myself to write something whenever I’m home alone or my schedule is freer. Some days are too busy to sort out my thoughts in the blogging world, but for the most part I’m finding that blogging often happens in the middle of my ritual activities. I think this is because my mind is focused and I’m really thinking through life and what matters to me. When I started this blog, I thought for sure I would be writing about all my ministry insight. While I do write about ministry from time to time, I’m learning that there is more to me than “Church Amy” and I have more to offer than what I do in my working capacity. This blog has helped me along in that discovery process.

My rituals are things that I look forward to everyday and I feel better when I have them completed. They are a firm foundation for me to stand on and give me the strength to be a better person throughout the day. It’s important to me that even in the craziness of life that I don’t lose sight of the things I truly need to be the most effective person I can be.

 

Perfect time for making pie! October 3, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 4:31 pm

This weekend it seemed like pies were being made all over the place! I talked with so many people who decided to make a pie over the weekend. Jeremy and I were included this group of people who flocked to the kitchen with pie in mind!

At the beginning of September, Jeremy and I took our little dog for a drive and went blackberry picking. We know a couple of spots around the area that are pretty good for picking a pie’s worth of berries. The best part of berry picking is doing it together. With Toby along for the trip, it truly felt like a family outing. Despite the scratches from the thorny bushes, it was the highlight of my weekend to spend time in the wonderful weather with my hubby and puppy. Due to the crazy schedule that our month of September held, the blackberries were poured into a zip-lock bag and placed in the freezer until we had time to turn them into pie.

This weekend was the weekend that the blackberries had been waiting for! We were ready to transform them into yummy pie goodness. In years past, I would have sent Jeremy into the kitchen to make the pie on his own, but not this year. In my cooking quest, I am heading into the kitchen every chance I get to try something new and learn more about cooking/baking.  Jeremy and I split the tasks at hand. He made the filling and I made the crust – when our powers combined we had a pie!

I’m pretty sure I got the easier of the two jobs because we decided to make the crust from a Krusteaz mix.  So not entirely from scratch… maybe next time. According to Jeremy, no one can make pie crust as good as his mom and grandma, so why try. I figure we’ll never reach that standard until we try and practice. Next time I’ll attempt to make the crust entirely from scratch.

The pie filling we used was right out of the handy dandy Betty Crocker big, red cookbook. Jeremy added extra flour to the filling because we both agreed that we like a firmer berry pie. We’re not fans of runny pie. He also added some cinnamon to the mix. Just enough so you can taste it, but not enough that it over powers the berries.

Once the pie was assembled, Jeremy brushed the top of the pie with milk and sprinkled some cinnamon sugar over the top. Into the oven it went and the results were fabulous! Making the pie together was a lot of fun. Just like picking the berries, it was fun to do an activity together. We do “work” together a lot because of our job situation, but I’m learning the importance of prioritizing fun things that take place outside of the office.

The pie was a success and it was made even sweeter by the fact that we made it together!