Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Oh Easter Eggs… March 15, 2013

Filed under: Children's Ministry — Amy Scott @ 4:26 pm
Ready to fill!

Ready to fill!

It seems like Easter Eggs are a never ending topic of conversation right now. With Easter right around the corner, everyone wants to know how the filling of 70,000 candy filled eggs is going. I’m happy to report that it’s going well. We only have a couple bags left and they should hopefully disappear this weekend! I know I’m planning on grabbing one for my Growth Group on Monday.

70,000 eggs seems like a lot… because, well, it is a lot. The great thing about filling eggs is how easy it is. Everyone can chip in and make a big task manageable and fun. My mom called me this afternoon to tell me that she would be filling eggs while watching a movie. This inspired me since I’d recently purchased more candy and I had a small bag of eggs sitting around the house. I decided to fill some myself. It doesn’t take too long to fill a bag of eggs. It can be incredibly social depending on how you fill the eggs. My Growth Group has done it together twice. My Wednesday night class filled eggs together this week. It’s just a fun activity to do with a group because it’s not too challenging so you can chat and laugh while you do it. It hardly seems like work.

Yes, please!

Yes, please!

I will admit that filling eggs is probably my favorite part of Easter Eggstravaganza. Set me down with a bag of candy and a bag of eggs and I’ll go to town on the them. It’s not complicated and it’s not overwhelming. Seeing 70,000 at one time is a little overwhelming, but we don’t expect one person or one group to fill them all. We do them together as a church community and it always gets done. I love contributing in this way.

By the time Easter rolls around, I will be ready to move on past eggs and egg related conversations. However, it’s not all about the eggs. We have volunteers to coordinate, prizes to purchase, a petting zoo to set up and a pony rides to get in place. Don’t forget inflatable bounce houses and face painting. It’s great to see the community get involved as well – Applebees will be doing our face painting as well as giving out coupons. McDonald’s donated close to 1000 free dessert tickets that we’ll hand out as the first kids arrive. Even OSMI, donated some youth passes. The prizes and donations keep coming in this week and I’m excited to share these goodies with our community.

Just two weeks away from the big day. Until then, I will probably have many conversations revolving around eggs. I guess I can keep my sanity given it’s only a season. One that will quickly be here and gone.

Join us!

Join us!

 

Me again! March 13, 2013

I couldn’t help but laugh yesterday when we got invited out to dinner. Of course, I wanted to see family while they were in town, but that would put my “plans with other people streak” up to 9 social days in row. I’m not sure that is a record, but it’s been a crazy week and a half. Anything but routine. However, that leads me to today. Wednesday. Yes, I’ll have class tonight, but today I feel like myself again and that my life has somewhat gone back to normal.

When I get super busy I notice that I don’t read and write as much. In fact, the last few weeks I really haven’t the desire to pick up a book. Strange, I know. I’ve learned that I only have so much energy and when I choose to invest it being social a lot of the things that feed my introverted soul get push to the wayside.  It’s been a great day for me to journal. I miss my times with a pen in hand or spent at the keyboard (like right now). I also gave a couple hours to reading. Surprisingly, I went from having no books I’m interested in to a pile sitting on the window sill next to me. This feels normal! This feels like the Amy I know so well.

I also had time to make a class snack. I’ve been going a bit retro in my class snacks.  Last week it was no-bake cookies from my 1963 church cook book and today it was Rice Krispie Treats. Out of the blue, they sounded so good! I can’t remember the last time I’ve made them! My favorite part of the process would be cleaning up the bowl with a spoon after it’s all said and done! I can’t let those small krispies covered in marshmallow go to waste, now can I? I’ll do my best not diving into the pan before I have a chance to share them with the girls!

I don’t want people to get me wrong. I’ve had a delightful time socializing over the last week. On Sunday I had a tasty dinner and dessert with my parents and sister. You can’t beat the combo of Chipotle and Menchies! They are a match made in heaven. Monday I met with a children’s pastor from down south. The great thing is we are around the same age and in the same line of work. Living in rural Lewis County means my interaction with other female ministers is limited to non-existent. I really enjoyed getting to know her and I do believe we will meet again in the future. After one coffee date it was off to another, I met with my mentor, Vicki, since I was in her neck of the woods. It was great to catch up since I hadn’t seen her a while. I love my times with her because she encourages me so much. No matter what she is cheering me on and telling me that I can do it. It’s nice to have someone believe in you even if you are unsure of yourself. Like I mentioned at the beginning, yesterday was dinner with Jeremy’s brother while he was over on this side of the mountains. It was a great meal and I’m always glad for an opportunity to see out of town family members.

Today is a short break. A calm to be me and do what I do best. Tomorrow I have a breakfast meeting with another children’s pastor. It’s blind date week for me since I haven’t met either of these children’s pastors before. As valuable as networking can be, I’m always a little on edge when meeting someone for the first time. I have my own insecurities I  have to deal with. Tomorrow night is our local AG business meeting. The nice part is that it will take place at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants! General Tso’s Chicken here I come! So as you can see, even a busy schedule has its perks.  I have a feeling that March will continue at this pace with a Pinewood Derby this weekend and our giant Easter Eggstravaganaza quickly approaching. I’m thankful though for quiet days where I can read and write and make childhood treats for my girls. These days are the ones that hold me together. I finally feel like me again! Here’s hoping the feeling sticks around!

 

Professor for a day and other happenings! March 9, 2013

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 2:42 pm

I told you I would give an update on how teaching a college class went. Here it is… It went great. The class was small – only three young ladies, but that was okay with me. It made for a very informal and conversational environment. We were talking about some heavy topics in children’s ministry so it was great to have that focused time with them. The awesome thing about being a partner with Jeremy in ministry is that opportunities like this are available to me. Because I do a lot of mentoring and personal meetings with students, I had plenty of real life examples to accompany the chapters in the book we were discussing. I love sharing with young people that I am an ordained Assemblies of God minister. It’s not about being cool, but I hope it inspires them to do the same thing and get credentialed. I’m not just a wife or administrative assistant, I am pastor at the front lines. I always want that to be clear. It was an excellent opportunity to share my passion of pastoral care with these college students. Jeremy and I make a wonderful team and between the two of us, we were never searching for something to say next. The time flew by! I was a little concerned that we would fill it all and it happened effortlessly. God is good. They told us we covered the chapters more thoroughly than any of the other subs had done in the past. We felt good that we have given them some solid things to think about. I’m learning more and more that it’s easy to talk about my own personal experiences. I don’t have to be a brilliant teacher, I just have to share what I’ve learned from walking down this path a little farther along in the journey. I love teaching. So who knows, maybe in a few years down the road this whole college professor things might be something worth pursuing. I’ll need to get my master’s degree first, but honestly, I love school and learning. There are so many options and potential for the future. Teaching this class was a win for me and I’m glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone to do it.

Uncle Jeremy playing with the kiddos!

Uncle Jeremy playing with the kiddos!

As, I mentioned in my last post, this week has been a very social one for me. Jeremy joked that people are going to think I’m lying when I say that I’m an introvert. Well, I am not lying. I am just a friendly introvert. It’s been so fun to have family in town this week. After our day in Seattle, Jeremy and I drove back home to hang out with his parents and our niece and nephew. Jeremy hadn’t seen the kids yet, so it was a lot of fun to watch him interact with them. He is a wonderful uncle! Yesterday, we drove down south to have dinner with Jeremy’s brother and his wife. We got dressed up and went to a nice restaurant. It was a lot of fun. Nice to do a date night and go all out! Today my friend, Kaly, and her son, Lucas, come over for brunch and to inspect our new floors. It’s fun to have people over to take a peek at the floors. I had fun playing with Lucas on our new area rug. He loves remotes and coasters. The simplest things can be so entertaining. I also had a great time catching up with Kaly since she doesn’t live in the area so we only see each other once a month or so. She was down visiting her parents. I always appreciate when she includes me in her weekend plans!

Enjoying a dinner out!

Enjoying a dinner out!

The busy life just keeps moving onward. Tomorrow Jeremy’s dad is coming over to help Jeremy assemble his new green house. Jeremy is like a kid at Christmas! We’ll have dinner with my parents and sister tomorrow night as well. Monday, I have two meetings down south. One with another children’s pastor and one with an old friend and mentor. I guess the social streak will be 8 days in a row. Not bad for a little introvert.

 

Social Week March 6, 2013

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 1:48 pm

Even as an introvert, I  do have some weeks where it seems like there is always something going on and people to see. This is one of those weeks. It’s all good fun stuff and I’m getting to hang out with some great people.

One Last Meeting

One Last Meeting

Monday, I met with my A/G Network mentor before she leaves for Africa later this month. We’ve been meeting for about a year on a monthly basis. At first it was a little strange meeting with someone that I’ve never met before. Since she’s been in missions her whole life, I wasn’t sure if we would have anything in common. The great thing is that there is a lot you can learn from people who have walked different roads in life. She’s been able to offer me a whole different perspective on ministry. Plus, she has really great stories about living with no power and running water from time to time. I admire our missionaries so much and what they are willing to do to share the gospel around the world. Her heart and commitment to Africa are inspiring. It was sad to say “good-bye” to our monthly meetings, but thanks to technology, I know we’ll keep in touch. Monday was also a Growth Group night for me so I had some ladies over for our study on One Thousand Gifts. It was a full day!

Hangin' with my niece!

Hangin’ with my niece!

Yesterday, I got the joy of having breakfast with sister-in-law, Andrea, and her kiddos!  It was a great morning. We had doughnuts, which I totally can’t remember the last time I had one. Very tasty! My nephew taught me how to play stick golf on his mom’s phone. Let it be known that anything related to golf I am extremely poor at and this game was no exception. Lucky for me, Carson cheered really loud when I finally got the ball in the hole. It made it worth it. Since this branch of the family tree lives three hours away, it’s always a special treat to see them and hang out.

Today, my sister came over for lunch. I made french toast and she chatted with me while I made no-bake cookies for my class snack. Even though we live within a half hour of each other, her school and work schedule can sometimes be opposite of mine. It was fun to catch up on life and just chill and relax. One of the great things about hanging out with April is that there really is no frills necessary. We sit, we talk, we eat. Nothing fancy. I don’t mind being that kind of hostess!

The big day of the week will be tomorrow when Jeremy and I teach a class at Northwest University. Just call me Professor Amy! Jeremy and I went over the material this morning and I think we’re set. Now we just got to do it. Hopefully it goes well and I can add it to the list of things I’ve accomplished. It’s just one day… I do realize it’s not the same thing as teaching a semester. Baby steps. After the class, we’ll see if traffic allows me to go to a family party that evening. So the socialness just keeps on coming!

Friday we have a dinner plans down south with Jeremy’s brother and his wife. I haven’t seen them in a long time, so it will be great to catch up. We’re going to a new restaurant for Jeremy and I. It will be a bit of a food adventure. I like checking out new places.

I will admit that Saturday is looking pretty good to me. Yes, I will still have church in the evening, but I’ll have the ability to stay in pajamas until late afternoon if I want to. I’ll need a little down time after all this socializing. It’s a good week filled with fun opportunities with awesome people. I probably won’t have much time for blogging, but I promise to let you know how the teaching experience goes. Maybe this will inspire me to get my master’s degree and become a college professor…. who knows!

 

Continued Adventures in Domesticity February 28, 2013

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 7:27 pm

I feel momentum after Monday night’s soup success. I thought I would share with you some of other projects from this week. As promised Tuesday night was cake pop night. I have officially decided that I don’t like making cake pops. These turned out just fine, but really the whole process is just a little too much for me. I would prefer to make cupcakes. I think once I get to the candy melt part cake pops lose their fun factor. It’s a slow process to dip them all and make sure all the excess drips off so it doesn’t run and make a mess. I did learn from my mistakes and made the cake pops about half the size of my last attempt. This made for less casualties and helped the candy melts go a lot farther. I took these cake pops to my class last night and they were a hit. The only problem is that I have a lot them left over and I know I don’t need to eat them myself. Oh temptation… I will say no. I hope!

Chocolate Cake Pops with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cake Pops with Cream Cheese Frosting

Tonight I had the joy of making dinner again. Oh yeah, two homemade dinners in one week! I must be like Martha Stewart or something! Just kidding. I guess I made waffles on Tuesday, but that was from a mix, so we’ll call it semi-homemade. I’m trying to make my food and not just microwave it (or pour a bowl of cereal and call it dinner). The menu this evening was Sausage and Ricotta Stuffed Jumbo Shells. They were so tasty. I’ll be honest and admit that tonight was a team effort. My hubby cooked up the meat and we both stuffed the shells together. I’m not trying to prove myself so I was perfectly fine working side by side in the kitchen. Stuffed shells is something I’ve always wanted to try, but never have. Once again, Food Network Magazine was the inspiration. I didn’t follow their recipe, but they had stuffed shells featured in an article and the picture looked so good I had to get jumbo shells when I went grocery shopping. Totally worth it!

Yummy Stuffed Shells

Yummy Stuffed Shells

I’m not sure what tomorrow holds. No cooking/baking plans yet. I’m thinking Saturday might be a cookie day. The great thing about trying new recipes this week is that I’m learning cooking isn’t impossible. I’m sure I will fail and succeed in the kitchen, but the more I try the more comfortable I will become with the whole cooking process. It’s not 1950, but there is something nice in my head about making dinner – at least once or twice a week. For the other days, there is cereal! :)

 

Guess who made dinner? February 25, 2013

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 6:27 pm
Bubble, Bubble!

Bubble, Bubble!

If you guessed my hubby, Jeremy, you would be right about every other day off the week, but… NOT TODAY! Today I made soup for the first time – completely by myself! I’m pretty proud right now! You  have to realize that I have next to no cooking skills. Every year I tell myself that this is the year I’m going to start cooking dinner. I’m really good at Kraft Mac and Cheese and anything you empty from a box and put in the oven. However, to me that doesn’t really count.

I loved getting Food Network Magazine over the last year. It was a Christmas gift in 2011. This year I decide that I couldn’t live without it, so I subscribed for three more years. I know that three years is a long time, but it was the best deal for the price. I usually make one thing a month from the magazine and it’s usually the best looking dessert that catches my eye. While the key-lime cheesecake bars will probably be next, something else looked good too. Okay, a lot of things looked good. It was the cheese edition! How could it not? I stopped to ponder making their Apple-Cheddar Soup with Bacon. It sounded like a great flavor combination that reminded me of going out for fondue. This Friday, I made sure to add the ingredients to our shopping list.

Apple-Cheddar Soup with Bacon!

Apple-Cheddar Soup with Bacon!

While the directions say it should take 40 minutes, it took me about an hour. I crisped up some bacon in the pot. I chopped up the onion, apples and potato. I stirred frequently to make sure that nothing burned. I added the liquid ingredients and then the cheese! This was my first time making soup, but it was also my first time using the stick blender. Very educational.

Normally when I cook, I feel like the food wins – not in a yummy tasty way, but in a it conquers me kind of way. I’m always stressed about does that look cooked all the way through, should it smell like that, should it look like that. I’m always second guessing myself. You should take that as a sign that I really care for those who are going to eat it. No food poisoning on my watch.  Surprisingly, everything went as plan and nothing caught me off guard. Hurray!

I sprinkled some bacon on the top of the bowl and took a thick slice of bread for dipping because to me bread and soup are made me to dipped together. It was tasty! Jeremy gave me his approval and so far we’re both still standing! Woo hoo! Success! For those of you who make soup from scratch all the time, don’t mock. This is a baby step in the right direction for me. I’m trying to discover other uses for my kitchen besides baking. But speaking of baking, I’ll be heading back into the kitchen to make a sheet cake later this evening. I’m going to attempt cake pops take two tomorrow night. I think I’ve learned from my mistakes so hopefully my second attempt will turn out better then the first. I learned the hard way in the cake pop world that size really does matter!

 

The Final Result! February 23, 2013

Filed under: Home Improvement — Amy Scott @ 8:55 pm

After a long week and a whole lot of saw dust, we’re finished with the flooring project. Well, almost. Some small things will need to be done tomorrow, but for the most part it’s finished. In fact right now I’m watching Toby try to jump up on our chair and a half. With the loss of traction, he doesn’t always make it. Poor doggie. We’ve really turned his whole world upside down. Here are the pictures of the final results!

The entry way - new mats to come

The entry way – new mats to come

Living Room into the Dining Room

Living Room into the Dining Room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Dining Room

Dining Room

Dining Room into the Living Room

Dining Room into the Living Room

 

Adventures in Flooring February 21, 2013

Filed under: Home Improvement — Amy Scott @ 1:03 pm

It’s been a busy week here at the Scott Household. On Sunday, we tore up all the carpet in our home. This revealed that the carpet and the vinyl flooring were two different levels. This gave us two options – buy more sub-flooring or try to remove the vinyl with the extra layer of sub-flooring.  During Growth Group (which was hosted by my mother-in-law), my father-in-law came over to my house to survey the situation with Jeremy. They decided to buy more sub-flooring and raise the level of the floors to match our kitchen and entry way. Jeremy was anxious to get the project started so he started to lay the new sub-floor on Tuesday evening. This meant moving our dining table into the kitchen. Good thing we have a big kitchen, but I still don’t think it was ever meant to be an eat-in kitchen. It’s a little strange when I sit down at the table. The location is just a little off. Preparing food is also fun as we skirt around the table. It’s a person at a time walking space, so you got to know the flow or you bump into people! Tonight, my father-in-law and brother-in-law will join Jeremy in adding the rest of the sub-floor. Furniture pieces will scatter all over my house so that they stay out of the way. The dog and I are going to take off for the evening and hang out with my parents. I would just be in the way and frankly, Toby would be as well. They’ll have the door open as they bring in pieces of plywood and Toby is sure to escape if given the opportunity. I’ll be less of a wreck if we just avoid the construction zone all together. Tomorrow will hopefully be the beginning of laying down the final layer of flooring! Saturday and Sunday will be reserved for finishing things up and putting everything back together. Monday afternoon I plan on deep cleaning since the boys should be done. Then I do believe I will let out a deep sigh of relief. It’s been fun to see the different phases all unfold, but I’m really ready for that final reveal! I can’t wait! More updates to come as things shape up around here!  Exciting times!

Different Levels

Different Levels

Adding the new layer of sub-flooring

Adding the new layer of sub-flooring

Our "Eat-In" Kitchen

Our “Eat-In” Kitchen

 

 

 

Good Bye Carpet! February 17, 2013

Filed under: Home Improvement — Amy Scott @ 10:04 pm

Having a major sleepover wasn’t enough to fill this President’s Day weekend. Oh no! Jeremy and I thought we would tackle something else as well… pulling up all the carpet in our main living space! I will admit that I wasn’t much help in the pulling up department, but I pulled my weight in cleaning up the wreckage. The carpet left a nice thick layer of dust EVERYWHERE as a parting gift, so I spent most of my afternoon/evening deep cleaning and trying to get the general feeling of grime out of my house. Currently, I’m wearing hard soled slippers around the house because the floor is a bit… rustic… I’m not really sure the best way to put it. Our new floors will be installed next weekend by my very handy family members. I think this week without flooring will make me even more grateful for the new floors to come. It’s a little weird to be without carpet, but now that things are tidied up a bit, I don’t mind it all that much. This part of the project was what I worried about most – the destruction – once Jeremy took that razor to the carpet there was no going back. Now that it’s done I feel better and I’m ready for the next and final phase. We did hit a small speed bump, but I think it’s solvable (with a little extra cash, of course). Originally I thought I was cool with having company over tomorrow, but mid-project I decided to take my mother-in-law up on her offer to host our Growth Group for this week. It probably would have been okay, but it’s now one less thing to worry about. I did, however, make the decision to move the group after cleaning my bathrooms… Oh well. I guess I can’t complain about clean bathrooms.

The sleepover is over – check! The flooring is pulled up – check! The house is clean – check! All materials are ready for Growth Group – check! Looks like I’m dominating this crazy big, crazy busy weekend! Oh yeah! It feels good! More updates to follow the adventures of Jeremy and Amy in Home Improvement Land – hopefully a happy ending to follow!

The middle of the project!

The middle of the project!

DSC06065

Another angle

 

 

A Winter Wonderland Sleepover! February 16, 2013

Filed under: Children's Ministry — Amy Scott @ 7:43 pm

One of the biggest events of my calendar year has just come and gone. I will admit that I’m still in the post-sleepover haze, but it’s a good haze. It speaks of working hard and giving it my all. The theme for our 9th annual sleepover was Winter Wonderland. It was a lot of fun to transform the building and make the theme really come alive.

Winter WonderlandDecorating is a key part of any gathering because it sets the vibe and tone for the event. We had white Christmas lights on as they walked into our main meeting space. These were left up from the Valentine’s day dinner the day before, but once we hung snowflakes and blue and white paper lanterns from them, you’d never know they were a leftover decoration. Our main space had snowflakes hanging from ceiling. The tables were decorated with alternating blue, white and silver tablecloths. The centerpieces were lanterns with flickering flame-less candles inside. We had two Christmas trees on stage with more white lights. The bottom of the stage was outlined in snowflake garland. Our background screen welcomed the girls with a snowflake pattern looped giving it the effect that it was snowing in the room. I love the details that go into making a theme come to life!

All our activities centered around theme. We had two crafts – one was a tissue paper mitten where they made a stain glass effect on a clear plastic mitten. We also had a station for them to decorate their own foam snowflakes. Each girl used jewels, markers and puffy paint to make a snowflake as unique as themselves. We had two game rotations. The girls got to do a snowball fight (crumpled paper, not real snow – we don’t have any of that around here) and play winter sports using the Xbox Kinect. Our final rotation was snack. Who doesn’t love a warm mug of chocolate on a cold winter day? We did a special treat and let them make their our mug brownies. It was a hit and the room smelled amazing! It’s hard to beat a recipe that allows you to have a fresh, hot brownie in a minute using the microwave.

Once the activities were all done and the girls were settling down, we had a great group devotion done by our School of Ministry intern, Nikki. She shared how we are all God’ s princesses and she got the girls really excited to read the scriptures she was sharing. They were all told how beautiful God thinks they are and how he made them just the way they are because he loves us. At the end of her lesson, each girl was given a hair clip that looked like a tiara.

After the devotion time, we split the girls up into two different rooms. The younger girls watch a short movie and the older girls watch a full length movie. Once the movies are over it’s bed time! We had a great group of sleepers this year, but that didn’t help me get more sleep. I usually can’t stay asleep  for a full hour the whole night. Too many sounds to keep me awake. I feel responsible for all these girls so my ears are super tuned in. It’s all good though because I got a good long nap this afternoon.

The morning starts with waking up them – super chipper like – they all thought I was morning person! I had them fooled! We ate a wonderful breakfast of Costco muffins together and then it’s time to pack up and clean up. This one hour is the most transformative of the whole event. The building goes from being completely overrun with girls to totally empty and clean. It’s like we were never really there! 

I’m still getting my pictures downloaded, so I’ll share a few in the days to come! It was another great sleepover and I’m so blessed to serve these young ladies and their moms. I’m also so beyond blessed by all the leaders who came alongside me and helped to pull off this giant party. This is team effort! I certainly couldn’t have done it alone!