Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Time February 13, 2013

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 11:18 am

I’m rereading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp as a part of my Growth Group this winter.  Because I’m the leader and an over-achiever by nature, I’m trying to read the chapters of the book that are recommended by the study. This means that I needed to read chapters 4 and 5 before Monday. Wednesdays are my quiet mornings, so I sat down determined to get these chapters checked off my to-do list. It turns about that chapter 4 is all about time. It was no coincidence that I read this chapter today.

What a week this week is. I’m preparing for my largest event of the year. Our girls sleepover this weekend and the deadline to register is today. I’ve been making supply piles in the office, making shopping lists for tomorrow, doing a jigsaw puzzle of leaders and kids as I find the right spot for them. Tonight I’ll get the final numbers after church. Tomorrow I’ll do all the shopping and set up what parts of the building I can. Friday will a majority of the set-up and show time!

Let me tell you, my brain is not here in the moment. My brain is on the upcoming details. Beyond the sleepover, we’re tearing up the carpet in our home this weekend and I need to clean the bathrooms before Growth Group on Monday and I wonder what condition my house will be in when they all arrive.  The next week has a lot to hold my attention.

I was drowning in thoughts and check lists when I started to read this chapter. Here are just a few quotes that derailed me this morning:

  • In a world addicted to speed, I blur the moments into one unholy smear.
  • I don’t really want more time; I just want enough time. Time to breathe deep and time to see real and time to laugh long, time to give You glory and rest deep and sing joy and just enough time in a day not to feel hounded, pressed, driven, or wild to get it all done – yesterday.
  • Wherever you are, be all there.
  • It’s not the gifts that fulfill, but  the holiness of the space. The God in it.
  • Jesus embraces His not enough… He gives thanks… And there is more than enough. More than enough!
  • Life is brief and it is fleeting but it’s not an emergency.
  • Life is is dessert – too brief to hurry.
  • Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.

Oh Ann! How you hit it right on! I could really quote the whole chapter! Here I am running  in circles. Hurrying through life. I’m always trying to get the next thing off my t0-do list. Especially this week when the list seems long and it seems to imperative that I get everything done perfectly. No time to be human, no time to stop and take a deep breath. It seems that to slow down and live in the moment would mean the world would stop, because I’m not longer holding the weight of it all.

I don’t want to be so driven by time. I don’t want to live my life feeling like there is enough time. My favorite quote from the book is found in this chapter – I just want enough time to do my one life well. Just enough! I know that when I invite Jesus into these moments with me the world feels a little less frantic. All the expectations and hurrying isn’t from him. He never commanded me into this tizzy. I put myself there. I created the mess. It’s so sweet to remember that time is what I make of it. It can be a hurried mess or it can be simply beautiful. It’s all in my perspective and the power I give it. I don’t need more time. That’s hard for me write, but it’s true.

I want to use my time this week to bring honor and glory to God. I don’t want to use it to stress and freak out. I want to use it to smile and do things I love. I really do the love the sleepover. I want to enjoy the smiles of the girls and watch them take over the church with fun activities. I want to be able to slow down and enjoy moment, because it’s only here for such a short while. Each second I will never get back. There are no do-overs, so I might as well live this one life well.

 

Entering Project Mode February 11, 2013

Filed under: Home Improvement,Recollections — Amy Scott @ 7:00 pm
It begins!

It begins!

Last Thursday, Jeremy and I drove down to Oregon to fill up our truck with a pallet of new flooring. I guess that would have been the official beginning. The flooring is now stacked in our computer room just waiting to come out of its plastic home and meet my floors. However before the new floor can go down, there is lots to do. Tonight begins our first altering of the house. Jeremy is currently removing our trim from the walls. It’s official. It’s started. We’ve entered into project mode. Later this week/weekend Jeremy will pull up the flooring and make sure that it’s safe for walking on (with shoes of course). It’s been a bit of a pickle doing a home improvement project at the same time I’m hosting a Growth Group. Yes, next Monday when our group gathers they will be walking on sub-flooring. Oh well. I’ve lived in homes with just sub-flooring before on multiple occasions (not a permanent basis but during remodeling times). The first would be when my home flooded in 1996. For a while we lived in a 5th wheel trailer in our front yard and once we were able to get all the bad stuff out of the house we moved back in despite it being mid project. The second time would be when our washing machine decided to overflow in December of 2003. April and I were both off in our own worlds – I was filling out college applications when I heard my mom screaming. As I ran out to see what was going it was obvious that we had a lot of water in our house. So up went the flooring and everything had to dry out. New flooring was eventually put back in. For  my 18th birthday party, the kitchen looked like were remodeling. It didn’t bother me.  “In Progress” means new things are coming and exciting times are around the corner. I can relate to “in progress” because I’m right there. I’m in progress. Just like my house, God can peel the layers off of me and shine up my rough spots. I sympathize with the inconvenience. Being in progress isn’t always glamorous, but it’s leading down a good road. I’m excited for this new phase of my little house. I’ll just have to ask my Growth Group to pardon our dust!

 

Walking in My Shoes February 10, 2013

Filed under: Family Time,Recollections — Amy Scott @ 3:58 pm

This weekend I got the treat of spending some time with my nephew. Because he lives across the mountains, I’m never sure how much I’ll see his family in the winter months because of snow in the passes. Every visit is a special treat and any time we can spend together is special and worth it. Being an auntie is so much fun. I love the hugs and snuggles. Yesterday, it was too funny when Carson walked into the kitchen wearing my boots! According to Jeremy, the boots were the first form of footwear he grabbed when it was time to go outside. Jeremy helped him into the boots and suddenly I heard “Look, Aunt Mayme”. What a character! I remember my sister and I taking turns wearing my grandpa’s cowboy boots and how far up our legs they would go. It seems like the perfect childhood memory to walk in the shoes of a family member you love.

Even this simple act reminds me that there are little eyes watching me and I get to be influence in these young lives. I always hope that my niece and nephew will see me as a person of integrity who loves them and wants the best for them. These family ties are important and I look forward to them deepening with time. Being an aunt is honor. Today, our niece, Brinley, was dedicated at church. It’s a sign that the parents, and also the family, are willing to raise their child to know the Lord as best as possible. I love these dedications because it is a great symbol of the role family plays in the life of a child. I want to do my best to encourage faith in these young hearts. I want to do my best to support my family as they parent. It’s a blessing and one that I don’t take lightly. I’m glad Carson wanted to walk in my shoes. Hopefully they lead him in a good direction!

Walking in My Shoes

Walking in My Shoes

 

Worst Case Scenario February 8, 2013

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:28 pm

We know all that I struggle with being a bit of a pessimist. I call it being “realistic”, but really my mind naturally thinks of all the worst case scenario stuff right off the bat. Seeing the bright side isn’t my first reaction. Usually I look for a bright side, but truthfully, it’s a choice to look.

I was writing this week in my quiet time. It’s not really blog material, but I need to process my world through words so I write for myself. And for Jesus. I write because when I get the words out of my head, I feel heard. It doesn’t seem to matter if there is an audience or not. As I was writing, I surprised myself with this line:

It doesn’t make any sense to focus on the worst when the best is just as possible. 

Okay, who is that and what has she done with Amy. I typed it and I literally stopped. It’s so true, but I don’t often think this way. It’s easy to get caught up in worst case scenarios. I’ve spent years thinking of the horrible ways things could go wrong. I’m learning that even if things don’t got as I plan, they usually don’t turn out to be my worst case scenarios. Surprisingly, even in the moments when I have lived the worst case scenario, God is still good and he is still there in the midst of all it. I’m never walking through this life alone and that doesn’t sound too bad if you ask me.

So yes, I have realized that for every doomsday scenario I fabricate in my head, there is just as much of a chance that I will be blown away by the best possible scenario. There is just as much of a chance for God to show up and completely turn even the darkest of moments into places of praise and rejoicing. (I think the Bible says something like that – “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5)

Today I am choosing to believe that things might turn out better than expected. Strange, but gives me a good feeling.

 

Comfort Cookies and Other Things I Need February 6, 2013

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Cooking Experiments,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 3:44 pm

My day hasn’t turned out the way I expected. It hasn’t been bad, but it’s had a few bumps that I didn’t foresee. It seems like my week has been a bit bumpy as well. I keep trying to stay on top of it all and I just don’t feel like I’m keeping up.  So in order to avoid a panic attack, here are the few things keeping me together.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!I wasn’t sure I was going to have time to make a snack for my class tonight, but things fell into place and I was able to home this afternoon. I decided to make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies because oatmeal and chocolate are some homey and yummy and comforting. I needed to make something that would feed my soul and these cookies are the ticket. I had just enough oatmeal on hand and they turned out great. Tonight is a snack that I made for myself more than the girls and that is okay.

Prayer has been the one constant in my life over the last week. While I’m pretty routine with my prayer time, it seems like this last week I’ve stepped it up. When you’re empty, the one place to fill up is at the feet of the Father. This morning especially I took a lot of time to read my Bible and pulled out my prayer journal to pen all my thoughts to the Lord. Throughout my day, the constant connection to the Lord is what brings peace and assurance to my heart. When I talk with God it reminds me how small I am and I how I really can’t do this without him. Prayer has been sustaining my life and giving feet to my faith. Without it, I’m sure I would fall apart.

When the stress level rises I turn on the music. I’ve been listening to Switchfoot and The Rocket Summer. I love losing myself in lyrics and singing along to these heart songs. As the music fills my home I find myself relaxing and my blood pressure lowering.

I’ve been rereading some great books by authors I dearly love and have touched my heart. I’m reading both Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist and One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  Both books are celebration of life and about finding light in the dark. It’s so good for me to be reminded. God is here in the small moments of my daily life. His gifts sustain me and I continue to count them because they are like bread, they give me life. Authors can good friends and I’ve been hanging out with some the best buddies through the page.

However, I can’t spend my entire life making cookies, listening to good music and reading soulful books. Today is Wednesday which means ministry. I have dinner with a young student whose family is going through some very serious trials. I’m not exactly sure what to tell this tender heart as we converse.  I will do my best to encourage her and to give her peace. I’m praying for God’s words because mine seem so flat and not enough. This situation is bigger than us and that means we need to give it to God. I hope I can help her see that God is walking beside her each second of this difficult journey. After dinner it will be time for church and I will see my class of girls for the first time in two weeks. The cold had me down last week, so I’m happy to rejoin them. Today is a week before the sleepover deadline so I’ll be nagging them pretty hard to get those permission slips in.  I also feel like such an adult when I remind them of deadlines.

Speaking of being an adult, I still need to clean the kitchen up from my cookie baking! Signing out!

 

If I only had a brain… February 5, 2013

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:26 pm

Lately, I feel like I’ve been channeling the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz (a movie I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen in its entirety). I’ve been doing some pretty stupid stuff and it’s making me wonder if I have straw in my noggin. Here are just a few of my shining moments. I hope you find them humorous. I’m choosing to laugh, but maybe I should be concerned…

On Sunday, I was conversing with a parent about the upcoming girls sleepover. Since the mom wasn’t there to talk with me directly about helping with the sleepover, I gave my phone number and email address as a way to get in touch with me to discuss the details. Only, I couldn’t remember my phone number!!! Like an idiot with an audience I stood there apologizing. At one point I almost went to get Jeremy to help. Once I remembered  my number, the parent didn’t seem too convinced that I knew what I was talking about. Can you blame him?

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I was doing my nightly routine of adding a throw blanket to my side of the bed. I like a little extra warmth and my warm blooded hubby doesn’t. As I was putting my blanket on the bed, I managed to knock over my water glass and spill it all over my side of the bed and the surrounding floor. Now that was one of those awesome moments that I watched in slow motion. I could see it happening and yet there was nothing I could do to stop it. There is nothing like dousing your bed right before you plan to get into it. Real smooth!

This morning in the shower I ended up putting facial cleanser in my hair like it was shampoo – never done that before. Don’t know what I was thinking there. Oh wait, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t thinking. I continued on in my morning routine and was checking my emails. I had an email waiting for me saying that I got the snack rotation for my Growth Group mixed up. Sure enough, I looked at my notes and saw that I misread them the night before. It’s bad when you can’t read what you wrote properly. It’s not like it was written in sloppy handwriting. I just can’t read.

So as you can see, I’m a bit brainless right now. As this cold drags on and I’m plagued by tiredness and a busy schedule, I’m wondering what is next? I keep surprising myself with all the random things I can pull off when I’m in a tired haze. Lucky for me, I have no plans for the rest of the evening and that is reassuring! My brain cells need some serious TLC before they really do resemble straw.

Oh, if I only had a brain!

Side Note – If you find my brain, please return it! I miss being a fully functioning member of society!

 

Stuff that makes me smile! February 3, 2013

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:40 pm

In a random attempt at blogging, I will share with you the few things that have made me smile recently. Sort of a One Thousand Gifts list, but really just silliness from my everyday life.

  • My new notepad from Shutterfly – it’s so cute! It has pictures of Jeremy, Toby and I. In pink it says “From the desk of Amy Scott”. The funny thing is I keep it on the counter and nowhere near my desk. I love adding items to my grocery list because I get to use and look at it and it’s just too cute!
  • Jeremy’s use of floor samples – Yesterday Jeremy told me that we could use all the leftover floor samples as coasters. In fact while working at the computer desk, he did just that! Now I’m not sure this is a new trend I want to start but it was funny.
  • When parent’s bring snacks to class – Last night we celebrated a student’s birthday and his parent’s brought banana pudding cups. Since I trust this family when it comes to food preparation, I enjoyed the snack. Just like a kid, I love getting a special snack.
  • Made for TV movies – Since I’ve been watching a lot of Netflix this last week, I couldn’t help but mention how love cheesy romantic comedies. Boy meets Girl. They fall in love. Something causes a bump in the road for them. They make up. They live happily ever after. While I don’t always believe in the plot – who really falls in love in a week? – I enjoy these movies.
  • Malt-0-Meal – Oh wheat cereal! It can make a mess in the microwave if you don’t catch it in time, but so far I’ve been safe this week! I’ve been eating a bowl a day with some brown sugar because it feel so good on my throat.
  • Saying good bye to the dinosaur desktop computer! Jeremy finally detached and removed the desktop computer from our house! I’m sure our energy bill will go down now! With two laptops, it made no sense to me to have a desktop. Funny thing is our desk is covered in eBay items so really it’s not like the space has been cleared. It is however a step in the right direction.
  • Jeremy’s budding eBay business – It amazes me how much random stuff my hubby has had stored around our house. I thought last year after the 7 purge that we had cleared out the house of useless stuff, but I was wrong. Jeremy has kept his stash well hidden. Now that he is parting with it, I’m amazed that people are actually buying it!
  • If I was blogging last week about this topic, I might have included Downton Abbey Season 3. I love Sunday evenings because my 2 favorite shows are on, but…. last week was tragic on DA. It hit me in the gut, made me cry and honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep watching. Of course I will, but I get WAY too attached to TV show characters.
  • Friday I got to go to my favorite Chinese food place with my hubby, my sister and a brother-in-law. I LOVE General Tso’s Chicken. So good! Just typing about it actually making me want some… Okay, moving on before I start to drool.
  • Naps – this has been a little love-hate for me. Because I’ve been sick I’ve been taking a nap in the middle of the day. It seems though that even just a short nap makes me stay awake way late into the night. Last night I could barely go to sleep or stay asleep. Which means I’ve been super tired during the day and end up taking a nap. It’s a bad cycle I’ve started! I didn’t mean to, but I ended up sleeping most of the afternoon… Here’s hoping I can sleep tonight. However, if Downton Abbey continues it’s dramatic flare, I’m sure I’ll be emotionally drained by bedtime.

I realize that I could keep this list going. Even after a week of being sick, I can still see all the good things and the blessings that the Lord has given me. I’m thankful for this home that I get to hang out in. I am thankful that it is a place of rest. I’m thankful for the silly things that don’t seem to matter, but really when you put them together as a whole they make life worth living. All these small moments, these small things are a sign of a big God who loves me and is taking care of me. I am thankful!

 

Growth Group Time February 2, 2013

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 9:46 pm

It seems like time flashes forward when I blink. Or maybe it has something to do the fast that most of my life been lived on the couch since last Monday. I don’t know, but all of the sudden I find myself in the month of February with a Growth Group about to start on Monday evening. Oh my! Where did all the time go? This was always so out in the distance. Now it’s here. I’m not sure I’m ready.

One thing is for sure, my house isn’t ready. Because of the great illness, I haven’t touched my house in a good long time. It’s not often my floors go a week without vacuuming (at this point you are either worried or impressed). My game plan for tomorrow is to clean the house and then probably take a nap. Since I’ve been down with this bug my energy level has popped back up yet. There is something about a clean house that sets my mind at ease. There are very few things I control in life and the tidiness of my house is one of them – except when I sick and that even goes out the window. I think having things fresh and tidy will signify that my days of being down are over and I’m ready to reengage in life. I keep telling myself this – here’s hoping my body agrees (as of today the bug is still slightly fighting me – I will rejoice when I no longer need kleenex handy).

Originally I was brainstorming what things to provide for food. At any social gathering, I was taught that the more food provided is better (Thanks Dad for that lesson – now I always overfeed people). I want something to be homemade because that seems thoughtful, but at the same time the only homemade things I make are baked goods and women seem to stay away from those. Maybe a plate of cookies and I’ll stop by the store for a veggie tray. I don’t know. I want to a good balance. Something sweet and something healthy. Don’t even get me started on beverages. My house is so low on liquids. We have a strange K-Cup assortment, water and A-1 sauce… Just kidding about the last one. But really water is classic, right?

As you can tell I’m over-thinking the details. It won’t be a Martha Stewart approved gathering, but who cares! The biggest things that are weighing mind would be along the lines of I really don’t know the ladies that are attending this group and from the little I do know, they are older than me. And my fear of leading adults rears its ugly head yet again. Kids are easy. Adults are scary.  I guess I’m using this blog to ask for PRAYER! I’m not sure how this is going to go, but I’m jumping in. It feels like head first. I pray that I can let my fears subside and trust God that it will all work out. I guess if I show up and engage then God will work out the rest. This could be a great opportunity to deepen relationships at Bethel Church with women who I don’t usually come in contact with.

Oh another funny thing – I have no idea what I’m going to do with the dog and the husband. Both will be home at this point. Toby can be a little crazy when guests first arrive. Dumb dog. He calms down after a while, but he really lacks in the first impressions department. Jeremy really doesn’t want to be around while his house is invaded by women. We don’t have a great man cave or spot for him to hide, so he might be in the bedroom for the evening. My guess is he’ll move the Xbox so he can play Halo and shoot people while we have our Growth Group on the other side of the wall. What a contrast!

Whatever happens, happens. God is good and it will all work out. I just need to take a few deep breaths and trust that I’m not in over my head. Even if I am in over my head, that is when God does some of his best work. So join in me in prayer as I prepare for this new experience. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

 

Coming Back February 1, 2013

Filed under: Cooking Experiments,Home Improvement,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 7:19 pm
A snapshot of my week

A snapshot of my week

I finally feel like I’m coming back to life. My entire week was derailed by a head cold… Yes, the sore throat morphed and I went down hard. There is nothing like going through an entire Kleenex box by oneself. My nose isn’t thankful for this fact, but oh well. What can I do. I spent the week watching stupid movies on Netflix. We keep getting these come back emails from them and a recent one included a free month. I’ll take advantage of a free month. It’s given me something to do other then drink a lot of liquids and blow my nose.

A Herd of Floor Samples!

A Herd of Floor Samples!

Before I went down, Jeremy and I started a very exciting project. Last weekend, we drove around all the local Home Depots and Lowes’ to collect floor samples. We finally made the decision to switch to hard laminate floors in our front living space. I’ve never like having carpet in the dining room and I think that hard floors will be better with owning a doggie who occasionally has accidents and a few family members have allergies. I think this will help with the doggie dander or what not. After collecting a billion samples, we have made a decision and ordered tonight! This means that at some point this month, all the trim and flooring will be pulled up in my front living space. This will be interesting for sure. Jeremy has been great with Do-It-Yourself projects. Between him and the help of handy family members, I’m sure it will be snap. Hopefully!

Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint Cookies

In other news, my hubby requested cookies tonight. He very rarely wants me to make him anything sweet, so how could I refuse? After dinner I set about making Thumbprint Cookies with Jeremy’s homemade strawberry jam! They are very tasty, but I learned the hard way to let the jam cool first before eating them. It was like lava! I’ll chalk that up to a no-brainer-learning-expereince. Even at 27, common sense isn’t always working. Maybe I could blame the remnants of my head cold. Yeah, that sounds good!

I know this is sort of random blog about this and that, but I’ve been soooooo inactive the last few days I just had to write something. It’s hard to believe that I spent the last week of January on the couch and now it’s a whole new month. A very full month I might add! Between family gatherings, starting a new Growth Group, planning the biggest sleepover of the year, redoing the floors in half of our house, the usual social and mentor gatherings, I’m going to be one fast paced chica! Pray for me as I recover from this bug that I would not go down again. Who has the time!?!? Not me! Too much life to live!

 

What Goes Around… January 28, 2013

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 8:45 pm

I’m not sure if it’s Children’s Ministry or just working at a church in general, but I get exposed to a lot of bugs. January has been a pretty illness prone month for our staff at Bethel and the Scott household seems to be no exception. At the beginning of the month it was the flu. I only got a touch of it, but my hubby got it bad. Now it’s my turn to go down, not with the flu, but with a terrible sore throat. The strange thing  is seemingly came out of nowhere.

This weekend I preached in Children’s Church because our curriculum had us at Deborah, Barak and Jael. I just couldn’t pass up a chance to empower our young girls. I’m a firm believer that Deborah is a prime example of God giving leadership to women. I also think it’s impressive that Jael was so brave and received the honor for the victory. After preaching my voice felt horse and I thought I was just a weakling who over used my vocal chords. In the middle of my afternoon plans, my throat started to hurt and hasn’t stopped since.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the conversation I had with a student yesterday… She came up to me at the beginning of worship and asked me what to do because she has strep. I told her to listen to the music and in her heart follow along and tell God how much she loves him. I was assuming that she was fine to be at church, but now I wonder…

I also have a friend who was down last week with a cold and still getting over it… I tried to keep my contact limited, but…. Oh well, I guess that is the thing about a church job. It’s hard to keep your distance from people. Let’s face it, people show up at places all the time when they should be at home in bed. I do it too. We push ourselves, especially when it comes to church because it would be unholy or we want to see our friends or we don’t want to let some down when we should stay home. I’m sure people do the same thing with work and sending their kids to school. We just don’t have time to be sick. I know I don’t.

However, I am sick. It doesn’t matter where I got it. I’ve spent the day watching mindless movies on Netflix and trying to not swallow. Watching mindless movies is not so bad, but I’m finding that unless I want to lay in a pile of my own drool, swallowing is a must. Arg. Here’s hoping this bug goes away as quickly as it found it me. I’ve heard of the 24 flu so many this will be the 24 hour cold. I’m just praying against strep throat. The last thing I need to a trip to the doctor and meds.

Okay, I think this qualifies as the most productive I’ve been today. I should probably sign out before I undo all the good I did by resting all day. It seems like no matter what – what goes around seems to find me. Thank you children of Bethel Church for shooting holes in my immune system. I can’t say that I love sharing every bug with you, but I guess I’d rather get it from people I love.

Time to read a book in a bed. Praying for a sore throat free day tomorrow! Who knows, it could happen! I believe in miracles and healings! Amen!