A Little bit of Growth, a little bit of Healing, a whole lot of Faith.

Back in October (the 16th-18th), I had the opportunity to go away on a spiritual retreat with about 50 other members of my church family. Each October, we have what we call our Spiritual Enrichment Weekend (SEW) at Central Florida Bible Camp-- my favorite place on this planet. However, getting on the bus to go was really difficult. Daddy loved going away for SEW and this was the first year without him. I remember calling my mom from the church parking lot telling her I didn't want to go. I couldn't make myself get on that bus. Mom told me to get on the bus and enjoy myself and I'm really glad I did.
I can't count the times I started crying that weekend. There were moments when I would be okay and then moments where all I could do was cry. We sang some of Daddy's favorite songs and I was holding it together until someone looked at me and  I lost it.
All weekend, people would come up to me and tell me stories about Dad and favorite memories. I loved every moment. Hearing how much others loved Dad comforted me in a way I didn't think was possible. One of the gentlemen during his devotional talk read a passage, then he spoke for a moment, looked at me and re-read the passage substituting Daddy;s name for the one in the passage.

Colossians 4:7-8 "Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts." G.S. re-read the verse with "Gene Puckett is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent Gene Puckett to you for this very purpose. . . that Gene Puckett may encourage your hearts." 

He talked about how much Daddy was an encouragement to not only him, but everyone in our congregation. OF course,  I cried like a baby, but the sad tears were mingled in with the happy. On Sunday morning, I walked down to one of Daddy's favorite spots on campus, the dock, and sat down, turned on one of Daddy's lessons and listened to his voice. That moment on the dock looking over the water and listening to Daddy's voice was the closest I had been to one of his bear hugs since June 15th.  While listening to Daddy's lesson, I heard his voice say, 

"I am not living this Christian life so I can worry about dying. I'm living this Christian life looking forward to when I can leave this earth. . . If you are alive when I die, . . . Rejoice, be glad because I've finally done something I really wanted to do."

Years before he died, Daddy told me exactly what he wanted me to do. Rejoice and be glad. Daddy is where he has always wanted to be, His largest goal has been achieved. 
I am so glad I chose to get on that bus to SEW. 

Life will never be the same

Three months ago, my life changed completely. The most important person in my life passed away in the early hours of June 18th. My daddy was gone. Life has been chaotic since Daddy passed away. There are times when I feel my world is crumbling and I can't stop it. Then there are times when I am filled with peace knowing my Dad lived a Christian Life. My Dad was a Christian and he is where he has always wanted to be.

My Daddy was the most important person in my life. He was my rock and always had my back. Daddy was the one who always encouraged me to follow my dreams, but didn't hesitate to let me know if I was doing something wrong. Some of my most precious memories involve my dad in some way. 

His death was so unexpected. Sunday he was fine. Monday, he had to have an emergency procedure done to remove the clot his fistula (for dialysis). Tuesday he felt awful so  I took him to the closet ER around noon. He was quickly admitted to ICU. Wednesday, he spent most of the day unconscious and by Thursday morning at 2:48, Daddy was gone. Less than 48 hours after being checked into the hospital, he was killed by a heart attack. Mom and I are pretty sure one of the clots from the fistula made its way to his heart. 

In the days after Daddy passed away, so many of our friends and fellow Christians shared funny stories or special memories and thoughts about Dad and it was such a comfort to me. I still have every text message and email from that day. One day I will share them with you. One thing I will share is this beautiful bracelet a friend of mine had made.

A really good friend of mine asked me for something that Daddy wrote to me in his handwriting. I handed her a picture of  an appreciagram (a note of appreciation that our church had created) that Dad wrote me years ago. A week ago, she handed me this beautiful bracelet with Daddy's words reminding me that he loves me. This bracelet is the most precious thing anyone has ever given me.

That's what's been going on in my life lately. While things have been a bit chaotic and I've been on an emotional roller coaster, I'm going to leave you with a verse that means a lot to me.

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:10

No matter how weak I feel right now, I am strong in the LORD.

  

Bloggiesta! Spring 2015

I absolutely love when bloggiesta rolls around! During the last mini-bloggiesta I didn't really complete everything I was  thinking about doing. So of course, I added even more to do this time. I couldn't help it, everything looked so amazing!
The mini challenges I am going to attempt to complete are all ones I think will be a great fit to help me on my other blog Amber's Teen Reads:

• Create a blogging schedule
• create a treasure trove of blogging ideas
• Pin author interviews 
• Eight not to be missed Podcasts
• Diversity Reading GOals
• How to Make Memes
• Create a Blog Style Guide

I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself this time, but I'm really excited about everything!!!

See ya later,

AmberD.

Learning a new trick-- Piktochart! (Bloggiesta mini Challenge #1)

As I mentioned earlier, I am participating in Bloggiesta and one of the mini challenges is to  create a piktochart. The process was much easier than I thought it would be and a lot of fun. I had a blast picking the icons and personal pictures I wanted to use and love that I could add links to some of the icons.

Such fun!

Participating in Bloggiesta

I love Bloggiesta. I've participated once before and learned how to do some pretty cool things for blogging. A mini session of bloggiesta is starting today and I am finally able to participate again. The first task is to come up with a List of things I hope to accomplish during the weekends Bloggiesta.

My list is:

1. Do at least 2 mini challenges
2. Complete at least 1 blog post to each of my blogs
3. Clean up labels and tags for existing blog posts
4. Check links that have been posted to make sure they are still working
5. Change the design on one of my blogs.

My main posts about Bloggiesta will be on this blog, but if I complete a challenge or cross an item of my to-do-list using one of my other blogs, I will link to the post on this one as well. I hope that is as clear as mud for you too. LOL. See you at the end of this journey!

Foodie Friday #4: Meatballs!

Today's Recipe is another family favorite. Last night, I made Meatball hoggies! This one was amazingly delicious, but not so healthy. . .

You'll need:

2 pounds of ground meat. (If I was making this just for me, I would have used ground turkey meat, but since someone I know doesn't believe in ground anything by beef. . .)

1-2 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce

 1 tablespoon of garlic salt

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

2 cups Mozzarella cheese

3 cups pasta sauce (I used Prego)

Mix the seasonings into the ground beef.

Heat a skillet with a couple table spoons of oil in the pan. Brown your meatballs on all sides before sticking them into the oven for 45-50 minutes.

After the meatballs have browned, put them in a oven safe glass dish to finish off in the oven. I put them in at 350* for about 45 minutes. Then I brought them out of the oven and sprinkled the Mozzarella cheese on top and put them back in the oven until the cheese was nice and melted.

 Remove the dish from the oven and enjoy on your favorite buns. I used hotdog buns that I bought from Publix's bakery. YUM!!

Now, I know this isn't a very healthy dish, but there are ways to make it better. Using a leaner meat-- like ground turkey or ground chicken will cut down on some of the fat in the meatballs. Also using a heart healthy pasta sauce will help cut down on some hidden sodium as well. Not eating bread on your hoggies will cut out some sugar producing carbs.

Eating these hoggies without the bread will end up being about 6 WW points. Not to bad for 3 decent size meatballs.

Enjoy!

Foodie Friday #3: Chili

Welcome to Foodie Friday. Each Friday I'm going to do my best to bring you fun, healthy meals for you to try. Sometimes they may be meals I've created or more than likely they will be meals I've found through Cookbooks or on Pinterest. (I am ADDICTED to Pinterest, anyone else?)

The reason I decided to add this feature is simple. I love food. It's sickening how much I've allowed food to rule my life so far and I want to be able to still enjoy food, but find much healthier alternatives from what I've been eating. Some of the recipes I feature, I may not have tried yet, but they look and/or sound AMAZING and I want to share a great find. Others I will have tried and I'll tell you how well they worked for me and if I will make them again.

You may be wondering why I would put recipes I might not like or haven't tried yet up here, I want you to make your own decisions. Just because I might not care for it doesn't mean you won't LOVE it. So, I'm going to post it if I think it might look cool. I'll make sure I tell you at the beginning of the post if I liked it or not. Also if possible, I will try to calculate WW points for my fellow point watchers.

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Today's recipe is a family favorite-- Chili.

Now I know everyone has a chili recipe that they love. This happens to be ours. If I was making it for just me, I would use Ground Turkey or Chicken instead of the ground beef for a slightly healthier option.

1 1/2 lbs of ground beef (the kind we use is 90/10-- so there is very little fat)

32 oz of tomato juice

2 cans of Chili beans (I usually drain one can and use the juice of the other)

1 medium to large onion

1 packet of McCormic Chili seasoning

some salt 

some pepper

Brown the ground beef in the pot you are going make you chili in.

Add half of the Chili seasoning as you brown the beef.

Add the beans and onion let it cook a little bit and then add the tomato juice.

Salt and pepper to your taste.

Allow the chili to come to a boil then lower the temperature to low for 4-6 hours.

This chili is one of my absolute favorite things from my childhood.

 Now according to my WW recipe builder this chili is about 3 points a serving (about 1 cup)  since the whole pot will serve at least 12 people. (Reminder: this is not a recipe created by Weight Watchers. I just used the tools that I have paid for to get the approximate point value.)