Why DO we eat dead animals?

    I don’t usually let bumper stickers bother me, nor do I care to post my political opinions (even when I have them) on social media sites. But there was a vehicle in my work place’s parking lot today with a sticker that just made me mad. It read:

“How can you be pro-LIFE, when you eat DEAD ANIMALS?”

    Well, allow me to hurl up a few pieces of my mind.

“Why do we eat dead animals? The live ones wiggle too much.”
- a beloved family member

“If eating animals is wrong, why aren't we on a campaign against carnivores?”

“Excuse me while I go uproot an entire forest of seedling pine trees, throw them in a heap, and burn them with fire.”

“If the ever growing wolf population in Eastern WA has the right to eat elk, so do I.”

    I won’t claim the ability to change anyone’s mind about being vegetarian OR about being pro-abortion. Being vegetarian is not a big deal at all; I really don’t care if people don’t eat meat. But if you protest AGAINST the killing of animals at the same time that you protest FOR the woman’s "right" to kill her own baby, my heart burns with anger at your sin and it breaks with sorrow for your soul.

    People are more important than animals. Stop killing our babies.

    There is a God who created the world and everything in it. He is all-knowing, He is all-powerful, and He is Holy. He created life, and He alone has the right to give it and to take it away, unless He Himself gives permission. Which He did, in regards to animals: "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." (Genesis 9:3) Whether you believe He exists or not, it doesn't change the fact that you will stand before Him one day, and I pray that His Holy Spirit will bring conviction to your soul before you meet Him face-to-face.

               

   
    "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18

    "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

  

    "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

    "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - Jesus, John 14:6

               

               

               

Let us exalt His Name together...

I've been encouraged recently by a book by John Piper called This Momentary Marriage. It is obviously a book about marriage, but Piper focuses on our relationship with Christ and how marriage is only a temporary picture of that relationship. And in focusing on Christ, he has a good deal to say about single men and women, as well. I'm totally married now, but I have a heart to know more about how God is glorified in single men and women. I'd like to share a bit from the book that encouraged me today. Piper is mainly teaching from 1 Peter 4:7-11, Ephesians 5, and 1 Corinthians 7 in this chapter.

If you are a follower of Jesus, and have to read a "marriage book," I recommend you read this one. :)

"What's driving this chapter is a desire for Christ to be magnified in the way married people and single people show hospitality to each other. Or, to put it another way if it's true, as I tried to show in the previous chapter, that God's family, which comes into being by regeneration, is more central and more lasting than the human family that comes into being by procreation, the implications for relationships are very important. How members of that family, the church, relate to each other as married and single will witness to the world that our lives are oriented on the supremacy of Christ and that our relationships are defined not just by nature, but by Christ. I long to see Christ magnified through married people folding single people into their lives and single people folding married people into their lives for the sake of Christ and the gospel...

"...Neither marriage as a physical parable nor singleness as a physical parable is to be idolized or feared. Marriage is beautiful and physical. Singleness is beautiful and physical. God made them both. Both are designed, like all of nature, to display the glory of Christ. 
    Marriage and celibacy can be idolatrous. Spouses can worship each other or worship sex or worship their children or worship double-income-no-kid buying power. Singles can worship autonomy and independence. Singles can look on marriage as a second-class Christian compromise with the sexual drive. Married people can look upon singleness as a mark of immaturity or irresponsibility or incompetence. 
    But what I am trying to clarify is that there are Christ-exalting ways to be married, and there are Christ-exalting ways to be single. There are ways to use our bodies and our appetites in marriage and in singleness that make much of Christ."

This Momentary Marriage, ch. 10: Singleness, Marriage, and Hospitality
by John Piper

Seasons

Seasons come, and seasons go. No, I'm not going to get philosophical...meh...

I once was in a season of writing. I had hopes to write an historical novel, I wrote in a journal almost every day, I updated statuses and "notes" frequently on FB, and I even started a blog and hoped to write in it  whenever I had witty thoughts or deep, dramatic revelations. Shortly after I started said blog, however, my steam ran out.

I stopped writing in my journal about the time that I said goodbye to a relationship with an amazing man. Yes, I was a jerk and utterly stupid. BUT, thanks be to God, who works all things for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), HE did not let me say goodbye to that amazing man forever. Blah blah blah, I'm now married to him. (HAAAAAALELUJAH!) But anyway, I stopped writing in my journal because every single entry was a cry from my innermost bowels of EMOTION that got no where and gave me nothing. I would write and write and write during one wave of drama, and then the next week I would read back over my entries to try to "see something" in myself that might help me through the current wave of drama. Basically, I didn't think I loved this man. But then I thought I MUST love him. So instead of putting aside my own feelings, sitting still, being quieting, and seeking the counsel of the One who created me...I was trying to analyze myself.

So I stopped writing in my journal. It wasn't healthy.

Blogs on the other hand, are probably just fine. ;) But the culprit in THIS drama was busyness. I got ENGAGED to the amazing man, I planned a wedding to him, and then I married him and began being married to him. On top of working lots and living in my own house for the first time.

Long story short, I haven't written in a long time and I want to. I want to do many things that have been put on hold since January of 2012, and with the Lord's help and if He wills it, I will do them. But one thing my mom always says...this is a Season. This is a season of no time for exercise, no fuel for creativity, and very little contact with human beings outside of husband, family, and work. But here I am. :) We'll see how things go. MERRY CHRISTMASTIME!

Amy 

6 Weeks 'Til I Be Wed

Six more weeks, and I will be married! I can’t believe it’s coming so fast…but at the same time, it seems I’ve been engaged forever and I just want it to end. :) But planning for a wedding is fuuuun stuff, no matter how stressful, and I know a few of you just LOVE to hear all the details. So I will try to share some of them.

At the end of February, with the help of my Mom and a sister and a sister-to-be, I found my dress. And no details will be shared about that!

In mid March (?) we determined we would have the bridesmaid dresses made, because I couldn’t find anything that fit the style or the color I wanted. A professional seamstress friend is making most of them with the help of my mother-in-law-to-be, and my mom is making the others. They are just about done and looking lovely.

In May we had a few jar painting parties! I got the idea off of pinterest (jolly ol’ pinterest) to make these babies, and I am really excited about them. We’re painting glass jars of all sizes with colored glass paint on the inside and gold metallic paint on the outside to look like Moroccan lanterns. They will be table centerpieces as well as décor throughout the ceremony and reception.

Most of the party, taking my guidelines into consideration and then bursting forth with creativity. ;)

Cute girls

My crafty aunts and Mrs. N hard at work.

Half-finished products.

On May 26, I was given my first shower! My dear life-long friends, Jessica and Mariela, threw it for me at a home that has hosted many showers and wedding receptions over the years. It was a sunshiny day, and the Lord made it beautiful. I was shocked by the amount of women and girls who came to bless me, and felt like I couldn't hug or thank them enough. We played the infamous "Bubble Gum Game" - a favorite with us up here in Kitsap County - at which I did exceptionally badly. Good thing they weren't qualifying questions to determine our "compatibility"...

I got many generous gifts that will help me start life in my own home, and I received encouragement from many women, married and single. My friend Sarah, who has known me my whole life, shared a word of encouragement from her life and from the word of God. She happened to use excerpts from the devotion that MY mom shared at HER wedding shower. :) The whole day is one I'll remember forever.

My friends know me. 

Dear Jess looking all gorgeous in the sunshine.

Trying to keep the wad of bubble gum in my mouth.

Cute Mars and her heels.

"Always keep your conversations seasoned with salt." 

Sarah and I. Love her!

Presents!

The moms, a niece, and five of my seven sisters.

Now Bub and I are searching for our first home, we're talking about budgets, and we're learning tons about marriage, and how to glorify God in it, while doing premarital counseling with our dear friends. Besides marriage in general, we are learning lots about each other and how life together will work out. The most difficult part has been learning more about ME. I am rotten! 

Mom and I are hot-to-trot with ceremony decor and doing superbly. I'm also hot-to-trot on making sure the groomsmen get fitted on time. 

Soon mom and I will meet with her dear friend to figure out flowers. Virginia is so talented and knowledgeable and has done quite a few weddings, including that of her own daughter. I love having friends do things.

There is still so much to do. But I am blessed with a devoted family and fiancé who help me stay calm and who never fail to say to me, “don’t stress out.” :)

So here I go. Preparing to leave my father and mother and cleave to my husband. (Genesis 2:24, the Bible) WOOHOO for becoming a wife and living with my very own man in 6 weeks!

A Tribute to a Lady

I am honored to be able to wear this ring on my finger that once belonged to Ma Easley. I'm actually humbled and a little nervous about being entrusted with this heirloom, but O, how gorgeous it is! I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Ma, I never knew you well. But the few times I met you in the coffee shop, you greeted me each time with a sweet, genuine smile that left me feeling encouraged. You are with the Lord now, and I will meet you someday. If you were here, I would thank you for your ring, but more than that... I would thank you for your grandson. Bub is the best man I know, and I'm excited to make this choice to be his wife. Thank you for raising a good family with God's help! I'm privileged to someday be a part of your heritage.

He Asked and I Answered

On September 27, 2009, Bub Easley asked me if I thought we could sit down and talk. I said, "I'd like that."
    The moment we sat down in Starbucks, Port Orchard, Bub looked in my eyes with grave determination and said, "Before I say anything, I want to know if you have any feelings for me...at all?"
    I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded my head once, not wanting to say a word that would make him change his mind.
    Well, he never did change it. Exactly two years and four months later, on January 27, 2012, Bub asked me to marry him. And I can say without a doubt that my proposal story is the best ever.

    It was the Christ the Rock Community Church's senior high winter retreat in Bend, OR. Bub and I both went as leaders. We arrived in Bend late Thursday night and spent all day Friday on Mount Bachelor (cough cough), snowboarding and inner tubing to out hearts' content. I did in fact try snowboarding for the very first time and was shaky and utterly exhausted by the time we started packing up.

   As all the students piled on the bus, Bub told me we were going with Jeremy and Marie in their truck. I almost told Bub that I really should ride on the bus, since I was a leader and had responsibilities. But I knew his mind was made up and decided not to bother.

    We climbed in the truck along with Amanda, one of my high school girls, and as Jeremy started the truck, he said, "Kyle wants us to check out the other lodge to see if it's better for tomorrow."

    I was sleepy, content and oblivious to all of life around me. I didn't notice that Bub had left me standing in the cold next to the bus before we left so he could take five minutes to "get his GPS" and that Marie went in with him to help. I didn't notice that Kyle forgot to invite me inner-tubing on the last run of the night when he strongly suggested Bub go with him. And I didn't notice that Amanda was as quiet as a mouse in the corner of the seat beside me as we pulled up to the second lodge on Mt. Bachelor (cough cough).

    We climbed the snow bank at the side of the lodge until we had a view of the mountain range surrounding us. The last rays of a perfect sunshiny day were dancing across the snowy face of the Sisters to our left as Mt. Bachelor looked on above us to the right. I was gazing at the sisters when Bub suddenly pulled an 8x10 book out of his jacket and said, "I made this for you."

    I gasped. "Oh, Bub! That's so sweet, I love it!" He had made a hard cover picture book, summarizing our entire dating relationship. I was shocked by his creativity and thoughtfulness but also a bit confused, and quickly asked, "Do you want me to look at it now?" Inside I was thinking, "This is an awkward time, Bub, to give me a romantic book..."

    "Yeeess." He said.

    I slowly flipped the pages, smiling at memories and my boyfriend's cuteness, when all of a sudden in the corner of my eye, I realized Amanda and Marie had a video camera. I stopped breathing and instinctively decided to skip a few pages when at about the same moment Bub fiddled in his pocket and dropped to one knee. Unbeknownst to myself, I blurted out something like, "What are you DOing?!" Finally, I got to the last page: it was a picture of Bub holding a ring. But not only in the picture! In real life, Bub Easley was before in me in the snow on his knee, holding out a sparkling diamond ring, and saying, "will you marry me?"

    "Are you serious?!"

    "Yes."

    "Right now?!"

    "Right now."

    And then came the flood. I put on the ring and babbled a few more things before collapsing onto his shoulder. Through the snot and tears I whispered, "Yes...but there are PEOPLE here!"

    Bub pulled me from his neck and asked, for the sake of the camera, "Wait, what did you say?"

    "I sa-aid ye-es!"

    "Ok, good."

    After we hugged again, Jeremy, Marie, and Amanda all gathered in to be the first to congratulate us. Even though I had specifically asked Bub NOT to propose to me in front of people, it was hard to be mad about it. And we now have it on camera! ;)

    The cloud I floated down the mountain on was of creamy white chiffon and Spanish lace. I had a diamond on my finger and my hand was being held by a man...in front of YOUTH! I called my mommy and daddy and told them I was getting married (of course they knew all about it). Bub called his mommy and told her I said yes. We texted and called friends to my heart's content, and when we got back to Bend and were stormed by Kyle and the rest of the students, I had told this story about 5,000 times. But it hadn't really sunk in yet that I was officially going to be a wife.

    Thank you, Father, for my fiance! I am blessed beyond words to be able to be married to this man someday. We've already had adventures like few couples ever will, and I am excited for the many more to come. After all, I am marrying an Easley. ;)

   

I'm already stressing out, because of planning my very own WEDDING and because life is about to change and will never be the same again. But Bub and I have the Lord with us. I've been reminded that this delight is only a small glimpse of the pure joy and celebration we the church will know when we are finally home in heaven with our bridegroom at the marriage supper of the Lamb, Jesus Christ the Lord.

    And "Amy Easley" sounds pretty stinking adorable. ;) Ana ghudi kun l'arosa!

Are You Rrr-eal?!

It was a day when the sun did shine and the birdies did sing. I had a scarf on my neck, boots on my feet, and clean hair on my head, and I was about to spend all afternoon with someone good-looking. But first, I had a mission to accomplish. 

This good-looking man had a birthday coming, and my parents wished to give him a present. But because of their busy schedules, they sent me to buy the present for them: a gift certificate to a local Italian restaurant. A local FANCY Italian restaurant, that is. When you walk in, you feel you’ve just walked in to a little European café: candles, savory smells, short men who role their Rs, and lots and lots of food. When I pulled up in my little red auto, I gleefully acknowledged the “Open” sign with a pump of my fist and stepped out to get the job done. 

I stepped through the door and was greeted by two Italian men, one being the owner and chef and the other being the elderly host. I was the only guest in the restaurant. The host asked if I was there for lunch, and I replied that I was simply there for a gift certificate. He nodded and stepped behind the desk to acquiesce.  His pen began to lightly scratch the gilded paper. 

“Are you rrreal?!”

I started slightly at the heavily accented words coming from across the room. “Excuse me?”

“Are you rrreal?” The owner enquired again, leaving his task at the table to saunter up well within my American personal-space bubble. 

“I’m…um…not sure what you mean…”

“Yeah, are you real…like…are there LOTS of you, or just you?” he explained, “Because YOU are BEAUtiful!”

Oh how the flames did caress my cheeks as I gave a giggle to his thunderous belly-laugh and tried to express my…gratitude?

“Oh, hahaha, well THANK you…”

“I’m ORIGINAL, aren’t I? I bet no one ever asked you if you are RREAL before!” He continued laughing as he turned back to his task and I tried to recover my composure while the little old man kept on writing my gift certificate. My cherry-red cheeks were working over time, when he threw one last compliment over his shoulder: “You are GORRGEOUS, honey!” 

“Thank you!” I answered back, feeling like I might’ve forgotten the English language. 

Though I was giggling like a flighty minor character from a Jane Austin novel, I thought the elderly host couldn’t write fast enough; my cheeks needed relief. Soon enough, however, he was done and I was ready to be on my way. “Have a good weekend!” Old man said. 

I replied back, “You too!”

But Italian Charmer called from his table, “No not him, just you!”

I laughed once more and fell into the fresh air with relief. The cherries didn’t leave my cheeks for a good ten minutes.