Amber May Be…

I’m good enough to forgive you, but…

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Amber Mae | Leave a comment | Faith, Thoughts

I’ve been seeing this saying in various places online lately. On Pinterest, on Facebook, heck there’s even a group with 190 people in it with this saying’s name. When I first read it, I immediately understood its point. I would imagine that almost anyone who has lived past the age of 16 understands the basis of this quote. We’ve all been hurt, and when we’re hurt by people we often stop and wonder, how far do I have to go to forgive this person? At least, I know I’ve thought along those lines.

But something in my core just kind of rebels from this statement. I think about the amazing talk President Uchtdorf gave in conference a couple of weeks ago and I think, no, that isn’t Christ-like, that’s forgiveness with a but. Forgiveness should have no strings attached.

But then I stop myself, because I’m an analyzer, and I wonder – is that ALWAYS true? What about the abusive father? Should the mother forgive him, go back to him, and allow him to hurt/possibly murder herself and her children? Of course not! Every fiber of my being says NO! What about the manipulator who has been emotionally abusive? Again, I think of my own, perfect daughter and I think No – it’s OK to never trust that person again. Surely, when Christ said to forgive 70 x 7 times he did not mean that you must restore trust to those who will harm you or your loved ones.

But for most of us, we aren’t in situations like that. We’re in plain ordinary situations dealing with plain ordinary resentments, judgments, and hurt feelings. But being plain or ordinary doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. There is real suffering out there due to plain ordinary problems, and to those experiencing them, it feels neither plain nor ordinary.

I remember a time when I felt that I had been greatly wronged by a close friend. Looking back, I’m sure that the wrong was two-way, but at the time I couldn’t see that. I could only feel the sting of a burnt friendship. I remember thinking that I could forgive, but never allow myself to be vulnerable again, never allow myself to get close to that person again. But as time went on an amazing thing happened. With a lot of prayer and a little faith we were able to forgive each other without the but, and that made all the difference. It turned bitterness into bridesmaids and hurt into healing.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this is a concept that can be mastered in one sitting. I think it’s something that I will continue to work on for the rest of my life as I continue to hurt and be hurt and work towards completion.

It’s such simple advice, if only it were easy. And yet, I have faith that we can come unto Christ, and as we give up our sins we will also give up our resentments, our pains, and our burdens, allowing our Savior to share the load.

He lives. He loves us. He will help us.

May God bless and heal your heart,

- Amber Mae

DIY Kleenex flowers

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Amber Mae | 8 Comments | Simply Crafty

Nothing says spring like beautiful flowers! I wanted to make some pretty paper flowers to use as decoration in my home, I also wanted something quick cheap and dirty… OK not dirty, anywho – this is what I came up with!

Kleenex flowers!

Materials: kleenex, scissors, needle and thread

1. draw this pattern on your kleenex – for a five petal flower make five humps

2.cut it out, fold it like an accordian, and sew through the accordian

3. sew through the other end, pull together and tie off – you’ve got yourself a flower!

I didn’t like the pen edge so I made a bunch more where I cut down past it. Then I mixed them together with some pink paper roses and threw them into an heirloom crystal bowl my grandma gave me.

AHHH spring. love it. What crazy things have you made flowers out of? I love thinking out of the box and turning mundane into chic/modern.

How to Do the Dishes When You Have a Baby

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Amber Mae | 3 Comments | Amber may be...a mom, Thoughts

Ah the dishes. They are such a big part of my life. Sad, but true. A friend recently told me to just buy a dishwasher when hubby gets his RN next month, but I can’t justify spending that kind of money when both of our 5+ year old lap tops are showing signs of imminent failure, and what would I blog about if I didn’t have dirty dishes? Seriously, check out my dirty dishes posts: here and here.

All kidding aside, the dishes don’t really kill me, and it’s probably good for me to learn to keep up with them. Over the past year I have learned a lot of neat little tricks to get it done, and I thought I’d share them with all those new moms out there who are drowning in gross plates (I couldn’t have been the only one).

If your baby is age 0 – 3 months:

do it during nap time
do it while baby is sitting in supported seat (keep looking and talking to baby during the whole process)

If your baby is 3-6 months:

do it during nap time
do it while baby is sitting in supported seat (give baby something to grab or play with)

If your baby is 6 – 9 months:

do it during nap time
as soon as baby can sit by himself you can place him in one side of the sink and let him take a bath while you wash dishes on the other side. Use good judgement and be careful with this technique – make sure baby can’t reach the hot water on the other side and be ever present, so baby isn’t slipping into the water – never turn your back on baby, it only takes a minute to drown. I know I’m making it sound scary, but a lady in my ward told me about this technique, and it literally saved my kitchen from utter dirty dish destruction.
put baby in high chair and give her soft finger foods she can eat and play with. Be aware of baby, and never leave her unsupervised.

If your baby is 9 – 12 months:

do it during nap time
put baby in high chair and give her soft finger foods she can eat and play with. Be aware of baby, and never leave her unsupervised.
let baby play on the floor with special “kitchen toys” like measuring cups, spoons, and pots she can bang on

Getting stuff done is certainly harder with a little one under foot, but I’ve found that as long as you’re consistent – you can be productive. Choose your method and set your time, doing it at the same time every day will help you get it done – as soon as it’s a habit the motivation part gets ten times easier!

Good luck, and happy dish washing :)

Easter FHE for Adults

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Amber Mae | Leave a comment | Faith, Thoughts

It was Monday and I had just finished making a spring wreath. I was really excited about it, and it was time for Family Home Evening. My sister had dropped by to say hi and she looked at the wreath in my hands and asked, “Oh are you doing Family Home Evening?”. We were, but it wasn’t going to be at all what I had planned, and yet it was going to be exactly what we needed, or at least what I needed.

I had planned on doing an FHE on gratitude. Pretty rote stuff, a story, a song, some thank you letters, but when my sister asked me if we were doing Family Home Evening I realized that the wooden wreath I was holding in my hands looked a lot like the crown of thorns. Suddenly, I had a lesson much more powerful than what I had originally planned.

It was the right circumference, it was a little rag tag looking, and it brought tears to my eyes to think of it.

My husband opened the meeting. We prayed, we sang I Stand All Amazed, and we started talking about the atonement. We talked about what happened on Easter. We talked about how after Christ atoned for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane he was tortured and crowned with thorns. I passed around the wreath and we were dead quiet as we each looked at it and imagined it with sharp thorns and the blood of our Savior and Redeemer.

Then I passed out note paper and asked everyone to write a thank you note to Jesus, thanking Him for the atonement as well as the myriad of other things He has done for us.

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with adult FHE lessons, sometimes they just fall into our laps.

I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that He atoned for my sins and died that I might live again. That He is Risen is what Easter is all about. He rose after three days and He is still risen. He loves us, and if you’re not sure that He loves you, please pray and ask Heavenly Father to assure you of that love. He will, one way or another, it may not be immediate, but it will come.

We are going to decorate the wreath with white flowers on Easter morning to symbolize the purity of Christ as well as his resurrection. I hope that after Easter is over, when I hang it on my door it will remind us all of Easter, and what our big brother did for us.

How to make a wreath out of sticks – and it’s free!

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Amber Mae | 2 Comments | Simply Crafty

It was a beautiful day outside and Little Lion and I were lounging in the backyard. A semi-recent windstorm brought tons of sticks to our lawn and Little Lion was having a great time gathering them, dropping them, and trying to eat them. I laughed as I helped her make a big pile. Suddenly, there it was, inspiration! Why don’t I try to make a wreath out of these? And suddenly Little Lion and I were on a crafting adventure – and I’m going to share the adventure with you! Here’s how to make a wreath out of sticks.

Materials:

Sticks – long ones – about 10-15

water – the wet kind

a bathtub – the… basin kind… not the other, not basin kind…

Instructions:

1. Gather your sticks, as you can see we had a great time gathering ours

2. Put them in a tub to soak, I did it for about four hours because I’m impatient but you’d probably get better results if you did it over night

3. Choose your longest most pliable stick and take a strip of bark off of it, hold your stick in a circle and tie the ends together with the bark (I had hubby help with this, it’s hard to hold it in a circle and tie at the same time)

4. Take other sticks and wrap them in and out of the circle, like this. If you look on the left side of the picture you can see where I bound the sticks with bark – saying that makes me feel all natural and hip :)

Close up!

5. Keep going until your satisfied, let it all dry and add any embellishments you would like. I’ll be adding mine later.

Click here to read the back story of this wreath and how it helped us celebrate Easter.

How to print on burlap – redneck style.

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Amber Mae | 13 Comments | Simply Crafty

So I wanted to print something out on burlap. I’d seen a few examples of gorgeous burlap printing artistry, and I figured I could give it a go.

I found a lot of tutorials.

Like this one (love this blog!)

And this one

The one that inspired my burlap search here

And they are all good tutorials, but they also all involved me going to the store and purchasing something. So I thought I’d try to make do with what I had, and came up with this: printing on burlap red neck style.

Materials Needed:

burlap cut just smaller than 8 1/2 x 11

card-stock

tape

printer

Instructions:

1. Make your design. If you want to use mine your more than welcome, it’ll be at the end of the post.

2. Using plain old present wrapping tape, tape the burlap to your card stock

3. Print it out

4. Holding your fabric, pull tape off away from the burlap to avoid fraying

That’s it! It worked for me.

I took my pretty printed burlap and embroidered a sun and some flowers. It’s already on display in my house, oh and p.s. Little Lion loves it! She keeps pointing at it and saying wee wee wee wee wee… she really likes saying wee wee lately, lol. I interpret wee wee as pretty, such a girl!

Oh, I almost forgot! Here’s the printable:

Sunshine in my Soul

Dinner Poppers

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Amber Mae | 2 Comments | Cooking

This is a variation of chicken roll-ups, a staple at our house. I got the original recipe from a college roommate and it calls for mushrooms rather than jalapenos. However you make it, it’s delicious!

Ingredients:

1 bottle/ or 2 cans/ or 2 breasts (shredded) chicken

2 canisters pre-made biscuits

1 package cream cheese

4 jalapenos chopped

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs

1 can cream of chicken/mushroom soup

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2.mix chicken, cream cheese, and chopped jalapenos in bowl

3. take balls of mixture and place in biscuit dough

4. stretch dough around mixture to form balls

5. dip balls in vegetable oil and then roll in bread crumbs

6. Bake for 20 minutes

7. Make soup and use as gravy

So Good! Let me know if you try it, how it turned out, and what changes you made etc. Happy dining :)

Spring with a baby

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Amber Mae | 2 Comments | Thoughts, Uncategorized

I’ve always loved this season, but discovering it with a baby is something else.

Everything is new and exciting. Everything is beautiful. Everything is edible, ha ha, it’s just so fun!

We gave Little Lion these pretty yellow flowers and she was so entranced with them. I could swear she said pretty as she gently pulled at the petals. *Sigh* These are the moments.

It makes me want to bottle her up, but then I remember her growth problems and I’m so grateful she’s progressing. She learned to walk this week, and I’m just so proud of her. Yep that’s my girl, the one who keeps pointing at the window because she wants to be outside.

I hope everyone is enjoying spring. We sure are.

God bless

- Amber Mae

The Elderly Say the Darndest Things

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Amber Mae | 3 Comments | Humor, Thoughts

These are my grandmother's hands - they are over 90-years-old

I just love elderly people, don’t you? I am blessed to know some of the sweetest ancients in existence, namely my grandpa and all three of my lovely grandmothers. All of them are over the age of 70. They have lived through depressions, recessions, births, deaths, good times, hard times, inbetween times, and believe it or not they have a lot of wisdom to share.

They also have a lot of humor. One of my favorite parts about going to the grocery store is talking to the elderly who are drawn to my adorable little munchkin. You see, they always say the darndest things and it provides me and my family with more than a few chuckles.

Case in point, the following is a conversation with an elderly man we met in Wal Mart. Please note that I’m not trying to make fun of him, I really thought he was a sweet guy.

Elderly Man: Oh my, what a cutie you’ve got there, how did you get her?

Me in my head: Well, it all started with a tiny egg, would you like me to explain?

Me out loud: Thanks, we sure love her.

Elderly Man: Well, look at you, you’re almost as tall as your mama!

Me in my head: She’s actually got stunted growth and is no where near as tall as me – even if I am only five feet tall.

Me out loud: Yep, she’s a growin!

Elderly Man in a very serious voice: You’re not cute, no your not, you’re not cute at all

Me in my head: BWA HA HA HA HA

Me out loud: small chuckle, say buh-bye to the nice man. Have a nice day, sir

The following is another exchange with a sweet old man I met at the thrift store:

Elderly Gentleman: Oh my, it’s a baby!

Me in my head: No, it’s a kangaroo

Me out loud: Yep she is!

Elderly Gentlemen: Well, did you get her here?

Me in my head: Duh…. what do I say to this?

Me out loud: long pause

Elderly Gentlemen reaching for her: Well, I think I’ll just take her home with me

Little Lion (My baby): WAHHHH!!!!! clutching at me

Me out loud: She’s more valuable than anything you can buy (finally responding to the last comment)

Elderly Gentlemen: I think I’ll go find my wife, she’ll want to see how cute your baby is.

Me in my head: so should I wait here or run?

Me out loud: OK (as I wander off…)

Please don’t think from this post that I don’t love and value the elderly. Both of these gentlemen were sweet men who were interested in my baby, but when they say darn things like that it’s just too good not to share.

What kind of comments have you recieved from strangers about your baby? Share in the comments below :)

What’s With All the Guilt?

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Amber Mae | 4 Comments | Faith, Thoughts

Mormon women are really good at laying on the guilt, and not just on our spouses and children, but on ourselves. I have had many conversations with women who have suffered from depression throughout their lives and felt immensely guilty for it. I mean, think about it. We’re mormon! We’re known for being joyful. We have good news. We know that Christ suffered for our sins, so we could return to live with our Heavenly Father. We call it the plan of happiness, so how is it that we get sad sometimes?

I don’t know why some struggle with depression more than others, but I do know that it’s nothing to feel guilty about. We tell our kids that it’s OK to feel sad sometimes, so why don’t we give ourselves the same leeway?

The scriptures are filled with examples of prophets who felt a full range of emotion, from grief, anguish and sorrow, to happiness, joy, and I’d even venture to say that Ammon is downright hyper from time to time.

Here are a few examples of prophets who have felt sorrow:

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 20:18 – Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Nephi

2 Nephi 4:17 – Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities

Isaac and Rebekah

Genesis 26:35 – Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. (After Esau married outside the covenant)

Lehi and Sariah

1 Nephi 18:17 – Now my father, Lehi, had said many things unto them, and also unto the sons of Ishmael; but, behold, they did breathe out much threatenings against anyone that should speak for me; and my parents being stricken in years, and having suffered much grief because of their children, they were brought down, yea, even upon their sick-beds.

Our Savior Jesus Christ

Isaiah 53:3 – He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Even God feels sorrow when he sees the the pain of His children. So please, don’t feel guilty if you suffer from depression, and know that there is hope.

God loves us and wants us to be happy. Life is good.

“In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” – Gordon B Hinckley

Life is better because we experience a wide array of emotions. The good times are made that much sweeter because of the bad.

In one of my favorite musicals, Children of Eden, Adam and Eve are remembering their time in the garden, and they sing these words:

“And I remember, in someone else’s garden long ago
We had all we could eat
But it seems the fruit our own hands grow
Somehow tastes twice as sweet”

We’re here learning how to grow our own fruit. We’re not alone, He is here helping us along – we just can’t see Him. And I don’t think He is condemning us when we feel sad, I believe that He is crying with us.

I am not an official spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is my own personal opinion and perspective.

tutorials, recipes, printables, and thoughts on how to BE amazing

I’m good enough to forgive you, but…

DIY Kleenex flowers

How to Do the Dishes When You Have a Baby

Easter FHE for Adults

How to make a wreath out of sticks – and it’s free!

How to print on burlap – redneck style.

Dinner Poppers

Spring with a baby

The Elderly Say the Darndest Things

What’s With All the Guilt?

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