I've tried to be really good and not have sweets the last few weeks. I've been careful about counting calories and partaking in "good" food. Well, then Easter weekend came. My candy weakness is jelly beans. Specifically, Jelly Bellies. Oh, they are heaven sent (or Mom/Easter bunny sent in this case). My problem with this sugary bit of yumminess is that I can't eat just one. And a serving is 35, so 150 calories. That isn't bad. Until you realize that you've had about 4 servings and are wired from all of the sugar, but still want more.
Saturday morning's plan was to go with Mom to church at 4. Then I remembered that Michelle was coming over after her class ended at 4, so that changed church plans to Sunday morning. Then Michelle got off early, so the new plan was to go to church at 6. I quickly made my coffee cake (it was yummy) for brunch and Matt did his garage activities and we left home at 5:30 to head to Parker. It has been a while since I've been to physical church. I do some online reading, listenings, etc., but I hadn't gone to a building recently. I realized I missed that a bit. One thing that struck me, though, and I may have been hyper-sensitive after reading a blog post on Friday entitled, "
I'm Christian, Unless your Gay," is that I was just like everyone else in the room (page three of the blog talks about everyone looking the same to be accepted). Everyone was white, all were dressed relatively the same, was clean-cut, etc. As I hadn't been to this church before, my mom asked me what I thought as we were leaving. I blurted out that it was very white. She didn't know how to respond, so I back tracked a bit and commented that it is very reflective of the Parker population. The church that I had been attending a long time had a black pastor, a Spanish ministry and service, a sign language interpretor and a mix of colors in the congregation. To me, that was church - not a sea of the same.
The premise of the article is to love everyone, no matter who they are, their background, their circumstances, their life status, so on and so forth. Each major religion spreads the idea of love, not hatred, towards others. You may not agree with someone's life decisions, partner choices, religious or non-religious views, but why hate them for this? Why not just accept that we have the right to be different (and that is one of the beautiful things about living in the US) and move on. Growing up, I was never one to really push my religion on others. There were the missionaries out spreading the Word to other nations, communities and unknowing, but I wasn't that person. My perspective is that I choose what I choose, but it is my choice, and my choice alone. If you want to believe something else, or not believe in a higher power at all, that is your choice and I stand by you for making that choice. I guess I failed at missionary school. Part of this idea and thought is that I grew up having a gay father. I remember a candid conversation with him when I was 10 or 12 asking him how he could be gay when the Bible clearly stated it was a sin. He told me that he did not believe his choice to be gay was a sin, that it was how his heart worked and he still loved Jesus. He also asked me if I had ever sinned (of course, I had), and did I still love Jesus and did Jesus still love me, despite my sins? Thus, in a very simple way, my father taught me a lesson on not casting stones, loving others, and to judge only yourself. These lessons aren't always easy to follow, but they have had a profound impact on my life.
So, moving on from deep life lessons, we will now go onto food and mountain biking :)
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| Crab topped asparagus flan |
For Easter brunch, Mom, who is a fantastic cook, made a wonderful
Asparagus Crab Flan. It was awesome. She also made smoked salmon deviled eggs. Now, in my book, deviled eggs are the bomb, but add smoked salmon to them, and they are just off the charts! Combined with my coffee cake, a strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry spinach salad and topped off with strawberry pie, we were well fed. Not to mention, the jelly bellies. It was nice to move away from the traditional ham and scalloped potatoes.
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| The proud cook! |
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| Smoked salmon deviled eggs |
After overindulging on some scrumptious food, Matt and I headed to
Buffalo Creek to meet up with friends Kristy and Chaz for some mountain biking. Kristy and I rode a good 9.5 miles, while the boys did a bit more. The uphill was some major uphill (for me anyway) at a 1300ft. elevation gain. I was so proud of myself for doing it, though. And oh the downhill was fantastic fun! My legs were whooped after the ride, and our stop at Pei Wei on the way home was a wonderful way to finish the day! I may have had a couple more jelly bellies when we got home...
