7 Quick Takes Friday - au natural



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First things first: in case you didn't already see this all over Facebook, last week at this time it was SNOWING. In MISSOURI. In MAY!! For like two days straight, and big flakes! Not much stayed on the ground, but it looked pretty heavy-duty.

 

 

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Also this time last week, I had some visitors in town from Atlanta. My friend was graduating, so she and her husband stayed at my apartment for the gradution. Friday night we went out to dinner before I had to go to work, and we chose a Brazillian restaurant called ReRico. If you are ever in the Springfield, MO area, I highly recommend this place (though it will cost around $30 per person). If you have never been to a Brazillian steakhouse, let me tell you how it works. Well, at ReRico they start by bringing you 4 or 5 different appetizers, including spinach dip, a California sushi roll, some kind of cheese-filled biscuits, and soup (there might have been more, but that's what I can remember). Then you get a trip to an amazing salad bar.

 

Then you turn this little green-on-one-end-and-red-on-the-other doohickey so the green end is up, and servers start bringing around these huge skewers of meat, from which they cut you a slice right there at your table:

Yeah. Heaven in Springfield, MO. There was brisket, pork loin, rump roast, chicken, shrimp, strip steak.... For a little while we had an amateur little Brazillian steakhouse in Joplin called Gaucho's, but it was nothing compared to ReRico. This is definitely my new favorite restaurant (though, at 30 bucks a pop, I don't think I'll be indulging too often).

 

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I work at a fairly large group home with several different residential cottages. Each cottage picks a weekend every so often and the kids get to stay at a ranch quite a ways out of town. It is beautiful there, and that is where I got to work overnight last Saturday night. Sometimes when there I get to stay outside by a campfire, or if the weather is terrible they let the kids sleep in a lodge. Last weekend we were in the lodge. And Sunday morning when I left, the nature of the place was simply stunning. I took a few snapshots with my phone. Here are some for your enjoyment. :)
 



 

 

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Several weeks ago I posted one of the sermons I had to deliver from a three-part series in my homiletics class this semester. Here is another one (this is actually the first of the series, but I delivered them out of order). This sermon's title is "Ring of Combat" from Revelation 2:8-11 (letter to the church at Smyrna). I did not deliver the third sermon in class, but I might do a vlog for it, just so the series is complete. We'll see :).

 

(My html doesn't seem to be working, but you can find the video here.)

 

We had to construct each sermon with a different purpose. The other one I posted was one of explanation ("this is why/how..."). Today's is a sermon of ability ("you/we can do this because..."). The third one, which I haven't posted yet, is one of obligation ("you/we must do this because...").

 

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You might recall I love old hippies. I also love it when people use old Volkswagen vans as advertisements! Here are a couple I saw around town this week. Oh, and guess what. Speaking of old hippies...Willie Nelson is coming to Joplin! July 5th. I must go!!

 

 

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I was in a card-making mood last night (not that this is something that usually happens - I think I've only ever made one other card in my life). So I made a card for a friend...and then I realized Mother's Day is this weekend! So I made my mom a card, too. (Some might call this "cheap". I prefer "creative" and "heartfelt".) Took my cool little homemade cards to the post office about 3:00 this morning. But then my brother sent me a text today asking if I had sent out my "Mother's Day Cards" yet...and I was like, "What? Cards...?" And then I realized. I completely forgot about my grandma!! :( Don't worry. She will be remembered...just late. :/ But here are the cards this amateur made last night.

 

 

---7---

 

And we need a song. Since I just found out my man Willie is coming to town, how about one from him? Here is an old Saturday Night Live clip I love. (Note: this is not an advocation for anyone's political views - I just thought the song was cute.)

 

 

For more Quick Takes, please visit Jen at Conversion Diary!