Amish friendship bread starters have been going around our family like crazy the past few weeks. People baking bread, sharing bread, giving people more starters. The process keeps going because according to the recipe of this bread the only people who know how to make a friendship bread starter are the Amish.

It took 10 days to make this bread. The first few days you simply mash the bag. On the 6th day you add flour, sugar and milk. The next 3 days you mash the bag and then on the 10th day you bake the bread. It’s quite a process but the end result is delicious bread that is more like cake than bread.

Amish Friendship Bread (MP4) (148 MB)

This evening my younger sister and I went out to my Mamaw Ruby’s (Mamaw Ruby passed away in November of 2004) house to get some water from her well. I like to get water out there because I believe the water that comes from her well is the best water I have ever had. Many other people agree with that. Unlike our water, when you leave a glass of water that came from her well sitting for a while, you do not see sediments in the bottom of your glass.

As we were driving down the driveway I noticed that the Daffodils that come back in the same spot every single year there were in bloom. There was a lot of them. When we had finished filling the jugs with water we went and picked a few. I picked enough to make a small boquet to put into a mason jar and a few in a sparkling cider bottle, I was sure to keep the stems long so I could put them into the bottle without the flowers trying to fall down into the bottle (although they wouldn’t be able to since the opening isn’t that large).

I have to say, these past few days have been so great. The weather has been warm but not too warm. The sky has been blue. Hardly any clouds. It’s been really nice. I hope it stays this way for a while. My spirits have been up since the clouds have parted. I just hope it continues!

A few minutes ago I imported the contents of Andy’s Audio & Video Journal. That was the plan for this site, import the old and continue. When I completed the import, the posts that I had made private on that site were publicly accessible. The password for the posts did not transfer over.

I was startled at first. At first I was going to go through all the posts and re-apply the passwords. Then I made a decision. I decided that since this is a new domain that I am going to start fresh. I am going to start over. I feel really strange about it but I feel like it’s the right thing to do.

I won’t be deleting the videos or the audio but they will probably no longer be publicly accessible. The goal for this new site is to no longer post any material privately. If it’s something that I cannot share publicly, I will not post it here.

I want to try and start speaking my mind instead of hiding behind password protected posts.

Update: I just showed this to Rebecca and she asked if I was killing off AndyMelton.net. I guess I should clarify things a little bit. That site is still there and will continue to be. It’s sole purpose will be where I talk about my professional skills as well as links to projects I am working on. This site on the other hand is my personal audio, video and text blog. The tech blog that I had on AndyMelton.net is now residing on a domain that I had purchased for a friend a while back who decided to no longer use it. I kept the domain and now it is my tech blog, Digital Disco Bash.

I am sitting here with the laptop looking out my bedroom window. The sky is blue, I can’t see a cloud anywhere. The temperature is just right. It’s been a busy day. I have cooked, cleaned and played outside with the dogs (still need to feed them). I have also been working on my own websites. I won’t even go into that here since this is suppose to be my personal blog. I came in earlier and was getting supper ready and JoAnne (step mother) came home. When she gets home of the evenings she turns on Oprah. I don’t watch television, I haven’t in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I still watch things like Star trek, but, it’s because I’ve downloaded it off of the Internet. It’s really the only “TV” that I watch.

Anyways, I usually hear what is happening on Oprah even though I’m not watching it. I think Oprah started talking about her book club. She mentioned a book called “Measure of a Man.” Something went off in my mind. For some reason I kept thinking that I had that book and it’s one that I have put off reading. To be precise, I thought it was the book that was given to me by my 3rd grade teacher when I graduated high school. I still to this day have not read it and I really haven’t thought much about it until I heard the name of that book. After I finished fixing supper (hamburgers) I turned my closet upside down, pulled everything out of it, looking for it. I reminisced as I always do when I see old things of mine. I found one of the very fist cameras that I ever owned. Getting to the point, I found a box, opened it and there it was, the book that she gave me when I graduated high school.

The book wasn’t “Measure of a Man.” It is “Wild at Heart” a book by John Eldredge. The back of the book gives this description:

EVERY MAN WAS ONCE A BOY. And every little boy has dreams, bit dreams: dreams of being the hero, of beating the bad guys, of doing daring feats and rescuing the damsel in distress. Every little girl has dreams, too: of being rescued by her prince and swept up into a great adventure, knowing that she is the beauty.

But what happens to those dreams when we grow up? Walk into most churches, have a look around, and ask yourself: What is a Christian man? Without listening to what is said, look at what you find there. Most Christian men are…bored.

In Wild at Heart, John Eldredge invites men to recover their masculine heart, defined in the image of a passionate God. And he invites women to discover the secret of a man’s soul and to delight in the strength and wildness men were created to offer.

For the past few years I have put off reading this book. The fact is, I have for a while now struggled to define what I believe as far as Christianity goes. However, I do believe that I have came a long way since I have received this book. If someone were to ask me today, and I felt completely comfortable giving them a straight answer. If they asked me “Do you believe in God?” I would say, “Yes, I do.” I would tell them (again, if I felt comfortable with that person) that I do not believe in the Gods that many of the churches in this area believe in. The God that I believe in does not have conditions. This God gives me strength and has helped me out in so many ways. I pray to him/her/it (because I do not know who God is) and ask for advice on what I should do with my life. This God of mine gives me hope and direction when I am lost.

I think I owe to that teacher, that I had in the 3rd grade to set aside the Star Trek books for just a little while and read this book.