29 August 2011

Roasted Salmon and Veggies

Here's a recipe that I found in this month's Woman's Day magazine! It originally called for red onions, cauliflower, and grape tomatoes, but I'm pretty sure you can substitute any summer/fall veggie!

Ingredients:
1 Squash (sliced)
2 Roma tomatoes (whole)
1 cup Green Onions
1 cup Corn (I cut mine off of the cob)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 Salmon fillet
1/2 tsp Curry powder

 1.) Heat oven to 425. Cut up squash and onions. Combine with other veggies in an aluminum foil covered casserole dish or on a baking sheet.
2.) Drizzle olive oil and 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper over veggies. Toss to coat.
3.) Roast for 20 minutes.
4.) Season the salmon with the curry, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Place with the veggies and continue roasting until salmon is done (about 12-15 minutes).
5.) Serve and enjoy.


Variations: The original recipe called for 1/4 cup raisins (to be added to the veggies after roasting), 2 small red onions, 1 small head cauliflower (cored and sliced), and 1 pint of grapes. Another variation, substitute the salmon with 1 chicken breast.

Use more salmon for more people. This recipe will feed one (and a baby).

This is an incredibly tasty meal! Balian loved the squash and the tomatoes. It was also very easy clean-up, since everything was just put into one pan.

Abortion

Miscarriage. The ending of a life. Murder. All of these have been used to define the term abortion. Etymonline.com, an online etymology dictionary, reads that during the 19th century, abortion came to be used principally for intentional miscarriages. There are a plethora of reasons that women choose to terminate their pregnancy; they don't feel like they would be a good mother, they were raped, they don't want a deformed or mentally debilitated child, it's for the best, the list goes on. A hundred reasons can all be boiled down to one: the child is unwanted. Who could possibly want a handicapped child? Who could possibly want a child born from a rape?

Abortion has been around since the beginning of time, although the term for the act has only been around a few centuries. Doctors once used herbs to cause the mother to go into pre-term labor, thereby expelling the (sometimes still living) child. Now, they make sure the baby is dead before vacuuming out the inside of the woman's womb.

Abortion is one of the hot topics surrounding politics and religion today. It has become a commonplace medical, outpatient procedure, much like getting an unwanted tooth removed, and there are some that view the child just like that, an unwanted object that needs to be gotten rid of. Except, the child isn't a tooth. It's a living being. It has nerves, it develops a brain, it feels pain. It feels when it is pulled from the womb. It feels when it's died. Yet these are all points that no one wants to think about, scientific points that are largely ignored, because then it's easier to justify ending that life.

At three weeks, the tiny cells in the womb already have a gender. It's a boy or it's a girl. 3 weeks. That's even before the egg implants on the side of the uterus.
At five weeks, the tiny baby may not look like much, but it's already developing a spinal cord. It has nerves.
At week six, the heart begins beating and begins its lifelong job of pumping blood, which has already begun forming in little blood vessels. Most mothers are just finding out that they are pregnant.
In week seven, the now pumping heart forms chambers. the arms and legs develop, as well as the lungs and other assorted organs. Its brain is growing, learning, and its tiny vocal cords are formed.
At eight weeks, the child begins moving, moving its arms, its legs, everything. It has teeth underneath its gums and a mouth and a nose. It's a baby.
By week nine, the heart is completely formed. The child has fingers, toes, and plays with each. It plays, it explores. It learns.
In week ten, hair begins to form. The childs distinct identity is already apparent in the appearance of fingerprints.
By eleven weeks, the child is sticking out its tongue, tasting the embryonic fluid with its newly formed tastebuds, swallowing. Its brain is still developing, making over 250,000 neurons a minute. The cartilage giving it shape is turning to bone.
By twelve weeks, its brain is fully formed. It has fingernails, toenails, and is learning by the minute. It uses its legs to push against the womb, it plays, it explores.

The vast majority of abortions occur between six and twelve weeks. When does life begin? Scientists say at six weeks, when the heart begins to beat, yet at three weeks, the sex of the infant is already determined. It's a boy or it's a girl. How is that not life? Because it doesn't breathe? Plants don't breathe, starfish don't breath, yet both of these things are protected.

205 million women become pregnant each year. Over a third of that number is unintended pregnancy. A fifth of the 205 million (approximately 41 million) end in abortion. Abortions account for approximately 70,000 maternal deaths each year, and five million women end up crippled from the procedure.

The lack of education on abortion is astounding. Women are able to walk into clinics simply saying they need an abortion and have it done. Some clinics, because of privacy laws, don't even require the mother to be of legal age. They aren't educated about the results of the abortion, they aren't told that there are alternatives, they simply aren't informed. What a difference it would make if women were better informed about what is happening inside of them. What a difference it would make if they could see the tiny creature they are bearing.

Educate. Inform. Learn.

Don't judge. Don't hate.

Love.

28 August 2011

First smile... First steps... First sword


Balian holding his very first (plastic) sword. It's a happy day in the Hershman household.

26 August 2011

Week in Review

Ahhhh... Nothing like back to school... The smell of new notebooks and papers... Hearing the pleasant sound of new pens scratching and new erasers erasing... The screech of tires and the endless Nascar race that is the Liberty University Commuter Parking Lot.

Yep, it's Fall semester at good ole LU. My final semester (and I can NOT stop praising God enough for that!) Here's a recap of my first week back.

Monday: Yeah.
Tuesday: Umm...
Wednesday: Are you sure it's not Friday?
Thursday: Again?
Friday: I don't think I'm going to make it...

Monday I was ten minutes late for my first class, and about three minutes late for my second, where my professor kindly told us that if we are in the habit of being late, then we need to drop the class. Immediately. o_0 Tuesday I was two minutes late for my first class, but on time for my next two.  I also discovered I have two different classes with two different friends I've not talked with for over a year. It was a happy day. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday went by in pretty much the same ways, except actually arriving on time.

Let me sum up my classes for the semester: Literary Criticism, African-American Literature, Theology and Politics, Religious Issues in Dramatic Literature, and a Seminar over Charles Dickens. Total number of pages to be written for the semester? Approximately 50-75. Total number of pages to read for the semester? Approximately 10,000.

I'm already beginning the semesterly "Oh my God my professors are moving in for the kill" traumatic freak out session. Our first paper is due in two weeks. Five pages. I'm almost in tears thinking about it.

My favorite class thus far is actually Theology and Politics. Since voting in the last election, I've become more and more interested in how our government is run and the influences surrounding the decisions made. It's a really interesting course so far. My most challenging course will be Literary Criticism. Thus far, I understand nothing about the class. Not a word. I think LU makes seniors take it to cut back on the amount of English majors who graduate. My most reading class is definitely Dickens with six full novels in which to consume in the next 18 weeks.

Liberty has opened up the fourth floor in the main school building. If you have ever been inside Demoss Hall on LU Campus, you will know that there is no rhyme or reason to the way the rooms are numbered. Fourth floor is worse. Much, much worse, because now there are long hallways to traverse and just when you think you've reached your class, you have yet another two hallways to go down. It's reminiscient of the moving staircases in Hogwarts and the doors that lead to some places most days of the week and to someplace different on Friday.

And then, of course, there's the lovely mess that is the Commuter parking lot. After spending four days back in the all encompassing jungle of cars badly parked, I sent off a nice, eloquent, email to the director of Commuter Affairs, which then prompted a mass email sent to students, faculty, and staff written by the Chancellor, which basically said to quit bugging them with our parking problems and there was no way they are going to build us a parking garage. In other news, we have a new Visitor's Center with a gold dome...

So there you have it. My first full week of my final semester on the Liberty University campus. I am glad to be back in a place where the scholarly intellectuals and the students exchange ideas and where discussions about religion are commonplace. It is a refreshing change to speak adult instead of toddler. And to not be screamed at.

25 August 2011

Show Me Your Flaws

Why do women (and men, in some circumstances) wear make-up? To cover flaws.
Why do people invest thousands and millions in plastic surgery? To cover up God's flaws.
Why do people try so hard to be perfect? So that you will not see that they are, indeed, flawed.

It is a sad society we live in. Instead of embracing the flaws within us we shun them, and why shouldn't we? Flaws are supposed to be bad, right? Out of context, yes. We are flawed humans, imperfect, because of the imperfect world we live in. We fell from Grace and perfection.

Yet, shouldn't we strive for perfection?

The answer? No. I don't believe we should strive for perfection. There has only been one perfect human in the full existance of the earth, and we hung Him on a Cross. I strive daily to be as understanding, as loving, and as forgiving as Christ is. I fail on a daily basis. I am flawed, and my flaws continually obstruct my goals of being more like Christ. I do not strive for perfection, because in order to achieve perfection, you have to be God. That raises the question, "If God is perfect, and everything He makes perfect, then shouldn't we be perfect?" The simple answer? No, because of a thing called Free Will and an event called The Fall. Our world, Earth, is perfect in its own self-sustaining way. The way the sun rises and sets is perfect. Even the way our planet is positioned in the solar system is perfect (a figurative inch to the left or to the right would have us in the middle of an asteroid galaxy, incapable of sustaining life). The vast beauty of our universe is perfect. We, however, are not (yaaaaay sin...).

I think this is slightly amazingly humorous. There is no such thing as perfection from a human standpoint. We only have a flawed sense of perfection (our senses will never be able to grasp the pure perfection of God). So in trying to rid of ourselves of our flaws in order to achieve perfection, we are, in fact, making ourselves more flawed. Irony much?

So why do we still battle for this flawed perception of perfection? Because we caree more for what others think of us than we do how we perceive ourselves. If human perfection is a size 00 with a D cup, blonde hair, with legs longer than their torso, then that is what a human must achieve, yet, that's not a comforable achievement. I like my dark hair. I also like my size 10 waist, although not so much my DDD cups. And I like my legs being proporionate to the rest of my body. In order to achieve the idea of human perfection, I have to give up everything about myself that I've grown comfortable with. I have to give up what makes me who I am. I enjoy being flawed because it sets me apart from the rest of the world. What makes me flawed makes me human. What makes me flawed makes me, me.

Summarily, why would you change who you are for a flawed sense of perfection in a world full of changing views? Why destroy what makes you an individual?

23 August 2011

Memories

First off, let me just say that the weather here is GORGEOUS! I actually wore a cardigan to class this morning. Absolutely splendid!!

So this morning, I re-activated my Facebook account so that I could possibly find a note that I had written regarding my life's testimony. I didn't find it, but I found this instead:

"There are alot of stories going around about why we dropped everything and went to Pittsburgh. Here's the REAL story:

Anna Plyler, our Drug "Lady", had a shipment that she needed Minnellis, who is an illegal immigrant from Colombia, to take to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We took Chris for precaution and as an excuse should a cop decide to pull us over, Chris could say that he was married to Minnellis so that she would be considered legal. Joe Williams and myself were there as bodyguards, while Sierra McConnell and Daniel Byrd were the drivers.

And THAT is the TRUE story.

Anna is satisfied with our work and is sending us back this weekend... Wednesday to be exact..."


This made me smile, and made me sad, because I no longer talk to four of the six people that are mentioned. We all thought we were going to be friends' forever. Naievity oft breeds ignorance. It's sad looking back at memories and realizing that the people you were closest to are the ones that are no longer in your life. I miss these days, when we could all pile up into the back of a truck and drive 13 hours on a whim in the middle of the night. They are sweet memories, memories of more innocent times, of college crushes, whispered secrets, and lots of giggling ("Daniel said he was going to hit my mom if you all don't stop moving!").

What's past is past, and can't be undone or redone. It's gone. However, we will always carry the memories of it with us. The painful ones, the happy and the sad, all will stay with us.

I look back on my memories with laughter and tears. Laughter at what happened, and tears that it couldn't have lasted longer.


 (disclaimer: this is a joke. Not real. It's a "you just had to have been there" situation.)

17 August 2011

Is It Here Yet??

I completely and totally revamped my blog a week ago. I just did it again. Why? Because I'M SO READY FOR FALL TO GET HERE!!!!

I think you underestimate my absolute adoration of the Autumn season. I rush Fall the way some people rush Christmas. I actually celebrate more for Fall than I do Christmas (that's kind of sad). I just adore it!

I love Fall. I love the smells, the temperatures, the amazing color on the trees, everything! It is by far the greatest season on the planet. And if God truly loves me, he will give me a daughter born on the first day of Fall. That would be spectacular. And yes, her name would be Autumn.

I'm slightly obsessed with this season.

16 August 2011

Meant for More

Last night I read more into Game of Thrones (which is turning out to be a really awesome book). I slipped my bookmark between the pages, set it down, reached and turned my lamp off, snuggled under the covers, and closed my eyes. It was then I realized that I had done everything as if I were a regal. I was sitting up straighter, my neck longer, graceful... These were my thoughts at this moment.

If I had been born after Arthur's reign, I would have been a Queen, the woman  behind the man.
If I had been born while Columbus sailed, I would have been a Pirate Lord, tough but kind.
If I had been born while Victoria reigned, I would have been a noble's wife, intelligent and sophisticated.
If I had been born after the 1st World War, I would have been married to a soldier, living in peace.
If I had been born during Vietnam, I would have been a hippy.

I was meant for more from this life.


Some days I feel young. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I have the rest of my life ahead of me. Other days, I begin to feel the near quarter of a century that has already passed me by. I don't want to settle for anything in this life. It's the only one I have.

I was meant for more than this. But I have to play with the cards that were dealt me.

15 August 2011

Why I don't like Skinny People

Old Navy has brought back their flare leg jean, which is major cause for celebration. However, I can't wear them. Old Navy has an annoying habit of making their jeans not fit ordinary people. If you wear an eight, you have to be an average eight. If you wear a sixteen, you have to be an average sixteen. I wear a 12/10. I have skinny legs and skinny thighs. Old Navy jeans aren't good for that. They hang off of me and they don't sit as low as I would normally like (which means I have to get a 14/16, and then we're in big trouble), so I normally do my shopping at American Eagle where their jeans were made to fit everyone, big and small.

Anyways, I was looking at a recent pic that Old Navy had put on Facebook asking people which they prefer, skinny jeans or flare jeans? The answers made me hate humanity. In general.

One woman said that only women who wore a 0-4 should wear the lighter color washes. Four people liked her comment. Other people were saying that flare jeans were only for skinny people, bigger people shouldn't be allowed to wear them, while some said the opposite.

Seriously? When I go at shop at American Eagle, I head to the clearance racks, where it's almost impossible to find jeans in my size. Know why? Because the average person is not a size 0. Nor a 1 nor a 2. They are normally in between a 6 and a 12. I am a 10/12, as stated previously. I would like to be an 8/10, because that is a healthy weight and size for me (about 140). And people think there is something wrong with me. Know what? I could go back to the weight I was in high school (about 110). But I don't want to. I looked absolutely hideous that skinny. I was nothing but a skeleton. That is not a healthy weight for me. I don't want to be super model skinny. News flash! It's not attractive to be nothing but bone. And, contrary to popular belief, it's not healthy either (on the complete other end of the spectrum, it's not healthy to be 300 pounds, either).

Here's the bottom line: you need to do what's best for you and quit judging others for what they feel is best for them. If I want to walk around in size 16 skinny jeans, then, by God, I'm going to do it and I don't want to hear you say anything about it. Why can't we be supportive of one another instead of tearing each other down so much? Why are our noses always in others business instead of taking care of our own affairs?

Please be conscious of what you say and how you say it. And sometimes, be conscious of what you don't say.

13 August 2011

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted!!

Last week, I left for a week long vacation in Georgia. First stop was my mom's house for my birthday (Yaaay 24...). It was a good birthday. I went to church and spent a while afterwards catching up with Lacey. Mom made me a delicious dinner (cashew chicken and rice) and my little sister and her husband came over. They brought their son, Logan, who has gotten so big! He's walking so much now, that it tempted Balian to start walking!

On Monday, I drove to Athens, Georgia to visit another amazing friend and her husband, Anna and John Leviner. We spent a lot of the night talking and playing with Balian, then the next morning, after I convinced John that he needed a Nook and not a Kindle, I drove to Clayton, Georgia to spend the next few days with Charlotte Tomlinson and her awesome family.

Charlotte and her husband, Sean, are the amazing parents of seven fantastic children: Draven, Autumn, AJ, Adrian, Marius, Felix, and Sunny. I had so much fun playing with all of them! Marius loves to arm wrestle and called me Victorious the entire time. Sunny is absolutely adorable and definitely made me want a little girl. Draven and Adrian have become my new Halo buddies, and Autumn has inspired me to pursue dancing more and provided a beautiful model for a photography shoot! We went to the river and played in the current. On Thursday, we went to Tallulah Gorge, where I was able to take some beautiful shots of the Falls.

Friday I came home to a brand new purple flute waiting on me! It was my annibirthday gift from my hubby!!

This week will be filled with making wreaths and getting ready for school. Saturday I have an outdoor event to go to. Hopefully I'll be able to sell some wreaths!