SCARBOROUGH HERB BREAD

This bread is wonderful and will elicit raves when served.
Soften 2 T. of yeast in 1 cup warm water
Add the following:
3 T Sugar
2 ½ tsp. Salt
¼ C. dry parsley
1 Tsp. dry thyme flakes
1 tsp. dry Rosemary
¼ C. dry onion flakes
1 C. warm milk
¼ C. oil or butter


Add enough flour to make a stirable dough. Mix until well blended. Add 2 beaten eggs. Add more flour to make a soft kneadable dough. Knead 5 min. Let rise until double.


Divide the dough into 3 pieces and then those 3 pieces into 3. Roll into a 12 inch rope and braid together folding the ends under to make a uniform loaf. Place side by side on a large greased cookie sheet. Let rise until double. Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired. Bake 375 for 15-20 minutes until light brown.


I usually double this recipe and make 6 loaves. After they are baked wrap them individually in foil sealing tightly and put in the freezer. You always have some nice bread for unexpected guests or to take to a pot luck. Warm in the foil in a 350 oven for 15 minutes after they are thawed.

BEARING GIFTS FOR ONE ANOTHER

I am teaching a writing class right now. I have 8 amazing ladies in the class who write better than I do. Mostly I am a motivator for getting others to write their family stories. I am always quite blown away at how well everyone can write their own stories with just a little practice. The other discovery I have made is that when you share your stories with others they get inspired to try. My new Ward assigned me to visit Tresa. She is a young mother with three little boys. I liked her instantly. I took a story I had written to my first visit with her. She got so excited I couldn't believe it. "Oh please, she said, let me be in one of your writing classes." And she is there writing wonderful things. Her first story was "Wow!" She is one of my blogger friends. Her writing will inspire you too.

My favorite writing books are by Julia Cameron. She has a wonderful philosophy of the spiritual aspects of writing--something beyond ourself that helps us write what "wants to be written." I tell my classes: "You may not think you can write but the Holy Ghost knows how and He will help you--especially with your family stories." I have had it happen to me many times.

The following quote from Julia Cameron made me think of Tresa and I connecting. I said from the beginning it was no accident that I got assigned to be her visiting teacher. We had gifts for one another. Then I think about all the women that have taken my writing classes--I get more than I give.

"We intersect one another's lives for a purpose, and we bear gifts for one another. When we are hypercritical of ourselves, we are afraid to offer the gifts that we bear, gifts of acknowledgment and appreciation, gifts of acceptance and respect." (The Sound of Paper, Julia Cameron, p. 188)

A DRESSING FOR A GREEN SALAD WITH FRUIT

This is a great salad dressing for a green salad or a spinach where you add strawberries, oranges, apples or other such pieces of fruit. It makes a good amount and keeps well.

1/2 Cup red wine vinegar
3/4 Cup oil
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/3 Cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 Cup strawberry jam

Blend in blender.


Other jams can be used in place of the strawberry. I made it with Orange Marmalade and it makes a nice dressing for a salad with orange sections in it.

WHY I BELIEVE

My patriarchal blessing confirms that I have a gift of faith. I know this. It made it easy to be a social Mormon most of my life. I didn’t pray much. I rarely studied the scriptures. I thought I was doing fine because I attended church every Sunday and felt the spirit on occasion. When my mother died 14 years ago I knelt and promised God that if he would keep her from suffering any more that I would pray daily and diligently—that I would be a better disciple. I realized the importance of such a promise and I have tried to fulfill it daily. I began to study the scriptures. I have attended the temple weekly. I have been blessed and buoyed up for my efforts. Now I have confidence in
Why I Believe.

I BELIEVE because the scriptures have become a part of who I am. I memorized the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 and say it most every day. The 4 years I taught Gospel Doctrine in Sunday School I spent 1-3 hours each day studying. I learned to love the Word. Sometimes I feel like Jeremiah when he said: "…his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." (20:9)

I BELIEVE because I have felt the power of the Holy Ghost directing me and giving me "sudden strokes of ideas," as Joseph Smith said it would.

I BELIEVE because I have been captivated and taught by the spirit of the Book of Mormon. I believe as someone has said that "a bad man couldn’t have written it and a good man wouldn’t have tried."

I BELIEVE because the temple has become a wonderful weekly experience. I have gone fasting and praying many times over the years and when I look back I see answers to those prayers. There are 4 winged vases in the Celestial room of the Bountiful Temple. They have become a symbol of the hope I have for my 4 children. Each week when I enter the room I say this scripture from Psalms: "Be merciful unto me O God. Be merciful unto me. For my soul trusteth in thee. Yea in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpast." (57:1)

I BELIEVE because I have learned the power to love comes from Christ and I want to have that power. In Moroni 7:48 it says: "…pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure." I try to include this heartfelt plea in my daily prayer.

I BELIEVE because I have learned that God has sent many good men to the earth to teach those who don’t have the fullness of the gospel. I have enjoyed reading many Christian writings by C. S. Lewis. He was an atheist for many years of his life. He studied and read thousands of books in his conversion process. This is what he said about the day he realized he believed:
" You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him who I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is the most shining and obvious thing: the Divine humility, which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape? The words…compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation. (Surprised By Joy p.228)

Another favorite religion writer is Rabbi Harold Kushner. What he said about church services I can testify is true:
"In congregational worship, regularly scheduled services on a Saturday or Sunday morning, I have come to believe that the congregating is more important than the words we speak. Something miraculous happens when people come together seeking the presence of God. The miracle is that we so often find it. Somehow the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts. A spirit is created in our midst which none of us brought there. In fact, each of us came there looking for it because we did not have it when we were alone. But in our coming together, we create the mood and the moment in which God is present." (Who Needs God, p. 149)

I BELIEVE because my heritage gave me a gift that was precious to them and I know I have an obligation to open it and see it’s beauty for myself. The first member of my family to join the church was Jacob Hamblin. He knew Joseph Smith. His reaction to the Prophets death touched me:
"We was often presented with public papers with different accounts of the death of the Prophet. We did not consider ourselves under any obligation to believe them. I know I felt very melancholy and my spirits depressed. July 14, I ascertained from a private letter the truth that the Prophet and Patriarch were martyred. My feelings I will not attempt to describe. For a moment all was lost. I was on my way to Bragore and was under no obligation to in as much as they had killed the man God had sent to restore all things. I could not refrain from weeping. I turned aside to give vent to my feelings. As I was about to leave the road I met two or three persons. One of them observed, ‘I wonder what will become of Elder Hamblin’s Mormon President?’ I could hardly restrain myself. I felt that if I could be annihilated it would be a great blessing to me. I thought it would crush me to death. At length, believing it must be the power of the devil and knowing that there was something wrong, I prayed to my Heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit. After a little all was right."
Knowledge, prayer and the workings of the Holy Ghost are the basis of my belief. In Isaiah 53:11 it says of Christ: "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." If knowledge is important to Christ it is so for us. I began by acquiring the knowledge of Christ in the scriptures the rest came along naturally. This is
Why I Believe.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES FOR VALENTINES DAY

These cookies are easy and decadant and wonderfully gooy and chocolaty.

1 German Chocolate Cake Mix
1/2 C. vegetable oil
2 eggs stirred up a bit
1 cup each, white, dark and milk chocolate
If you can get bulk chocolate and chop it yourself it
is worth it but chocolate chips are good also.
2 Cups toasted whole almonds or coarsly chopped

The dough is to just hold the chocolate and nuts together.
Bake 350 for about 10 min. (Do not overbake...10 minutes is all they need even though they seem a little soft.) Let them finish baking on the cookie sheet while they cool.
These are best fresh baked. I sometimes roll them into a
slightly flattened ball and put a bag of balls in the refrigerator and
then bake when I am ready to eat. They will survive a couple of
weeks in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

EVERY DAY NO MATTER WHAT!

My commitment to reading the scriptures
Two years ago in February 2006 I read an article on Meridian Magazines LDS web sight by its founder Scot Proctor. He said he had read his scriptures "every day no matter what" since 1972. He had informed his family that if he was ever in a coma or otherwise unable to read that they were to read to him "every day no matter what." Then he threw out a challenge to those reading the article to make a commitment to read their scriptures "every day no matter what." I took the challenge. I have read my scriptures regularly for a long time but never "every day no matter what." The first few months were difficult, as there were times when I would wake up in the middle of the night and realize that I hadn’t read. Bleary eyed scripture reading is not the best. When we travel I always throw in a small Book of Mormon. Last year I only forgot once. We were on a vacation in Mexico and one night we stayed up late playing cards and I went to bed without reading. I woke up at some point and rehearsed a chapter of Isaiah I have memorized. (53) Did that count?


I have been amazed at how much I am able to read with this "every day no matter what" commitment. Last year I finished the New Testament I had started the year before and then read all of the restored scriptures. On Sundays I try to read several chapters but most days I only read a chapter or two. The spirit has been with me like never before. I feel direction, peace and joy that I am hooked on. My prayers are better and more frequent. I feel more love and patience. My gospel knowledge has more depth. I will always be grateful to Brother Proctor for his challenge. Maybe you would like to have the blessings of reading scriptures "every day no matter what."

WHAT I AM LEARNING FROM PAIN

Last week I threw out my back while making the bed. I fell on the floor in pain. This had never happened to me before. I have seen Mike deal with back problems on a regular basis. Did I realize it was this bad? As the week went on I felt better but then sat for a couple of hours on a low couch at book club. When it was over my back was cramped and by the time I got home I was having back spasms and barely made it to bed, downing pain pills and sleeping pills on my way. I can understand how people get addicted to these things. I had a desperate night. There was no place I could find relief. Pain is not new to me. I have spent many nights walking the floor with a Rheumatoid Arthritis flare up. Is it the dark aloneness that makes pain worse at night? My RA is migrating and usually eases in a day or two. I feel blessed because so many with my disease are so much worse. Thinking about my plight this week I came to realize that pain affords the opportunity to learn several things even mental pain:

1. Patience - Pain has its own agenda and course of action. You can do what you can to head it off with pills and such but in the end it will have its way in its own sweet time. You have choices: complain a lot or suffer in silence. Or maybe complain a little and suffer in silence a little. We like to muster up a little empathy by groaning here and there. But, mostly we are on our own. No one can really understand unless they have been there.

2. Empathy – I now understand Mike’s back pain more than I did before. I hope I can be better to support and console him in his afflictions. Isn’t that what the atonement is all about? Can we have our own atoning experience by showing empathy and doing what we can when others suffer.

3. Humility - Oh we humans think we are so powerful, smart and independent.
We think we can do it all on our own until pain and suffering hits us and our pride crumbles. We then understand our vulnerability and weakness. Why is this good? We become more open to God. We are more submissive. Hebrews 5:8 says: Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; Hopefully it can work for us too. Otherwise we are subject to the alternative:

"...when I...saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous people. But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin. And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God and wish to die. Mormon 2:12

4. Our Mortality – Our mortal existence is tentative. Our body is part of a fallen world; subject to all sorts of buffetings. We learn through pain that our body needs special care and wisdom in its treatment. We are less prone to risky behaviors after suffering pain due to our carelessness.

5. Spiritual Growth - Our spirit is honed as we plead for comfort and relief. We become reflective. Life has new meaning. The following is a quote from the writings of William R. Palmer on the Martin Handcart Company:

"It was in an adult Sunday School class of over fifty men and women. Nathan T. Porter was the teacher and the subject under discussion was the ill fated [Martin] handcart company that suffered so terribly in the snow of 1856.
Some sharp criticism of the Church and its leaders was being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan afforded.

One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

He said in substance, "I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes! But I was in the company and my wife was in it, and Sister Nellie Unthank who you have cited here was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities!

"God in our extremities?" Many of us have pled in the long dark days and nights of pain and felt Him.

6. A Need For Others – Some of us have a difficult time relying on others for help. Sometimes pain forces us to solicit help and we learn to be grateful when it comes. Perhaps this feeling of indebtedness inspires us to reach out when we are well.

I often think of my mother and how much she suffered at age 64 from her brain tumor and the vertebrae disintegration caused by the heavy doses of steroids she was on. If you don’t learn the positive lessons from pain you surely will become bitter and angry. She never did. She wanted to live. Life was precious to her even in her terrible pain. The day before she died she said she was getting better.

My Book Club Reading Schedule For 2008

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The History of Love by Nicole Kraus
The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Cages of Stars by Jacquelyne Mitchard
The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Benjamin Franklin by Edmund Morgan
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Hallelujah by J. Scott Featherstone

MY NEW HOUSE (Repost - I accidentally lost it)

and

THE BEST HOT FUDGE SAUCE

This recipe has been a staple at our house for a long time. It is a quick and easy and tastes wonderful. My original recipe had 1/2 Cup butter but I lowered it to 1/4 cup and I think it is even better...at least no one complained.

Hot Fudge Sauce

1/2 Cube of butter (1/4 C)
2 C. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 Can evaporated milk
2 C. powdered sugar
Stir together and bring to a boil.
Simmer until as thick as you like
Add 1 tsp. vanilla.
ENJOY!