Sunday Night tradition.

We have fallen into a wonderful tradition. Sunday nights after dinner, Craig takes over the kitchen and makes cookies.

This is one of the things that make me think that I am the luckiest girl ever. His cookies are legendary.

We sent a picture to Thea to remind her how good home is. It is always good to remember home with thoughts of yummy food. :)

Josh wouldn't let me get a picture of him, but this is Boaz.

I missed a picture with the first cookie. This is his second, and his eyes are still huge.

We are lucky to have Craig's cookie ability.

The eagle

The picture I posted didn't have the completed head. 

Now I have the borders on. The top is complete. I will focus on the baby quilts to practise the quilting that I want to do on the eagle, actually the background: swirls in the sky and ripples in the water.

Josh is getting excited that I am getting closer. It is big enough to fit his bed.

The goal is to quilt feathers on the un-detailed wing and add dimension to the body with my non marvelous quilting. But I am very happy with the appliqué. 

Scripture

This week's scripture:

As a stake choir we are preparing for Stake Conference. We are singing Come Thou Fount. I love that song. The second verse talks about raising my Ebenezer. This choir director has taught us to say the second to last e short, I always said it as a long e before. The footnote calls this the "Stone of Help". The choir director, Kim, calls it a monument.

The Israelites have a long documented history of setting up stone monuments to mark important events. This particular event marks when the Ark was returned to Israel after it was lost by Eli and his sons.

This marks a time of national repentance, of turning from alien gods and returning to the God of Israel. The Philisteans had thought they had won and captured the Ark as a trophy. Even with his people in the weakness of sin and apostasy, the Lord still was strong and taught everyone a lesson with the symbol of His presence - the Ark of the Covenant.

The resulting plague the Philisteans experiences was severe, emrods or tumors in their secret parts. I have read somewhere that the presence of golden mice sent along with the returning Ark gives evidence that this might have been the same plague that caused the Black Death in medieval Europe. Penstulence spread by the fleas brought by the mice that infested the area. 

So, what does this mean to me?

I can set up my own Eben-ezer to mark my victories. What are my monuments? What victories have I had against my Philisteans?

I can trust God to fight and win His battles. The Ark was returned because God wanted it returned. The Israelites did not go and win it back. It came back carried by milk cows walking away from their babies and homes. Something unheard of. The cows lowed or cried the entire way. Yet they walked straight to an Israeli outpost, somewhere they had never been. Very un milk cow behavior. God was clearly in charge of where is Ark was going.

I must stay true to the God who is real, the God who has power, the God who will fight my battles and win. I must return. I must bind my soul to Him. I must curb my wandering heart and accept His fetter. I must learn to sing with cloven cloven tounges of fire. I must submit my will to His and sing His melodious sonnets. I must acknowledge that I need Him, desperately. 

Here is my Eben-ezer.

LuRolls

My sister-in-law makes amazing rolls. She brings them to every family party. We all look forward to her rolls. Her name is LuRose and Kris has dubbed her rolls LuRolls. They are melt in your mouth delicous.

I have been happy to let her be the author of that deliciousness for a very long time. I have been asked to bring rolls to things, but I have resorted to store bought rolls. 

Today we have been invited to dinner at a member of our ward's home. We were assigned rolls. I decided to be brave and attempt the fabulous LuRolls.

With Church at 11, I decided the best time to make them was this morning. 

I love when the dough popps the lid and grows beyond the bowl. My personal sign that the yeast is happy and working.

Using the pizza cutter, I cut the dough into inchish strips and then tied knots. I was a bit bummed that I had hard bits in my beautiful soft dough. You can see one in the top right roll. But I continued on and didn't pick it out.

I made three dozen rolls. The last pan was the best. Instead of baking them for 10 minutes, I left them in for 13. I was rewarded with beautiful golden rolls. 

We tasted tested them. I'm not sure they are as good as LuRose's rolls, but they are yummy! I am having to guard them from the family so we will have enough to take to dinner in an hour.

I am quite pleased with the results.

Hair cut

My hair got to a place where I couldn't stand it agian.

She blew it out. I won't be doing that as I don't have a blow dryer or round brushes. But it looked nice.

How I feel about taking selfies. The camera on my new phone is really good though. It takes much better pictures.

Dinner

Craig and I met Brittnay and her boyfriend for dinner. We went to a nice restaurant, I had to take pictures of Craig's dish.

He had salmon and mashed potatoes. It looked like the Colluseum.  Absolutly delicious! I had the gnocchi. Also delicous, but no architectural food elements.

The waiter was great. I forgot my glasses. He heard me tell Brittnay she would have to read the menu to me and lent me his readers. He also talked us into the dessert sampler.

The spun sugar was beautiful. The best was the creme brûlée. So good! The cream puff was also good and the chocolate strawberries. We took the brownies and the strawberry bars home to the boys, along with some spun sugar and the melted sugar tower.

Outside the White House in Anaheim, Ca. It's fun to go fancy every once in a while.

Quilting

I am an on again off again quilter. I get the bug and it's all I think about sometimes. Then I put my fabric away and ignore it for months on end.

I have been gearing up to quilting again. Yesterday I unpicked a row on Josh's eagle quilt. I haven't wanted to do it, and so it sat quietly waiting for me to be ready.

Today I counted squares and figured how many blocks I will need for the border. I cut out over seventy 6 inch blocks - not really that long, but it sounds impressive. I feel the quilting mojo coming over me.  

Good thing, I have 6 great neices and nephews getting ready to make their apperance. Actually one is already here, five more are on their way. Growing families are wonderful.