We Have Some Winners...

The bookmarker that is blue with white polka dots goes to...
Terri Lokey!

The striped with blue flower button goes to...
Kristin!

And last but not least, the bookmarker with argyle ribbon and a purple button goes to...
Amanda!

Since there was only one other person who entered, I am going to make another one for Sarah and she will be getting one as well. :-)

Blog Giveaway- Ribbon Bookmarkers!

Since I did a post on ribbon bookmarkers I thought that I would give three people the opportunity to have one of their own.

number one

This one has ribbon that is blue with tiny white polka dots with a flower button.

number two

The next one is striped with a blue flower button on it.

number three

The last one has argyle ribbon with a purple button.



There are two ways to enter (US residents only, please.):

• Leave a comment on my blog before Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 11:59 PM.
• Blog about this post on your blog. (Leave another comment on my blog telling me you did so. Your name will be entered again!)
  

On Thursday I will pick three names via random.org. The winners will be announced on Thursday. Good luck!

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou My Vision

at­trib­ut­ed to Dal­lan For­gaill

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,

May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

~~~

“When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal Myself to him in visions,

I speak to him in dreams.”

Numbers 12:6

Rosemary Bread

Mom recently posted something about me making rosemary bread on her blog. My sister, sister-in-law, and aunt asked for the recipe. I thought that if several people wanted the recipe that others might like to try it as well. I found this recipe in a book I got at the library called Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America.

Rosemary Bread

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of bread flour
• 1 packet of quick rise yeast
• 1 1/2 cups of water (120°F)
• 2 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tsp salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• coarse sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine flour, water, rosemary,salt, and yeast in your mixer fitted with dough hook. Mix on low speed for three minutes. Increase speed to medium and knead for four minutes. The dough should be slightly stiff, smooth, and elastic.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly olive oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with a damp towel, and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 20 minutes. Fold the dough over on itself, pressing gently to release the gas. Let the dough rise a second time, about 20 minutes more.
3. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and round into smooth balls, pulling the outer layer taut and pinching the excess dough together at the base of the balls. Place seam sides down on a lightly floured work surface, cover, and let rest until relaxed, fifteen minutes.
4. Prepare two loaf pans by spraying the with cooking spray. Put your hands under each dough round and stretch and pull gently to fit the pans.
5. Brush or mist the surface of the dough lightly with water. Let the dough rise for a third time in a warm place, covered, until the dough springs back slowly to the tough but does not collapse, fifteen minutes.
6. Preheat the oven the 425°F. If you want, you can score the dough right down the center. Brush or mist dough with water once more. Bake until the loaves have a golden brown crust and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom, twenty to twenty-five minutes. Let cool completely on wire racks.
7. Brush or drizzle the top with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt if desired.

This bread goes good with soup on a chilly winter night. Or with a nice summer main dish salad.

rosemary bread rising

summer meal with rosemary bread

How Firm A Foundation

HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION
words first seen in A Se­lect­ion of Hymns from the Best Au­thors by John Rippon

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;

In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,

As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove

My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;

And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,

Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

***
“God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
Hebrews 13:5

Basic Vanilla Layer Cake

Have you ever needed a delicious layer cake for a birthday that hardly ever flop? In the May 2009 issue of Everyday Food magazine I found such a cake. It has been a wonderful find and I've made it many times. Click here for the original recipe. Below is the recipe with my adaptions added in.

Basic Vanilla Layer Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk*

*If you don't have buttermilk on hand try using 1/4 cup white vinegar and 3/4 cup milk. Let sit 5 minutes before puting it in the batter.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-by-2-inch cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
4. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined.
5. Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Spin cakes around on the counter until the batter starts to come up the sides.
6. Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 27 to 31 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.
7. Place one cake, bottom side up, on a cake stand. Tuck strips of parchment paper underneath. Using an offset-spatula or table knife, spread top with icing. Top with remaining cake; frost top, then sides.

~ ~ ~

Below are some variations of this cake that I have also made:

lemon

pineapple

coconut

chocolate

lemon cake

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

One of my MANY favorites!

How can you choose one hymn as your favorite? I never could! I love so many. Because I love so many, I want to start a series of hymns to be posted on succeeding Sundays.

*Go to net hymnal for words and music of many hymns. You will find this one there with a few different words. It seems that people have changed some of Robert Robinson's original words.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
words by Robert Robinson

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise His Name! I’m fixed upon it,

Name of God’s redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer—
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wand’ring from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter

Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart—O take and seal it;

Seal it for Thy courts above.

***

“Samuel took a stone and…named it Ebenezer, saying ‘Thus far has the Lord helped us.’”

1 Samuel 7:12

A tiny little birthday boy

Today my youngest nephew, Benjamin, is turning one! It seems like just yesterday we visited him in the hospital the day after he was born. Now it is his first birthday. How time flies!

Happy First Birthday, Benjamin!

Ribbon Bookmarks

The Christmas season will be here before you know it. Dad always says on the Fourth of July, " Before you know it, it will be Christmas Eve!" He is right! I start thinking about Christmas gifts in January after the previous Christmas season is over.

In the newspaper the other week, there was an article about this woman who collected vintage buttons. One thing she did with these buttons was make them into bookmarkers by sewing a button onto a length of ribbon. They looked really cute! All you do is find a piece of ribbon that is long enough to stay in a book, apply Fray Check® to both ends, and sew on a coordinating button (vintage or new). This craft is easy enough for children to make with a little assistance. Children could give them as Christmas gifts or you could slip one in a book that you are giving as a gift. I am sure that they also look nice in your own books!

Maddie and Bekah making bookmarkers

The finished product

Some Good Books

Have you ever needed a good book? I have often! I just want to curl up somewhere and lose myself in a book. In this picture I did just that!

Have you ever wondered what Nannerl Mozart thought about her brother Wolfgang's fame? Or what made Jane Austen what she was? Or What Martha Washington thought about the Revolutionary War and what she did while her husband was away commanding the army? And what made Elizabeth Barrett Browning a recluse and how she ended up marrying? I wondered about these things until I read four books by Nancy Moser about these characters. She brought these people and their surroundings to life. Each woman tells her own story and her thought and feelings.

In Mozart's Sister, the family travels across Europe so that little Wolfgang, the prodigy, can play for royalty and nobility for money. As the children grow up Nannerl realizes that she will never be as great as her little brother.

source

Just Jane was the first Nancy Moser book I ever read. Jane's sister Cassandra burned her sister diaries after her death and a period of Jane's life is a mystery. Moser created the book on some facts that are known about the author of Pride and Prejudice and used her imagination to fill in the blanks. Then in the back of the book you can learn what is fact and what is fiction.

source

Washington's Lady starts when Martha's first husband Daniel Custis died, leaving her with two children. Then handsome George Washington, hero from the French and Indian war, steps into the picture. Of course we all know what happened after that!

source

How Do I Love Thee? is the story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poet is a recluse and since her tyrannical father has forbid any of the Barrett children to marry she is happy to just write poetry and see her family. Then Robert Browning, a fellow poet, meets Elizabeth. They fall in love but what about her father?

source

I have really enjoyed these books. I hope you will too.

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