Precious truths and a delicious Trifle

I've been reading a really good book lately by author Sheri Dew, entitled, "God Wants A Powerful People." She's a wonderful writer as well as being the President, I believe, of Deseret Books. I was really fortunate enough to hear her speak once, up in Liverpool, and will never forget the authority and wisdom with which she spoke. It forever impressed me and I have eaten everything she has written or said since, just like candy! She is a very wise and intelligent woman.

This book is full of wonderful truths and words of wisdom . . . and I have gained so much from reading it, thus far. (I'm about half way through it) I would highly recommend it, even if you aren't LDS.

I wanted to share a list from the book with you this morning because I was very impressed with it. I present to you a list of truths that the world media (magazines, television, movies etc.) won't tell you about:

• That all human beings, male and female, are created in the image of God.
• That each of us has a divine nature and destiny.
• That God's commandment to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.
• That the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed and expressed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.
• That parents have a sacred duty towards their children.
• That the family is ordained of God, and that marriage between man and woman is essential to God's eternal plan.
• That fathers are to preside over their families, provide for them, and protect them.
• That mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.
• That mothers and fathers are equal partners.
• That individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will stand accountable before God.
• That the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations, the calamities foretold by prophets ancient and modern.

That's quite a list, and as I read through it, I was deeply impressed with the truth of it's words. We see around us today that many of the things on this list are "poo poohed" and seen as being old fashioned or backwards by a great deal of society. The world would tell us that people don't need to be married to have a family and that women can have it all (ie. careers, family etc.) Children are being cared for by strangers in day care centres, by people who have no vested interest in their futures, or, in a lot of cases, children are caring for themselves . . . the latch key children . . . children who spend their days with video games, televisions and computer terminals as their only after school companions, or worse still . . . hanging about on street corners where they meet up with other lost souls and get up to mischief with nobody there to watch or keep control . . .

Wives and mother's are being abused by husband's or partners exercising unrighteous dominion over them and their families in untold numbers. Women and children are being abandoned by men who have no commitment to the families they would create, children are being brought up in homes with the benefit of not having their fathers around or having fathers who would present to them a very poor example of what a man should and can be . . .

In many cases, we have women, who are not much more than children themselves, having children, and, by various absentee fathers who disappear and bear no sense of responsability towards their own offspring or the women who bear them . . .

Not a day passes where we don't hear at least one story of a child who has been abused or neglected in some way. The family is under attack and disintegrating before our very eyes as is (are) our country (s). We can see their power weakening more and more as time passes . . .

People have become lovers of themselves more than lovers of each other. We worship idols with clay feet such as the likes of Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse. As nations we have become obsessed with all the glitz and glamour of the world, and possessions . . . wealth that fades away and has no eternal value. (You can't take it with you) Where is the joy . . .

Oh what a different world we would live in if, as Children of an eternal God, we could all only understand and embrace who we truly are and why we have been sent here, and then live our lives accordingly . . . the fact that so many of us don't saddens my heart . . . and I'm pretty sure it makes His ache . . .



Whew! Serious message this morning, but it was what was on my mind. I hope you don't mind me sharing!

We have had a glorious couple of days of beautiful mild weather and sunshine here this weekend, and Todd's gotten a lot of gardening done. Jess has enjoyed playing outside with the little boy next door. I think she sometimes gets quite bored with the likes of us two old fogies that are somewhat lacking in energy from time to time. I mean, how can two "over fifties" possibly compare with the delight of having a child to play with?? It's so good for her and I love to see her enjoying herself like that!! Border Collies are dogs with lots of energy that needs to be tapped! She's spent these last few evenings too pooped to do much other than lay about. Usually she's mithering one or the other of us almost constantly for attention and trying to lay on our laps. (Not a comfy thing, but I do try to oblige her as much as I can!)

I made Todd a comfy Cottage Pie for his tea last night and a delicious trifle for dessert. I'll give you the cottage pie recipe in a couple of days, and will tempt you now with the trifle. Trifle's not just for Christmas you know! It's a guilty pleasure you can enjoy pretty much any time of the year! The full recipe makes enough for six people, but I made only enough for two, recognizing of course, that to have any more than that of it around this house for any length of time, would be dangerous indeed. This is the perfect recipe to use up some of those English Strawberries that are just coming in to season. I adapted this recipe from the featured recipe on the cover of this month's Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine.

*Turkish Delight Trifle*

Serves 6

Trifle is really quite easy to make if you take advantage of some of the good quality convenience foods we have available at the shops these days. If I was going to eat a Swiss roll on it's own (jelly roll to you North Americans) most certainly I would make it from scratch, but for a composed dessert like this it's more than ok to use a bought one! Jammy, sticky, creamy and full of lovely fruit,k this is a real delight to make and to eat! Mmmm . . . Swiss roll . . . Turkish delight . . . English strawberries . . . this is a dessert with some international flavour going on!

175g Swiss roll

100ml framboise liqueur (you can substitute some fruit juice here, like pear or apple)

600g fresh strawberries, or raspberries, cleaned and hulled (strawberries cut in half)

200g Turkish delight

500g fresh custard

350ml double cream

50g plain chocolate

Icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Taking a sharp knife, cut the Swiss roll into slices about 1/2 inch thick and arrange them around the bottom half of a pretty cut glass bowl. Drizzle the framboise (fruit juice) over top. Scatter two thirds of the prepared berries over the cake. Cut the Turkish delight into thick slices and scatter that over top of the berries. (Reserve a bit to garnish the top)

Pour the prepared custard over top of the fruit and candy. Whip the double cream into soft peaks and spoon it evenly over the custard. Top with the remaining berries and Turkish delight (chopped into small pieces). Using a vegetable peeler shave the dark chocolate over top of the trifle. Finally dust with some icing sugar, if using, and serve. Delicious!!