Marie's Sunday Six Smile Makers

One of the things I like most about Sundays, next to being able to go to church and partake of the sacrament and being with my church brothers and sisters is being able to share my Sunday Six Smile Makers with each of you. I am rather late getting them posted today as I didn't have enough time this morning. I had been up rather late last night working and then had to dash off early to church so you had to make do with a repost from an earlier time. I am going to make up for that now, hopefully! Six things this week that made me smile . . .



1. This is called a moon dog. Moon Dogs ,or 'mock moons' are the analog to sun dogs. When the Moon or the Sun is observed through a cloud deck that contains icy particles such as cirrus clouds, the icy particles can serve as a screen and diffract the light from the Sun or Moon into a variety of wonderful shapes. Most of us have seen lunar haloes or haloes around the Sun. In the far northern latitudes near the arctic circle, spectacular halos and other 'glories' can be seen. These can be quite complex with multiple concentric circles, arcs portions of arcs, all arrayed in spectacular geometric designs. On this Thursday night past I was on my way to work about ten o'clock in the evening and I was mesmerized by the sight of a moon dog hanging high in the evening sky. It was a very cold night and the sight was so beautiful . . . magical even. It truly made me smile. It was so bright that I didn't even have to use my flashlight to see my way along the pathway, neither did I need it to make my way home in the wee hours of the morning as it was still so bright. I love that my life contains magic moments such as these and am so thankful that I have a heart that is able to take them all in.



2. This is my sweet friend Lura of Grammy's News, holding her grandson Austin. They are both enjoying some of my reindeer cookies! Lura is an angel to me. She is one of those people that you meet in life that as soon as your spirits touch you feel an immediate kinship and it is as if you have always known each other. Lura makes me smile. Every word she writes, every comment she leaves, every little e-mail she sends . . . the minute I see the word Lura my heart breaks out into song and smiles. Yesterday the post man arrived carrying a huge box. Todd looked at me and said . . . "What did you order now???" I was flabbergasted. I had not ordered a thing, but there on the cover was the most magical mailing label and I could see it was from sweet Lura. What oh what could she have sent to me??? Inside I found the most beautiful pair of pajamas and a wonderful little Chef Gingerbread doll, wearing a lovely little apron with the words, "Chef Marie" embroidered on the pocket, words that I know Lura herself put onto it. My heart was touched and tears sprang to my eyes. That this sweet lady so far away could care so much for me made me smile. Lura, I truly do love you, and not because you send me wonderful things like cozy pink pajamas and cute lil gingerbread chef's, but because you embody to me love in it's purest sense. Selfless, caring and Christlike. If I am brave enough I will post a picture soon of me in my pink pj's holding my new little gingerbread friend. (don't hold your breath though, coz you might faint waiting. ;-) )



3. This past Thursday evening at our Young Women's activity night we made Gingerbread houses. It was so much fun. Even though I was tired from having worked all day, and having taught a seminary lesson . . . and even though I knew I still had a whole night's work facing me when I finished at Young Women's and got home, it made me smile. I just love the young women in our church. They are such wonderful girls and so full of life and promise. I have been so blessed these past several years to be able to work with them. I can remember when I was first called to be a leader of these girls, I thought to myself, oh no, I cannot possibly have anything in me that these girls could want or use, but I have enjoyed every minute of it so far. I remember praying that I could love these girls and guess what? Heavenly Father answered my prayers because I do love them so very much, even when they are being moody and hard to get along with! I am thankful for answered prayers, young women and gingerbread houses that make me smile.



4. This is Michael. He is our Bishop's youngest son. He's a great guy and very musical. I really enjoy him. He is really funny and articulate and really loves the Saviour. He's also very talented. I can remember a few years ago when I had first come to our church ward here where I live now, I walked into the Primary Sunday school rooms and Michael was there with another young lad. The other young lad made a rude comment about me, and it made me cry. I didn't think I would ever be able to like these boys, and my feelings were really hurt. Guess what? Another answered prayer because I adore this young lad! He is magic to me and every time I see him he makes me smile. His spirit is so abundantly full of life and he is just such a special young man. Today in church he sang the most beautiful song, and he sang it so well. It brought tears to my eyes and I was so filled with the spirit of the Lord and the magnitude of what He did for us. Michael makes me smile.



5. This is the song that Michael sang this morning. It was not the first time I had heard him sing it. Listen to the words and let them speak to your heart. It will make you smile, it will make you cry, it will touch your heart. I will always love this song and I am going to teach myself how to sing it so that every time I want to feel closer to the Saviour I can sing it to myself. It makes me smile to think of how much the Saviour loves us. I am so thankful for that love. (Make sure you pause my music before you try to listen to the video. It's right at the bottom of this page!)



6. Buttermilk Pancakes make me smile. They remind me of Saturday mornings when my children were growing up. I always made them buttermilk pancakes on Saturday mornings and we always had them with sliced peaches, maple syrup and oodles of butter. Try it, you might find that they make you smile too!

*Buttermilk Pancakes*
Serves 4

Light, fluffy and tender, these delicious pancakes are a tried and tested family favourite. Try them as we do, served up with cold sliced peaches for a real taste treat . . . don’t forget the butter and Maple syrup!

2 large eggs
2 cups plain flour
2 TBS caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
4 TBS melted butter
1 to 2 TBS sunflower oil for frying

Beat the eggs with a whisk until frothy. Sift together the dry ingredients and then whisk them into the eggs along with the buttermilk and melted butter. Whisk until smooth and no lumps of flour remain. Try not to over mix.

Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle pan until fairly hot. Lightly coat with some sunflower oil and spoon roughly about 1/3 of a cup of batter into the pan for each pancake. I can cook about three at a time in my skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the surface of the pancake is covered with bubbles and appears a little bit dry, (about 4 to 6 minutes). Flip over and lightly brown on the other side. Remove to a warm oven to keep warm while you cook the rest of the pancakes, greasing your pan again as needed.

Serve up hot with butter, maple syrup and tinned peaches to your loved ones and stand back and await the applause!