A precious gift . . .

On her thirteenth birthday, Betty was given a beautiful Bible by her mother. It had a lovely white leather cover and had a zipp around the edge. She was unable to appreciate what it might mean to her one day though . . . afterall, it was not as exciting as a new pair of earrings or a new blouse . . . and so, when a school friend offered her a pound for it, she very cheerfully accepted the money . . .

As the years slipped by though, Betty often wished that she had never parted with it. On her wedding day, she would have given anything to have been able to carry it as a bride . . . and then, when her dear mother passed away, the lost bible took on a whole new meaning and became even more valuable to Betty.



One day, she was travelling on a bus in a town, not too far from her home. Another woman got onto the bus and sat down right across from her. After a few minutes, she noticed the woman staring at her and then the woman spoke.

"Do you remember me?" She asked. Betty confessed that she didn't.

"We were at school together. You sold me a lovely white bible for a pound." said the woman.



Tears came to Betty's eyes as she explained that . . . yes, she did remember her, and that she'd so often wished through the years that she had kept the bible and how her dear mother had now passed away.

Imagine her surprise and her gratitude when, a few days later, a package was delivered to her home . . . as she unwrapped it, she discovered that it held her old white bible . . . it's inside cover inscribed in the familiar handwriting of her mother . . . "To Betty, with love from mom."

Nobody could have ever given Betty a more wonderful or a more precious gift.



It's funny how that goes . . . when we are young, we often cannot see the value of things that are most precious. It takes time and experience, and sometimes loss before we actually discover their true value . . .

Some of the most valuable things in life cannot be bought nor sold with money . . . they are purchased with a tender touch of the heart, and tied up with strings of love. This is a simple truth . . .

And that's my thought for today.



It doesn't look to be as sunny today. We have plans to go into town and walk down to the college so that I can talk to the people there about a course in the fall. I hope that the skies clear and that it doesn't rain as it is a rather long walk! I also need to pick up some things to finish off my sharing time with and I need to bake some scones for the Primary leader/Teacher get together tonight. It is going to be a strawberry social! You can't have strawberries without some tasty scones and some cream!

In the meantime though, here is a delicious breakfast recipe that Todd quite loves. It's not hard to make and is quite impressive when finished. I hope you enjoy!!




*Jammy Bread Sandwiches*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Quick, delicious and different. A hot french toast sandwich filled with meltingly rich cream cheese and sweet jam. Quite simply, lovely . . .

3 large eggs,
1 TBS sugar
2 TBS whole milk
a few drops of vanilla
8 slices of brioche bread
4 heaping TBS of your favourite jam
4 heaping TBS of cream cheese
a large knob of butter for cooking
more caster sugar for sprinkling

Lightly beat together the eggs, caster sugar, milk and vanilla in a shallow dish large enough to fit the bread slices into. Open the slices of bread and spread the cream cheese on half of them and the jam on the other half. Put them together cheese sides to jam sides in the middle, pressing firmly so that they stick together.

Melt the butter over medium low heat in a large skillet until it begins to foam. Soak each sandwich in the beaten egg mixture until all the egg has been absorbed, allowing them to soak on both sides. Place the soaked sandwiches into the foaming butter and fry for one to two minutes on each side, until golden brown and crusty all over, adding more butter as necessary. Remove to warm plates and slice into fingers. Dust lightly with caster sugar to serve and enjoy!



There is a Thai Green Chicken Curry waiting over in The English Kitchen this morning!