Visiting Teaching Thought for the Month June 2015 {Handout}

For my handout this month, I share a lovely quote by President Gordon B. Hinkley: "Love of God is the root of all virtue, of all goodness, of all strength of character."

Elder D. Todd Christofferson tells us: "Sisters, of all your associations, it is your relationship with God, your Heavenly Father, who is the source of your moral power, that you just always put first in your life. Remember that Jesus's power came through his single-minded devotion to the will of the Father. ... Strive to be that kind of disciple of the Father and the Son, and your influence will never fade."

Having a good personal relationship with our Heavenly Father is of vital importance on our path to becoming more Christlike. Our first priority, day to day, should be to God, before even ourselves, our spouses or our family. Elder Richard G. Scott said: "Don't yield to Satan's lie that you don't have time to study the scriptures." This applies to prayer too. Scripture study and prayer are our direct communication line with our Father in Heaven and therefore our greatest tool in developing a loving relationship with Him.

Have a great month and enjoy your Visiting Teaching!

Click here, or on the image above, to download the English printable.

Click here, or on the image above, to download the Dutch printable.

Thank you to Chaya Herrebrugh-Wachtmeester for the translation.

If you would like to make fridge magnet pegs to display your Thought for the Month, click here for the printable and tutorial.

Click links below for previous month's Thought for the Month

• January 2015
• February 2015
• March 2015
• April 2015
• May 2015

Visiting Teaching Thought for the Month May 2015 {Handout}

This month we are asked to share one of the General Conference talks with our sisters. One talk that really stood out for me this conference was "Stay by the tree" by Elder Kevin W. Pearson. Here are my thoughts as I listened to his message:

He tells us that when one of the Brethren visited President Heber J. Grant shortly before he passed away, President Grant prayed, “O God, bless me that I shall not lose my testimony and keep faithful to the end!” Even a Prophet of 27 years is not beyond Satan's influence. This is a great reminder to me not to be discouraged when I feel the pull of temptation, the fact that I am tempted does not make me weak - it makes me human. It is how I act upon that temptation that makes the difference. My task is to withstand those temptations, strive every day to become more like Christ and endure to the end.

Elder Pearson says that the principle of "enduring to the end" is not the same as "hanging in there" (which is not a principle of the gospel). To "hang in there" has the implication of doing as little as possible to just get by.  Christ, however doesn't want us to be mediocre, he wants us to become perfect, and we are not going to achieve that by doing as little as we possibly can. Instead, we need to make that endure actively, we need to put daily work into remaining faithful.

He says: "Casual obedience and lukewarm commitment weaken faith. Enduring to the end requires total commitment to the Savior and to our covenants" (emphasis added).

He gives us 6 important principles that can help us do this:

1. Don't Forget to Pray
2. Come Unto Christ and be Perfected in Him
3. Press Forward with Faith
4. The Book of Mormon is Key to Spiritual Survival
5. Don't be Distracted and Deceived
6. Stay by the Tree (referring to Lehi's vision)

My Visiting Teaching Thought for the Month comes from point 4, and he repeats the message again towards the end of his talk. He reminds us that we need to prayerfully study the Book of Mormon and the words of the Living Prophets and live it's teachings every day, every day, every day! Doing this will help us when we feel conflicted, spiritually low, confused and overwhelmed. Elder Pearson testifies that "the profound power in the Book of Mormon will change your life and strengthen your resolve to follow Christ. The Holy Ghost will change your heart and help you see 'things as they really are.' He will show you what you need to do next."

I hope that seeing this handout on your fridge, pin board, mirror or wall can serve as a little reminder to feast, daily, on the scriptures and strengthen your resolve to come unto Christ, be fully committed to Him and to actively endure to the end. One day at a time.

Click here, or on the image above, to download the English printable.

Click here, or on the image above, to download the Spanish printable.

Thank you to Wanda Lopez for the translation.

Click here, or on the image above, to download the Dutch printable.

Thank you to Chaya Herrebrugh-Wachtmeester for the translation.

If you would like to make fridge magnet pegs to display your Thought for the Month, click here for the printable and tutorial.

Click links below for previous month's Thought for the Month

• January 2015
• February 2015
• March 2015
• April 2015

Gender Reveal Party

This Moustaches and Bows gender reveal party was so much fun to plan and execute! It was a joint effort between Mamma-to-be Anna, myself and my BFF Claudette. Anna saw a photo of a cake that she really liked, and the whole theme of the party snowballed from there.

I have to be honest, this is not my favourite cake. The fondant I used to cover the cake was awful, left a pitted and elephant skin surface which I just could not remedy, so I piped all over it with royal icing (it was originally supposed to just be a decorative edge to the bracket frames). Unfortunately, my arm is just not yet up to the task and my piping looks really terrible viewed close up. I think I need a bit more practice with the chalkboard effect too. Thankfully, Anna and Paul loved it.

All the decorations, and most of the food, was hand made by the three of us. Anna spent hours folding all the concertinas to make the rosettes! Our friend Erin cut all the triangles for the bunting. All the little moustaches and bows were cut on my silhouette cameo.

The food was all themed to the old Nursery Rhyme "What are little boys made of?" Each table (blue and pink) had the following framed artwork on it. Click on the images to download the pdf for your own use.

On the blue table we had cocktail sausage snails, worm pudding, nuts, crisps and sandwiches. My daughter watched us set up the table, checking off each item against the nursery rhyme. She was happy with the snails and decided that worms were close enough to slugs, but then we put down the nuts and she exclaimed: "Nuts? But boys don't have nuts!" Needles to say, party preparations stopped for a few  minutes while we all rolled around on the floor laughing!

How cute are the snails that Claudette made?!? And they tasted great too - never thought I'd actually eat snails ;)

The girls table had gingerbread cookies, strawberries, marshmallows, chocolate dipped pretzels and caramel popcorn balls. All very sweet and very yummy!

Actually, both tables had gingerbread cookies on, but I couldn't only make bow cookies, those moustaches are too cute!

We even dressed up the drinks dispensers, and coloured the punch too.

As guests arrived they were directed to the table below. They were to vote for whether they thought Baby Robinson was going to be a girl or boy - write their name on the relevant bow/moustache, and pop it in the jar, then take a bow/moustache pin and wear it throughout the party. They could also suggest names for the baby.

Once everyone had arrived we played a couple of games. First up was a Quiz based on old wives tales. Everyone got a quiz sheet and had a few minutes to complete the quiz (some worked in groups). Once they had finished it, we went through the answers and had Anna and Paul test each of the tales. We ended up with the baby being just as likely to be a boy as a girl.

I found the Old Wives Tales Quiz at a blog called Through Clouded Glass, but adapted it to fit our party theme. Click on the image above to download the pdf.

Click here for the ANSWER sheet.

Then we played a team game. All those who voted girl formed a seated line along one side of the room, boy along the other side. We ended up with 2 more on the boy team than the girl team, so one switched sides to make it even. The aim of the game was to pass a cup down the line, passing it from lap to lap without touching it with anything but your legs.

It was quite hilarious to watch! The team who voted for Baby Robinson to be a girl won.

With that, it was time to cut the gender-revealing cake! Drumroll please...

It's a GIRL!!!

Just look how happy they are :)

Both wearing pink bows, they were very pleased with the pink cake.

Happy Mamma!

We had also set a photo booth up for guests to entertain themselves throughout the evening. We supplied plenty of props in the way of hats and wigs as well as a good selection of cardboard cut outs on sticks - moustaches and bows of course, glasses, lips and bow ties.

It was a lot of fun!

Congratulations Paul and Anna, we can't wait to meet the little lady!

Visiting Teaching Thought for the Month April 2015 {Handout}

It is good for us to remember that no one of us is without sin, and that we should not hypocritically esteem ourselves above any others, for we know not what is in their heart. As Christ said: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone..." (John 8:7).

The only man who has, or ever will be without sin was Christ, and no more humble man is there, without any guile or hypocrisy. To become more Christlike is not to prove to the world how good we are, but it is a look into our own hearts. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said: “To beguile is to deceive or lead astray. … A person without guile is a person of innocence, honest intent, and pure motives, whose life reflects the simple practice of conforming his [or her] daily actions to principles of integrity.”

Becoming more Christlike is striving to honestly BE the best we can be, patterning ourselves after Christ's example. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said: "None of us is quite as Christlike as we know we should be. But we earnestly desire to overcome our faults and the tendency to sin. With our heart and soul we yearn to become better with the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

Click here to download the English 4-up pdf

Click here to download the Spanish 4-up pdf 

Thank you to Wanda Lopez for the translation :)

If you would like to make fridge magnet pegs to display your Thought for the Month, click here for the printable and tutorial.

Click links below for previous month's Thought for the Month

• January 2015
• February 2015
• March 2015

Visiting Teaching Thought for the Month March 2015 {Handout}

This month's Visiting Teaching message is all about patience - one trait upon which I have much improvement yet to make!

I remember being told in a talk once to be careful when praying for patience, because you may not get what you expect. Rather than giving you an instant gift of patience, the Lord is more likely to send you trials that test your patience, thereby increasing your patience through experience.

I have been told in many blessings lately (as I have struggled with the injury to my right shoulder) to have patience and remember the the Lord works in his own time. I have felt many times that this patience I have had to endure was passive - literally sitting around waiting for my arm to heal so that I could get 'back to normal'. However, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, tells us “Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something … even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!”

“Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it with courage, grace, and faith. It means being ‘willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father’ [Mosiah 3:19]. Ultimately, patience means being ‘firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord’ [1 Nephi 2:10] every hour of every day, even when it is hard to do so.”

So I thought about how this applied to my current situation, and realised that it is in my attitude to my circumstances that I can 'endure well', rather than sitting around feeling sorry for myself and 'failing to act', I can still find ways to play an active roles in my family, community and church, even if they are different from those I am used to.

Click here to download the pdf of this month's Thought for the Month.

Click here for the Spanish pdf

If you would like to make fridge magnet pegs to display your Thought for the Month, click here for the printable and tutorial.

Click links below for previous month's Thought for the Month

• January 2015
• February 2015

Valentines Roll Cake {Recipe & Tutorial}

Happy Valentines Day!!

This is the cake I made for my darling Valentine this year.

I saw a photo of a cake with vertical layers ages ago, and have been dying to give it a try. I used my trusty old Swiss Roll recipe and fed it some steroids!

I love how it looks so simple and unassuming from the outside.

Then BAM, you cut it open and this happens:

Vertical Layers Roll Cake     PRINT

Serves 20

Ingredients:

Swiss Roll:	)
3 large eggs	)
125g golden caster sugar	)
1 tsp vanilla	) x 4
125g all purpose flour	)
pinch salt	)
1 Tbsp warm water	)

Red food colour

Filling:

About 800g strawberry jam

Topping:

400ml double cream

2 Tbsp meringue powder (optional)

2 Tbsp castor sugar

Strawberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Bake swiss rolls one at a time:

Grease and line the bottom of a swiss roll tin or baking tray.

Beat the eggs, castor sugar and vanilla together until it becomes very pale and thick and forms ribbons when dropped from the beater. Sift flour and salt in in two batches, folding it in gently until the batter is smooth. Fold in the warm water.

Spread batter evenly over the bottom of the baking tray. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of batter (from each batch) in a small bowl to be used later.

Bake for 10 minutes, until light golden brown and it springs back to the touch.

Remove from the oven, and working quickly, split the cake in half lengthwise, remove the first half onto a piece of parchment paper. Trim off all the edge crusts.

Spread thinly with some of the jam. Roll up from one end. Now move the second half to the parchment paper, trim and spread with jam. Butt the ends of the first rolled piece and the second piece, roll the second piece tightly around the first piece, increasing the size of the swiss roll, Choose one end to be the bottom of the cake, stand it up on the bottom up against a vertical surface to keep it upright and keep the flap in place.

Be sure to spread the jam very thin. You want a solid layer of colour, but keep it to a minimum or the cake will be very sweet!

Repeat with the second and third swiss rolls, adding each new piece to the big roll, keeping the bottom side level.

Mix red food colour into the reserved batter (there should be some from all three swiss rolls already made). Draw hearts onto the back of the parchment paper lining for the last swiss roll. Grease and line the baking tray with the parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper, then pipe the red batter onto the hearts. 

Bake for 2 minutes to set the hearts. Allow to cool.

Trim the flap on the rolled swiss roll to remove the hard edge.

Make up the last batch of swiss roll batter. Spread it carefully over the red hearts, covering the bottom of the baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes as before. Split, trim and spread with jam.

Roll the first piece of patterned cake around the swiss roll, covering the trimmed edge, ensuring the hearts are the right way up. Trim the second piece to fit between the edges of the first piece so that both edges butt up against each other. If you are careful not to get jam over the edges and butt the edges tightly, the join is hardly noticeable. Wrap tightly with parchment paper or and acetate collar and leave to set for a couple of hours.

Once set, trim the top of the cake so that it is level.

Add the meringue powder and caster sugar to the double cream and whip to stiff peaks.

Pipe on to the top of the cake and decorate with strawberries.

Twisted roses from my Valentine <3