While in the States I purchased some round cake pans to add to our collection here of squares and oblongs. Jim tried one of them with a homemade mix that utilized some strawberries we had forgotten too long in the frig. Turned out perfect and delicious.
On Saturday we tried them again with Jim’s chocolate cake recipe—a nice moist dark brown chocolate. So many chocolate cakes here are dryer, and Jim says it’s because they’re skimpy on the eggs. All went well until we turned the pans upside down to release the cake. Too much of it stuck to the bottom of the pan! Yuck! What do we do? The cake was for Sunday dinner to celebrate Cathy’s birthday. [Cathy is our daughter Ruth’s mother-in-law.]
Well, no chance of the cake going into the dustbin. So we borrowed on the trifle idea. [Trifle: a dessert made of a sponge cake, according to the dictionary] Jim made a boiled white frosting, and we put everything all together in his famous orange bowl. First clumps of cake topped with spoonfuls of frosting and repeated again and again. Jim put an empty plastic flour bin over the top and we set it high out of the reach of ants. The cake the next day was a big hit along with ice cream and some homemade chocolate sauce.
Cathy’s birthday had been on Friday, and we left her a gift bag at the butchery where she works. Midland’s Butchery—the best in Zimbabwe! On the card we wrote a scripture taken from The Message Bible, the introduction to Mary’s Magnificat although I didn’t think of that at the time. I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God. God took one good look at me, and look what happened—I’m the most fortunate woman on earth! Cathy later told us this scripture set the tone for a day that just got better and better.
The time spent finding the right scripture is suddenly so worthwhile. At first I tried in the Psalms and Proverbs, using the month and the day for a guide. Then I saw on the gift bag a scripture in the NIV, and looked it up in the Message, and it was so perfect!
Birthdays can be fun because they are individualized. Custom-made gifts or thoughts. Not for everyone every time but sometimes I hit the jackpot and it makes the little things so perfect. Like a bar of creamy perfumed soap when the norm has been harsh soaps in the shops. Or anything from my gift drawer made up of miscellaneous items and books to give away. The fun comes in unknowingly picking the right gift for someone who was wanting just that but didn’t have the time or money or source to find it for themselves.
It comes, doesn’t it, from listening and putting ideas on the shelves of your mind for future use. And it doesn’t always have to be birthdays, but people are more comfortable with receiving for a birthday rather than just any day of the year.
Giving brings pleasure to the giver as well as the receiver.
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