Variation:  I use the dough scraps after cutting out the rolls and roll them together.  Roll out to about 1/3 inch.  Spread with soft butter.  Mix some cinnamon and sugar together and pour on top.  Then roll up like a jelly roll.  Cut into 1 ½ inch slices.  Put on baking sheet. Bake at 425 until lightly brown.  Presto – now you have some good cinnamon rolls.  I make an icing with powdered sugar ,  a little milk and vanilla flavoring and spread on hot rolls.

Cook about 5 strips of bacon in your wok. Remove bacon. add a little butter or olive oil. Put in a diced onion and cook until almost tender. Then add a head of chopped cabbage. Stir until all is coated. I then add about 2 T. water and cover the wok with the lid and cook just a few minutes until almost tender. Then add juice of one lemon, 1 8 oz. carton of sour cream, 1/8 C. sugar, salt and pepper. Stir until all is well heated. (Don’t keep cooking; just heat after adding the sour cream) Crumble the bacon on top, and presto – the best cabbage dish you will ever eat.

2. Melt 1 stick butter in casserole dish.

3. In mixing bowl, cut 1/2 C. shortening into 1 1/2 C. self-rising flour. Add 1/2 C. cold milk and stir to make dough.

4. Roll dough onto a floured surface into a rectangle.

5. Cut up 2 – 3 c. fresh fruit (peaches, strawberries, black berries, or apples) onto the dough; distribute evenly.

6. Roll up like jelly roll.

7. Cut into 2 inch slices and place in the butter in the casserole dish.

8. Mix 2 C. water and 2 C. sugar and pour over it.

9. Bake at 350 about 1 hour or until golden brown

I did three sessions on Stones of Remembrance: 1. Memorial Stones, 2. Ten Commandment Stones and other biblical stones 3. Living Stones.  The sessions included much sharing among the attendees.  On Sunday morning we worshipped with the congregation there and then left for home. We took breakfast foods and sandwich makings for lunch and ate out at night. (I had made reservations for suppers.)  We did serious bible study but also did some activities which brought bonding and laughter. We had plenty of free time for walking the beach and even went to the Foley Outlets to shop Saturday afternoon.

They asked me to plan another one for next spring.  I will be doing Faith that Follows for that one.  I received great feedback from the group this time.

Here are some of the comments our ladies made:

“What a wonderful weekend!  I learned the importance of stacking the stones of remembrance as a reminder to our family, friends and ourselves of the many times Our Solid Rock has brought us through those rocky times in our lives, and that it can be a witness to others.”

“The best part of the weekend was learning and growing closer to each other and, best of all, to the Lord.”

“Such a wonderful boning time with my fellow sisters in the Lord, and Ms. Barbara wasn’t bad either. Lol”

“Regardless of location, serving Jesus and receiving a renewing of spirit was a blessing and FUN.”

“This was a very humbling experience and I learned the meaning of “Ebenezer’”

“We all could relate to the Bible passages because we all have stones of remembrance in our lives.”

“I’m thankful for the stones in my life because the amount of stones determines the strength of my foundation.”

“Mrs. Barbara did a tremendous job in planning a weekend where we grew as Christians and grew closer to one another.”

I hope this gives you the information you need to plan a retreat for your ladies.  We had a wide age-span – from sixteen (the bus driver’s daughter) to eighty-four.  Call me if your would be interested in my conducting a retreat for the ladies at your church.  If you have further questions, call me at 256-878-5934. We need to start NOW if you want to schedule the same place for this fall or for next spring.  The dates fill up fast.

Building on that thought, I had participants of a prayer retreat I was leading to go out and find a stone.  After reading that scripture, I asked the ladies to tell of a time God had helped them through a rough spot.  They were to keep that rock as a remembrance of that time. I later did that with the young adult couples Sunday school class I taught.  Many of them are middle-aged now, and some tell me they still have their stone of remembrance on their dresser or in some other prominent place.

After my mom and dad retired and moved from the store to which their house was attached, they built their house out of the frame of an old chicken house.  Daddy wanted a big hearth rock for the fireplace they added. He found one on a creek bed close by.  My boys helped him bring it to the house by sitting on the front of the tractor with which he pulled the huge rock on a home-made slide.  Last year, we had to have the house taken down because it was dilapidated.  Our oldest son had bought the property and said the only thing he wanted from it was the hearth rock.  He had memories attached to that rock. 1. He remembered helping his grandfather bring the rock to the house. 2. When any of the grandchildren misbehaved there, they had to sit on the hearth rock to think about what they had done.

One day my niece Lee (about three at the time) called her mom a dumb-dumb.  Her mom told her to sit on the rock to think about what she had done wrong.  I walked by to hear Lee mutter under her breath, “She is a dumb-dumb, I know she’s a dumb-dumb.” I’m not sure she was very repentant at the time.

Since my son lives in Florida, I asked him what he wanted done with the rock and the ones from the chimney we also saved.  “Oh, I want them at your house,” he answered.  We live across the road from where my parents lived.  Now, those rocks remain in an unsightly pile in our front yard.  We have waited a year for the demolition man to fulfill his promise to move them to the back for a rock garden.  That’s okay though because those rocks ARE rocks of remembrance for me – remembrance of fun family times together at my parents’ home – a home where Christ was the solid foundation  rock.