Sunday Salad

Growing up in a Mennonite household there were certain dishes that were associated with a family member or a day of the week.  

Sunday salad is one such dish.  It did not matter who you visited as long as it was on Sunday this marshmallow delight was on the menu.  

The salad goes by many names and for us it was always known as Sunday Salad.

The flavour of jello and combination of fruit might change and yet the salad remained basically the same through the use of miniature marshmallows and Cool Whip.

 

For the past number of years this salad has fell out of out of favour for healthier salads and as will happen it is making a come back.

Here is the salad recipe that we grew up with for you to enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1 package orange jello
• 1 can crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 can Mandarin oranges drained
• 1 container Cool Whip
• 2 cup miniature marshmallows

Directions

1. Place crushed pineapple and juice in a bowl add jello
2. Drain oranges and add to jello
3. Add marshmallows
4. Add Cool Whip and stir together
5. Refrigerate overnight
6. Serve

From Our Table To Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013 - 2016 twosnydergirls

Date Night

Friday July 29, 2016 we will spending the greater part of the day away from computers enjoying old fashion pursuits like reading a book, looking through thrift stores, sitting with a great cup of coffee and watching a movie.  

So we will once again post Foodie Friday on Saturday.  

Thank you for all your encouragement and comments.

Grandma Snyder 

Summer Fence Line

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Life As A Chapter Book

The metaphor of a chapter book works well in describing a human life.  In talk therapy we describe the struggles that a person is going through as a chapter in that book not the whole story and this is a book you get to change the cover of as often as you like.

And so as we come and go from a person’s life, we need to be mindful we know only the chapter that our paths cross in.

Years ago in a senior’s home, there was the nicest elderly man, he always had a pleasant word for staff, knew our children's names and was helpful towards the people he shared the home with.  

So why was it his only son never came to visit?  Holidays would come and go money to purchase gifts for his father arrived but no visits.

Finally, it become too much and the director of the home called the son and encouraged him to visit his father.  With the application of guilt, the son relented and the day of the visit arrived. 

He walked through the front door of the home and went directly to the office of the directer where he announced that this would not go well.  

What did he mean not go well, staff smiled and told him how pleased his father would be do know he was a grandfather, how his father always paid special attention to the children who visited, not go well his father would be thrilled.

We only knew this elderly man through one chapter in his life book and with horror moments later profanity, and curses erupted from his room as he screamed after the retreating bodies of his son, daughter-in-law and grandchild.  

As the son passed the nurses he said "My father is a bigot and has never accepted my wife or my son, it is my father’s wish never to see us again not ours!"

This quote took on new meaning to the entire staff that day.

Be mindful always that each of us has many chapters in our life book, some we are proud of, others we are not and some we strive to conceal.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls 

God made you alive!

From the dais rang words of condemnation and retribution!

From the pulpit words of hell fire and brimstone rained down on our young heads!

We were:

            Dammed to hell,

                        Born out of sin,

                                    Forgotten by God,

                                                Destined for eternal torment,

Unless we repented that very moment!

Falling on our knees and

praying that our Lord forgive us our sinful nature!

Well you bet we all got up off our chairs, and ran to the front crying for forgiveness - we ran out of fear of a God that was going to strike us down that very minute because we were not like the blessed, whoever they were.

Then when there was no holy fire, no lighting, no sudden assentation either to heaven or to hell, we were left confused, embarrassed and angry.  We had been tricked.

This experience as a child visiting in a distant relative’s church, left us filled with concern, worry and mortal fear. 

Instead of finding a faith that lifted us up, that called us to sit at Christ’s feet in love and encouragement, we were left crying in our bedrooms overwhelmed by rules, and religious dogma.

This memory was brought to consciousness in today’s service where we were reminded that Christ walks with us each day in love through the people we will meet. 

That we are the works of God’s own hand and thus we always walk within God’s love and mercy, sinner and saved alike.

As an adolescent it was only when I understood that God loved my uniqueness that my spiritual desire to follow and serve in love was born.

When I understood  that it was not my sameness with others or my blind following of religious dogmas  that was desired of me that a faith based fear melted and I knew the unconditional love of my God.

I was made alive by my God, created with unique gifts and abilities, with the potential to love and give back as I meet Christ daily in the face of a crying child, the worry of an elderly woman, in the request for help from a homeless youth.

It is not about the rules and dogma it is about love,  every child knows this.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings Genesis 18:20-32, Psalm 138, Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19), Luke 11:1-3