Weekend worship

What do you value, together, with your family?


In grace, the Shears3 seek to value

Family

Worship

Stewardship


Weekends in all their abundance of time, provide us with perfect opportunities to pursue our values, together, hand in hand as a family.  This weekend we seek


to break bread together as a family.

        "In His final hours Christ shared a meal with people. A critical communion is constructed when food is shared." D. Shear

I am both thankful and excited for the ways in which I am being led.  More and more I find myself rejoicing in the aspects of home-making and even home-steading.  I find such purpose in the "daily grind": grinding flour, cooking, and cleaning.  Certainly with the newest change to our lifestyle, the hand-milling of our flour, more time is spent in the kitchen preparing for and creating meals.  But I truly believe that I would not want to spend my time anywhere else.  For it is an awesome responsibility.
When I take a step back and dwell upon my tasks: I am the one who provides (meaning prepares) all three of the meals that both my husband and our baby girl will eat today.  And hasn't it been said, "You are what you eat"? What an exciting and challenging responsibility and commitment I have to my family. 

So this weekend, we will seek to share and commune together as a family over every meal.  My heart is for special breakfasts on Saturday mornings, so this weekend is homemade cinnamon rolls!  Daniel made these fresh just a few weeks ago and they were absolutely delicious!  The dough recipe is from the book Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  Find the dough recipe at this link.  

Once you have the dough pre-mixed and refrigerated, follow this recipe (found on pg. 294):

1 1/2 lbs. of dough

1/2 C brown sugar

2 t cinnamon

1 T neutral flavored oil or melted butter

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 T water) for brushing on top

Raw sugar for sprinkling on top

Combine sugar, cinnamon, and oil.  Set aside

Prepare 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper

Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off 1 1/2 lb piece.  Dust with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go.

With rolling pin, roll out dough until 1/8 inch thick rectangle.

Spread cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the rolled out dough.  Cut dough into 8 smaller rectangles, by making 3 evenly spaced cutes along the length of the dough and then cutting the dough in half along the short end.  Now cut the 8 rectangle into 2 triangles each.

Gently stretch the triangles nearly 50 percent longer and wider than their original length.  Lay each piece of dough down and roll it, starting at the thicker end, until the point is trucked under the bottom.  Curve the ends to create the crescent shape.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest 40 minutes.

Preheat to 350.

Paint the tops with egg wash, after the 40 minutes of resting and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Remove and let cool on a rack

Use this Honey Cream Cheese Icing on top!

Combine together:

4 oz cream cheese

2 T unsalted butter at room temperature

3 T honey

1/2 t vanilla 

1/4 t lemon zest

Pinch of salt

This weekend we seek to be good stewards of all that the Lord has given us.  "To whom much is given, much is required."  For us, we have been given beautiful hard-wood floors in both our kitchen and our entry way!  So, I will take time today to wash them with homemade cleaner.  Simply combine:

1/2 C vinegar

1 gallon of water

Remember to not get the floors overly wet.  Dip your rag (I love to get on my hands and knees to clean!), or mop into the cleaner and squeeze until almost dry.  Clean and then go back over the floor with a clean and dry towel to remove any streaks or wet areas.

Lastly, this weekend we seek to worship the Lord alone.  We seek to keep the Sabbath as a day of rest, for the Lord Himself created for 6 days and then He too, rested.  We believe that He set that standard in place for our own good and what a blessing it is for our family!  The Sabbath for our family usually looks like:

Waking up slow

Simple breakfast of toast and baked oatmeal

Time spent reading & resting

Time spent outside together

No dishes!! (we leave them all for Monday)

A large meal shared just before church (which begins at 5).  I prepare soup in the crockpot on Saturday, so the meal is all ready for Sunday.  Dough is made on Saturday as well so all that is needed is the baking.  And it wouldn't be Sabbath without that delicious smell of fresh bread!

Church together at 5

A time of family worship upon our return home.  Daniel leads us in singing, memory verses recitation, and Scripture reading.

What will you seek this weekend?