RS Weekly Update: Monday, July 21st through Sunday, July 27th

This Week:

• Tuesday, July 22nd, 12pm: Sister Michelle Wolf (the future Sister Brad Erickson) is taking out her endowments tomorrow, Tuesday, in the 12:00 pm session.  We are making this our Relief Society temple day, so please come and share this very special day with Michelle and her family.
• Tuesday, July 22nd, 7pm:  Also tomorrow, Sister Tami Erickson and Sister Barbara Pont wish to invite all to the bridal shower for Michelle they are hostessing.  7pm, at the home of Sister Jan Ingram, 1607 Corral Drive, Houston, Texas 77090
• Friday, July 25th, 9am:  BGDC:  Children's Museum field trip.  Meet at the Hafer Road building at 9:00 am to drive down together.  Bring along a lunch for you and the kids to picnic in Hermann Park, or, a cafe is on the premises.  For more information, contact Sister Jeanette Schadler. 
  

Sunday's Lesson:

Teachings for Our Times:  Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin: Concern for the One  (Whom, who has seen Elder Wirthlin's address can forget the incredible lessons delivered during this discourse?)

Upcoming Ward Events:

• Monday, August 25th:  School starts for both Klein and Spring ISD's.

Visiting Teaching:

• July Message:  All Human Beings Are Created in the Image of God

Preparedness:

BE AWARE of Tropical Storm Dolly, now brewing in the Gulf.  She is projected to make landfall somewhere around Brownsville, but be advised.  Here are some tracking links:

ABC KTRK Hurricane Central
CBS KHOU Hurricane Central
NBC KPRC Hurricanes
Fox KRIV Hurricane Toolbox
The Houston Chronicle Hurricane Central

Enrichment:

• Tuesday, July 22nd, 12pm session: Relief Society Temple Day (note change)
  
• Thursday, July 24th, 7pm session:  Ward Temple Day.
  
• Friday, July 25th, 10am:  BGDC:  Field trip to the Children's Museum of Houston.
• Tuesday, August 29th, 7 pm:  Cooking Club:  Chinese Cooking with Mandy Davies.
• Friday, August 1st, 8:30 pm: SUGGESTED FAMILY ACTIVITY:  Shakespearean Festival at Miller Outdoor Theater.

Our intent is to edify rather than harry the sisters of the Olde Oaks Ward.  Enrichment activities are developed to foster socialization and address the needs of specific interest groups.  No one should feel obligated to attend.  If you have ideas for low- or no-cost activities, if you would like to learn a skill we have not addressed, or if you have a talent you would like to share, please, let us know.  Enrichment Committee:  Jeanette Schadler, Claudia Del Papa, Marilyn Bullock.

Recurring Events:

• 2nd Thursday of every month:  Gardening Club
• 3rd Tuesday of every month:  Relief Society Temple Day
  
• 3rd Thursday of every month:  Temple Recommend Interviews
  
• 4th Tuesday of every month:  Cooking Club
• 4th Thursday of every month:  Ward Temple Day

Meet at the church at 9am to travel down together.  Children's: admission $5/person, under two free, bring a lunch for you and the kids, or you can eat at the cafe in the museum; for more information, contact Jeanette Schadler.

Blog of the Week: Lucy's Frugal Living

"Free Advice 5 cents"

If you don't know our own dear Lucy Stern very well, her blog is a great place to start. Lucy never wearies in well-doing, and extends her exertions onto the Internet . Her recipe for blog success:

• Mix together equal parts:
• Homemaking skills
• Emergency preparedness
• Food storage
• Frugal living
• Season with:
• A dash of politics
• A pinch of homily
• A healthy dollop of hard-won wisdom
• Mix well, then top with
  
• A generous layer of wide-ranging recipes.
• Enjoy!
  

Things to know:

URl: http://lucysfrugalliving.blogspot.com
Author: Lucy Stern
Emphasis: homemaking skills, emergency preparedness, food storage & frugal living
Rating: 5/5
Comment: With a two o'clock Sunday meeting time, her crockpot collection is a must!

Link of the Week: Waterford Press

Free Games, Activities and More

• Waterford Press is a small company which specializes in pocket-size books for travelers and naturalists. Their traveling line includes Speakeasy, City, Eco-Traveler for various destinations. Their naturalist line includes national, regional, and state guides.
• On the Waterfordpress.com website, they provide games, activities, and quizzes which are free to download in PDF format. Files can then be printed and saved for repeated use. All foster interest and stimulate learning about the earth sciences.
  
• Their Games Category is quite comprehensive, and, as demonstrated in the Maze links below, the range of material includes all Primary-age skill levels. Subcategories include:
  
• Mazes beginning moderate advanced
• Be an Artist (drawing grids) example
• Color Me example
  
• Dot-to-Dots example
• Crossword Puzzles example
• Fold-ins example
• Word Search example
• Picture Scramble example
• Make Words example
• Name Scramble example
• Name Match example
• Oddball Out example
• Oragami example
• Spot the Differences example
  
• Who Am I? example
  
• Shadow Know-How example
  
• The Activities Category offers step-by-step instructions for hands-on learning and experimentation. Subcategories include:
• Animals example
• Plants example
• Weather example
• Geology example
• The files in the Quiz category are informative and cater to varied learning levels. Subcategories include:
• Animals example
  
• Night Sky example
  
• Weather example
  
• Geology example
• Room for improvement:
• Downloading is only available one page at a time which feels lumbrous. It would be much more convenient were one able to download a subcategory at a time, or at the very least, all the pages of one particular game, activity, or quiz.
• Some pages could use better formating, with compression and multiple activities per page.
  
• The website formatting feels clunky, and the webmaster should demonstrate enough familiarity with HTML to prevent column overlap which is dependent upon individual browser settings. This is a simple thing to correct and one wonders why they do not, especially since they know about the problem.
  
• Summary: The uneven production values for both the site and the material itself hampers an overall positive impression, and reflects poorly upon the company's retail material. However, this free site offers fun and interesting games and activities for children ages pre-K to 5th- or 6th-grade skill levels, which foster parental involvement. It is a good resource for Cub Scouts, Activity Days, FHE, quiet time, and road trips; could also be used as lesson enhancers for home study.
  

Things to know:
URL: http://www.waterfordpress.com/entergame.html
Sponsor: Waterford Press
Emphasis: Primary Earth-studies Education
Rating: 3/5 Not as professional as one would wish but with good educational intentions

Steadfast Faith in Christ: Trouble

Elder Freeman's latest offering:

"Everything is going great. It really has been a fun week. We work with so many people and they're all very different. It's like a kaleidoscope that keeps changing. There are plenty of friendly, open-minded people who recognize [as false]much of the misrepresentations of what we believe. Richard is one of these fine individuals whose mother or grandmother converted to the Church in her old age, and he seems frustrated when he hears ministers of other religions slinging mud. He said he wants to hear our side and he's great to talk to. (more)"

Recipe of the Week: Chocolate-covered Helping Hands Cake

Scott's Dutch Oven Delight

This looked like such a fabulous recipe, I determined as soon as I read it to post it as the next Recipe of the Week. Unfortunately, I forgot all about it in my customary addlepation. Be that as it may, this looks like such a fabulous recipe and a ready-made Family Home Evening or Family Day activity, that I just had to post it despite my earlier offering.

The provenance proceeds as follows: the dutch oven competition at our recent annual BFO (Big Family Outing), a camp-out at Fish Lake, became the topic of conversation on my family list. The consensus was that my sister-in-law won the competition hands-down in the particulars of scrumptiousness, participation, entertainment, and finger-licking goodness. More to the point, no other dish included the unbeatable combination of chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. It was, ultimately, my brother's recipe, and he posted to the list as follows:

• 2 chocolate fudge cake mixes
• 2 (20 oz.) cans cherry pie filling
• 2 (8 oz.) bricks cream cheese
• 6 eggs (just those required by the boxed mixes)
• 1 cup oil
• 3 cups water
• 6 Tabs sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla

1. Dump the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and 1 egg in a large zip lock bag, seal it, and invite every little kid in camp to help squish the contents together by hand. Watch closely, and stop as soon as somebody squeezes one time too many and a hole appears. Licking the mixture off their fingers is their bonus.
2. In another zip lock mix up the cake mixes, the rest of the eggs, oil, and water. Repeat the cooperative squishing/mixing process. Have a grownup make sure of the corners, as dry pockets can happen.
3. Pam a 14” pot.
4. Cut the corner of the bag of delicious brown chocolate go and squeeze it into the pot. More bonus finger licking ensues.
5. Spoon in glop’s of cherry pie filling.
6. Squeeze in randomly-placed golf-ball-sized glop’s of cream cheese. More finger licking.
7. 10 briquettes on the bottom and 16 on the top for 1 hour, or until a knife poked to the bottom comes out clean.
8. Serve warm with whipped cream.

As a variation, a dutch-oven non-devotee could perhaps use a 10x13" pan, reducing the ingredients by half, then bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes. However, I haven't yet had the opportunity to try this, so you may be required be fluid in your settings the first go-round.