"Y" is for Yearly Meeting . . .

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV

 

Western Yearly Meeting, USA

Since I have quite a few ‘non-Quakers’ who read my blog postings I’m going to begin this post with a short definition or description of what Yearly Meeting is:

 

Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers, that refers to the annual gathering of members of the Monthly Meetings (the smaller/individual Meetings/Churches) within a geographical area. Friends gather together to conduct their annual business meeting during Yearly Meeting sessions. Members of a Yearly Meeting are members of the same branch (or flavor) of Friends.

 

The Yearly Meeting business sessions are conducted by the Yearly Meeting Clerk (chairperson). Friends don’t ‘vote’ they reach consensus. It’s the job of the Clerk to listen and discern the sense of the Meeting and ask for approval.

 

Meal time

Yearly Meeting sessions aren’t all business . . . and business sessions aren’t all business. That is to say that business is conducted during the Yearly Meeting sessions, but . . . at my Yearly Meeting (Western) the first three days begin with morning devotions followed by small group discussions and the business sessions are opened with a period of quite worship. Lunch and dinner are available in the Plainfield dinning room and are prepared by various groups as fundraisers.

 



Board reports
can be interesting!

Business sessions include reports from the Superintendent, Christian Education Director, treasurer, approval of the minutes from the previous Yearly Meeting session, Executive Committee, Sundesmos Task Force, Property Trustees, Nominating Committee, and the following Yearly Meeting Boards: Christian Ministries and Evangelism (which includes the State of Society report), Meeting Development and Nurture, Christian Outreach, Peace and Social Concerns, Finance and Christian Education. Other reports given include: Statistical, Financial Trustees, benevolence Treasurer, the next year’s budget and audit committee.



Displays

Reports are also given by members of several affiliated bodies: Friends United Meeting (FUM), Quaker Haven Camp, Earlham College, Earlham School of Religion, Friends Apartment Homes, United Society of Friends Women International (USFWI), Quaker Men and Friends Disaster Service.



A digest of Epistles or the greetings sent out from other Yearly Meetings, from around the world, that include a bit about their last Yearly Meeting session is read. Several Friends will work on writing an ‘Outgoing Epistle’ which will summarize our annual gathering and will be sent out to other Yearly Meetings.

 

Indian Table 

Thursday through Saturday Friends have time to shop for handmade/homemade items at the Indian Table(s) proceeds support our Indian Missions as well as the Bookstore – which has books for all ages, many of these are on the USFWI reading list.

 

Saturday is full of workshops with the morning workshops being presented by several of the affiliate organizations and the afternoon workshops presented by or sponsored by Yearly Meeting Boards on a variety of topics.

 

Each evening has its own specific programing:



Singing

Thursday evening is time for the Quaker Lecture. This begins with a prelude of amazing music provided by Joe and Tom Roberts (father and son) on the organ and piano which is followed by all joining in signing several hymns. The Quaker Lecture is given; printed copies are always available afterwards for purchase. Following the lecture, Friends are invited to gather in the basement to meet the lecturer, refreshments and conversation.

 

Youth Cabinet

Friday evenings have become a time for a Multi-generational Service. This is presented by members of the Western Yearly Meeting Youth Cabinet. Each year they choose a theme around a topic that they feel the members of the Yearly Meeting need to hear. They then prepare a program around that theme, including personal testimonies, several songs and a crazy game. An offering is taken to help support the Young Friends and help with Youth Cabinet expenses.

 

The Youth Cabinet is made up of some very talented Young Friends who are in High School. During the year these Young Friends travel around to various Meetings, who invite them, within the Yearly Meeting and present their Road Show. I am proud to say that both of my daughters have been members of the Youth Cabinet and the Road Show.

 

Saturday evenings begin with various groups splitting up and going their separate ways for dinner – Pastors & spouses and Quaker Men head off Yearly Meeting grounds for their respective banquets at area restaurants, the Young Friends usually head out for dinner and an evening of fun and the members of the ladies stay and enjoy the USFW Tea (dinner).



After dinner, the ladies head upstairs to the Plainfield Meetingroom for a short USFW meeting and installation of officers for the coming year. Then the USFW and Quaker Men gather together in the Yearly Meetingroom for a joint Mission Service. This time begins with more amazing organ and piano music from Joe & Tom. The speaker is from one of the missions that we support. An offering is taken to support that mission.



Sunday morning includes Sunday School time for all ages followed by Meeting for Worship in the manor of Programmed Friends and includes the Young Friends report, Concluding Minute and the final reading of our Outgoing Epistle. Meeting for Worship is followed by lunch which is prepared and served by the Young Friends.



Along with conducting the business of the Yearly Meeting, Friends come together to share and support each other, for fellowship and to worship. Yearly Meeting is a time to catch-up with old Friends and an opportunity to meet new Friends.

 

My Yearly Meeting is very blessed with talented and gifted Friends of all ages. I especially enjoy our Young Friends taking such an active roll.



Tea Time
Cork Meetinghouse
Ireland Yearly Meeting

In July of 2013 I left at the conclusion of the Western Yearly Meeting sessions and flew to Dublin Ireland to take part in a Pilgrimage with and among Friends for two weeks. Most of our first week was spent in Cork, attending and participating in Ireland Yearly Meeting sessions. This was my first experience at a Yearly Meeting other than my own . . . and I can’t think of anything I didn’t do! Devotions, worship, epilogs by candlelight, business sessions, tea time (with biscuits and sweets), public Quaker Lecture, field trip (I felt led to go to Blarney Castle!), workshops, talent show, folk dancing, and the bat walk with Conner out in the cemetery behind Cork Meeting House. I donated several craft items I made to their Market Place, where one could find books to purchase and a variety of homemade/homegrown items for sale – a fund-raiser to support Irish Quaker Faith in Action ministry. This was an amazing experience for me. I have commented that I never felt like an outsider or visitor, I felt like I was at home . . . and I was, I was home among Friends.

 



Talent Show
Singing in English & Irish
Ireland Yearly Meeting

 

Do you attend your Yearly Meeting sessions? Or, do you just attend Meeting for Worship on Sunday? If you don’t attended, what prevents you from going? Have you ever attended/participated in another Yearly Meeting? Why did you go? Did you go because of a specific concern? Or to make a presentation?

 



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 And on to my choices for "Y" recipes! Yes, more family recipes for you - first Yorkshire Pudding - one of my all-time favorites! The second best part of this one is the seeing the big bubble as it's baking in the oven . . . and then seeing it flop after it's come out. I know that this is in my mom's recipe box, but I copied it from the recipe card I found in my Grandma Meller's recipe box, her mother, and added Grandma's notes. I’ve also included (Rich) Yellow Cake and Luxury Chocolate Frosting – I know this doesn’t begin with a ‘y’ but chocolate frosting on a yellow cake is awesome!

 

Yorkshire Pudding

Grandma Meller’s Recipe Box

Marked as “Pam’s – very good”

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup meat drippings

 

Combine flour and salt in bowl. Beat eggs well and beat in milk. Add to flour and beat until smooth.

 

Pour ½ cup meat drippings into 9x9 inch baking pan (metal). Heat in oven till hot. Add batter and bake in hot (400 F) oven for 30 minutes.

 

Cut into squares and serve.

 

It rises very high in a bubble.

 

Pudding should puff and become crusty. Serve with gravy made from dripping left in pan.

 

Serve with Rolled Rib Roast: select a boned & rolled rib roast. Season with salt & pepper. Place fat side up on rack in open roasting pan. If roast does not have a generous amount of fat covering, place suet or salt port over top. Do not cover & do not add water. Roast @350 F allowing 28-30 minutes per pound for rare, 32-35 minutes for medium and 37-40 minutes for well-done roast.

 

(Rich) Yellow Cake

3 cups cake flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup Crisco shortening

2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 large eggs

1 cup milk

 

Grease 9x13x2 inch baking dish and line bottom with waxed paper (you only need the waxed paper if you’re going to remove the cake from the pan before frosting). Sift flour and measure; ad baking powder and salt; sift again. Cream shortening, add sugar gradually and continue to cream until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, then eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add flour in four portions alternating with milk. Beat only enough to make smooth after each addition. Pour into pan; spread evenly.

 

Bake at 350°F (glass or 375°F metal pan) for 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on cake rack 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan, peel off paper; cool on rack.

 

This recipe is easily halved. Bake in an 8 inch square metal pan at 350°F.

 

Luxury Chocolate Frosting

1 (12 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate piece

½ cup butter or margarine

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

3 large eggs, unbeaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

Melt semi-sweet chocolate pieces over hot water; cool completely at room temperatures. Cream butter or margarine; gradually add sifted confectioners’ sugar. Add unbeaten eggs, one at a time, beating with rotary beater. Blend in vanilla and cooled chocolate; beat until smooth. Decorate cake with Brazil nut slivers.

 

 

 

 

"X" is for X-Stitch . . .

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV

 

"X" is for X-Stitch . . . so I got a bit creative with this one . . . haven't we all done that a time or two?



Cross stitch
our of frame

More specifically this post is about one specific piece of cross-stitch. It’s a framed cross-stitch that I first saw back in early July 1984. It was, and still is, hanging on the wall in Great-Aunt Sylvia’s family room. Aunt Sylvia, my husbands’ Great-Aunt, who died in October 2010, just two months and three days short of being 102 years old. Aunt Sylvia was an absolutely amazing Quaker woman whom I feel so blessed to have known and known so well. Her home is now a place where our out-of-town family members can always find a bed and share meals and conversation when they come to town for visits.





corrugated backing

I'm sure at some point I asked Aunt Sylvia about this stitchery, but I don't recall what she told me. I’ve looked at it and whoever stitched it didn’t ‘sign it’ – that is she didn’t stitch her name or initial on it or date it. I did take the back off the frame (it just slid off) and found a piece of corrugated cardboard and when I removed that I found that the stitchery was just taped down to the piece of paper that had been in the frame when it was purchased!





Back of cross stitch

I’m nearly 100% sure that Aunt Sylvia stitched this piece. I won’t however try to guess when it was stitched . . . but a good guess would be before 1950. The fabric appears to be linen as it has a sheen to it.

 

I don't know what it is about it that strikes me the most:

 

Is it just that I've done so many cross-stitched/counted cross-stitched pieces myself, over the years?

 

Is it the story about it that I'm sure she shared with me?

 

Is it the saying? "Everyone is queer but Thee and Me and sometimes I wonder about Thee."

 

Is it the way that it makes me feel?



I just can't explain it . . .

Cross Stitch

As someone who learned how to embroider as a young child and became quite an addict of the counted cross stitch rave as a young adult I have always admired this piece of stitchery at Aunt Sylvia’s house.



What do you admire? Why do you admire it? Is it because of what it is? Who made it? What makes it or the person who made it so special to you?

 

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Alright, it’s recipe time, and recipes that begin with the letter “X” are nonexistent in my files, so since this post was about Aunt Sylvia’s x-stitch I’m going to share with you a few of Aunt Sylvia’s recipes. These are recipes that she shared in the Mooresville Friends USFW’s (United Society of Friends Women) 1998 cookbook, and I shared them in our 2014 cookbook that was just released this last weekend at the USFW Fall Bazaar – fundraiser to support missions.



The first of Aunt Sylvia’s recipes I’m going to share with you is Conversation Salad, much like the Applesauce Jello recipe I grew up with but with a few additions. Second is Simply Ham and Potatoes quick and simple and easily adjusted for any size family! And lastly something for dessert Grape-Apple Crumble, so you have a complete meal.

 

Conversation Salad

½ cup red hots (candies)

2 cups hot water
2 (3 ounces) packages raspberry Jello
1 cup ice water

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 cups applesauce
½ cup nuts
2-3 ounces cream cheese or cottage cheese



Dissolve red hots in hot water. Dissolve Jello in candy water. Add ice water. Add lemon juice and applesauce. Mix thoroughly and cool until slightly thickened. Add nuts. Mix cream cheese or cottage cheese and mayonnaise and swirl through Jello mix. Turn into mold and chill until firm.

 

Simply Ham and Potatoes

Slice of smoked ham, uncooked
White potatoes, quartered or eights, as preferred
Milk

Place potatoes in oven-proof skillet. Place ham slice over top. Pour milk over to cover completely. Bake in moderate oven until potatoes are done.

This recipe can be adjusted for any size family.

 

Grape-Apple Crumble

3 cups Concord grapes (less seeds)

1 ¼ cups white sugar

3 Tablespoons tapioca

3 Tablespoons margarine

1 ½ Tablespoons lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups apples, diced

Separate washed grapes from skins. Put pulp in pan and boil for 5 minutes, stirring. Press pulp through sieve to remove seeds. To the pulp add the skins, sugar, tapioca, butter, lemon juice and salt. Cook stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat. Add diced apples. Pour into buttered baking dish, about 9-inches. Cover with topping.

TOPPING:

7 Tablespoons cold margarine

7 Tablespoons sugar

¾ cup all-purpose flour

5 Tablespoons nuts, chopped if desired

 

Mix above as for pie crust. Mix in nuts. Sprinkle over grape mixture in baking dish.

 

Bake at 375˚F for approximately 20 minutes.

 

 



 

"W" is for WRE Ministry . . .

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV

 

'Jesus' on WRE Float

A father and his young son get on a train and sit down across from an old man. The young boy notices that the old man is holding a box and he’s very curious and begins to wonder about what’s inside . . . Cookies? A toy? Candy? What does this old man have in his box???? And will he share it with me?

 

Finally the young boy just can’t hold back any longer and he asks, “Hey mister, whatcha got in that box?”

 

The father says, “I’m sorry sir; please forgive my son for bothering you.”

 

The old man smiles and replies, “I’d be happy to share with the lad what I have in my box.”

 

And so the old man begins . . . “In this box I have – bread, a compass, a roadmap, a light, a mirror, a sword and sixty-six books.”

 

The young boy has a look of surprise on his face and says “Mister, you couldn’t have all that stuff in that box, it’s way too small.”

 

The old man slowly opens his box . . . and shows the contents to the curious young lad.

 

The young boy looks a bit confused and says “Why that’s just a Bible. Where’s all that stuff you said was in there?”

 

The old man smiles and begins to explain . . .

 

“The Bible is the bread of life . . . it helps us to grow spiritually just like bread helps our bodies to grow physically.

 

A compass . . . always points us in the right direction as we travel through life, even when we’re lost.

 

A roadmap . . . directs you to the right road/path and keeps you there.

 

A light . . . helps us see things that are in our pathway that might cause us to stumble and fall.

 

A sword . . . provides us with the power/weapon we need to fight our temptations.

 

A mirror . . . helps us to see the faults in our life that we may need to change.

 

And sixty-six books . . . the Bible has sixty-six books.”

 

WRE Students
walking to class

This story was shared with the third and fourth grade Weekday Religious Education (WRE) students that I work with during our first week of classes this year. Most of the lessons they hear in our classes are stories from the Bible, but a few, like this one, are about the Bible. Each week, during our classes, the students sing songs that go along with that week’s lesson (and maybe some from past weeks); recite their memory verse & receive a sticker for their book; are prayed for; listen to the Bible story/lesson and take home a new memory verse to memorize for the next week. The first verse they took home, after hearing this story, was: “Grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Second Peter 3:18b.

 

This year, as we study the great men and women in the Bible, our students will learn about faith, trust and obedience and how important this is in their own lives. They will also find that the Bible is the most important book in our world today . . . which is why we call it our ‘treasure book.’

 

Yes, the Bible, God’s Holy Word, a treasure book – the bread of life, a compass, a roadmap, a light, a sword, a mirror and sixty-six books . . .

 

The bread of life – we must have bread for physical growth and we also need to be fed spiritually and our Bibles supply the food for our souls;

 

The compass and road map – our Bibles point us in the right direction and keep us going on the right path;

 

The sword – our Bibles are our weapon to fight the temptations that we face every single day and give us victory over those temptations;

 

The mirror – our Bibles help us to see our faults and help us to change our ways;

 

The light – our Bibles bring light into our lives and keep us from doing the wrong things;

 

And sixty-six books – our Bibles are a library of sixty-six books. There are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament. This library contains so much wonderful knowledge, we can study it all our lives and still learn new truths each time we open it and read it.

 

God’s Word – A Treasure Book

Study it carefully

Think of it prayerfully

Tis truly a treasure

Which no one can measure.

 

Our Bibles . . . a treasure book guiding us through all of life’s battles.

 

Do you carry a little box with you? What’s in your little box? Do you share its contents with others or keep it closed up? What do you/have you done to share God’s Word, the Bible, with our Young Friends/youth? Are you willing to share what’s in your box with others?

 

 



WRE Parade Float

Weekday Religious Education (WRE) is a time release program offered to public school students around the United States. Here in Indiana, it is allowed under State law. Each WRE program is a bit different as each program creates/selects their own curriculum and what grade level they work with. In Morgan County, our classes are for 3rd and 4th grade students. Letters and registration cards are sent home the first week of classes in the Fall and only those students that return the cards are released from their classes to come to WRE. Students are picked-up from the school and walked across the street to a local Church - at three of our schools we use buses to transport the students, due to distance or for safety reasons. This year our classes run anywhere from 35-55 minutes, depending on what the school can schedule and are once a week. We serve all 15 public schools in the County and have an enrollment of 70% of all the 3rd & 4th graders. We currently have 5 teachers who all have assistants in their classrooms and 3 bus drivers.

 

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Recipes for “W” I found both of these while going through my mom’s recipe boxes this week. The first one I thought I’d throw in is ‘William Tell Coffeecake,’ it’s been a while since I've posted a breakfast recipe. Her handwritten note that says ‘QUICK!’ ‘Wiener Wrapups’ for all my Scouting, Guiding, camping and outdoorsy F/friends – a super simple dough to mix-up and wrap around hotdogs and cook on a stick over a campfire or the grill . . . reminds me of the ‘Pigs in Blankets’ we’d make with canned croissant rolls.

 

Wiener Wrapups

2/3 cup milk

2 cups biscuit mix

 

Add milk all at once to biscuit mix, stirring briefly with fork to form soft dough. Coat hands with a little flour or biscuit mix and form dough into rectangles or six-inch-long fat-pencil-thickness strips. Peel bark off end of green sticks three-eights to one-half inch in diameter, and completely push them through skinless hot dogs. Spiral dough strips around franks, or wrap rectangles around them, pinching dough to secure. Turn sticks frequently about five inches over hot coals of grill or carefully tended campfire, till well-browned. You could also wrap thicker strips of dough around green sticks over fire – for campfire biscuits.

 

 

William Tell Coffeecake

¼ cup margarine

¾ cup white sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk

 

Stir butter to soften. Cream together with sugar till fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating smooth after each addition. Pour into greased 9x9 inch baking dish.

 

Apple Topping

1 cup finely chopped pared tart apple

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

Combine apples, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Sprinkle apple topping on top of coffee cake.

 

Bake at 375 F for 25-30 minutes.

 

Cool 15 minutes, cut into square and serve warm.