Cakes, Kids and A Story

On Dec 30th I made 3 fruit cakes, from scratch as usual. ..no package mixes for me.

They are fresh out of the oven. 2 I gave to Sonia and one was for guests.

We also got cakes as gifts. I bought store bought cakes to put in packages of Christmas goodies to give to economically backward people. They appreciate them so much.

On Dec 31st I was invited to my cousin 's birthday party. Dr AD is a skin specialist and cosmetic surgeon.

Here he is cutting his birthday cake. It was followed by a very nice dinner.

Seated is aunt Joy, his 80 year old mother. She is a heart patient and has been sick for some time. But everyone was glad she could come out and interact with friends and family that night. Behind her on the right is her daughter Cheenu who llives in UK. She is married to a British man and has a young daughter.(20 plus). Her younger sister was also present , but I could not get her photo. Both of them live in the UK. They are very talented musicians and film makers.

This is a family of doctors and musicians.

Aunt Joy 's two sons , one daughter in law, a sister in law and a grand daughter are doctors.

Let me introduce Ryan to you. He 's my youngest 6 month old nephew.

smiling at his Mom.

We sisters used to babysit his daddy Rajat when he was born. We treat him like a walkie talkie doll, and now here is his son.

This tiny Bible was gifted to me by my friend Holly . It has a verse from each book of the Bible in it. Also the tiny Angel in the header. On her blog Holly has some very pretty tags.

THE STORY OF THE DIAMOND MERCHANT

On Christmas day a guest preacher told us the following story.

Once a wealthy diamond merchant was travelling by train from Mumbai (Bombay) to Chennai(Madras). In his possesion was a priceless diamond . Getting this information a diamond thief, member of an international gang booked his seat right next to the merchant with the intention of robbing him.

ON the day of the journey the two men boarded the super fast air conditioned train. And during the course of a few hours they made friend s with each other. When night fell the diamond merchant covered himself with a blanket and went off to sleep in his berth.

Making sure that his co-traveller wa\s fitfully asleep the thief sprang into action. H e made a careful search of the merchant 's luggage. When his meticulous search did not yield the gem, he went through the sleeping man' s pockets , socks and even shoes. But he was greatly puzzled when he could not find the diamond.

When morning dawned both men were about to disembark at the Chennai railway terminus. Not wanting to lose his opportunity the befuddled thief could not control his curiosity.

He confessed to the merchant that he was a much wanted diamond thief and had boarded the train with the intention of a heist. He searched the businessman 's luggage the whole night but could not find the stone.Please could he tell him where he had hidden the gem as he was ashamed of his rare failure.

The merchant smiled, reached across the aisle , opened the thief' s hand bag and took out a black velvet pouch containing his prized possession.

"I knew all about you friend", he said.," Expecting you to rummage through my luggage I hid my diamond in your bag, because you would never suspect it to be there. After that I fell into a peaceful sleep assured that my gem was in your safe keeping".

The red faced thief hung his head in defeat and disappeared into the pressing crowd of passengers.

How often do we look for the attributes of God and the fruit of the Spirit in others. Do we reflect on our own lives and examine ourselves for the same things?

Just a PS to say that its pretty colld here. Temp in the 50s F