A Labor of Love

I have to say, I am so pleased with how this cake turned out. I have made many cakes over the years, usually for family birthdays, but have never tried my hand at roses. They just seemed so intimidating. While on a kitchen tour on our cruise last fall, a pastry chef demonstrated making roses from gum paste. He made it look so easy and I really wanted to give it a try. 

My opportunity came when I was given the privilege of making a 50th wedding anniversary cake for a very special couple.

I did some research, bought my supplies and began my first roses on Monday. It was a three day process as each petal of each rose is formed by hand and then the rose is "built" petal by petal. They are actually fun to make as long as you are not pressed for time. I love how realistic the flowers look with the gum paste and am planning to experiment with other types of flowers etc. I dusted the roses with an edible gold dust which sparkles in the light.

The bottom layer is chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream filling, the other 2 are golden cake with a hint of butterscotch and a mixed berry filling.

I now understand why bakeries charge so much for wedding cakes...it is a lot of work!

The couple I made this cake for are worth every hour.

Marjorie and Barry are my "other parents", and we will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with them tomorrow.

I could write a book and not scratch the surface of the impact this couple has had in my life over the years. Twenty six years ago, they were the directors of Circle Square Ranch in Sussex, NB. I came to be a counselor for the summer and had no idea how life changing this couple would be for me.

Although I choose to honor my parents and love them for all the good that they have been, I grew up in a far from ideal home. Experiencing and witnessing abuses of every kind had left me with a death wish and no hope for a positive future.

I was wise beyond my years and had read statistics about abused becoming abusers. At 13 & 14, I prayed that if I was doomed to repeat history, I did not want to have children....

But God had other plans.

Marjorie and Barry saw with the eyes of Jesus...they saw who He had created me to be and they began to love me and speak words of life into me. Every day they told me I was perfect and that they loved me. I knew they knew I wasn't, (especially after having lived with me for 2 years), but they chose to speak positively and love unconditionally. Little by little, their words and love penetrated my spirit and I began to see myself and my future differently. 

God used them to show me another way, another kind of family.

Before I moved in with them, I thought they were perfect and had the perfect family...but the gift they gave me was so much more valuable than perfection. Perfection is unattainable and would have left me in my place of hopelessness.

They showed me they were real and that it was OK to have a disagreement or even a fight as long as it was fair. They taught me to never say anything I might regret, even in the heat of the moment. They taught me to pick my battles and to let some stuff go, to love unconditionally, to forgive quickly and always kiss and make up.

Marge and Barry taught me to make Jesus the center of my life and my marriage and that with that foundation I could over come any thing.

They even set Mark and I up over a lunch one Sunday after church. Though they saw him as a great suitor for me, I had other ideas at the time and it took a few years for me to see the light.

They have literally changed future history by pouring Jesus into me through their lives.

My descendants for generations to come will be affected by a couple who allowed Jesus to use them to minister love and life to a young girl with a whole lot of baggage.

I am so very thankful for them and the example of their marriage to so many.