Amish Friendship Bread

A friend of ours gave us a starter of Amish Friendship Bread.  We havent had it in years, so it was nice to have it again!!!  It's a 10 day process, but oh so good!!!! 

 

Happy Valentines Day

Love your husband... (Taken from A Wise Woman Builds Her House)
http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/search/label/Blessed%20Motherhood 

Remember that he is not perfect, he is not you and thinks differently than you do. He is God's gift to you. Love him in spite of his failings, love him wholeheartedly, extend to him the same measure of love, respect and forgiveness in the strength that has been given to you in Christ Jesus. Do something special for him today. A word of praise or encouragement, a massage, a gift, bake his favorite treat. Most men would die for their women, and we need to love them as our heroes (even when they might feel at their lowest). A noble wife rises up to the occasion to bless her husband with all her heart.

The Cruelty of Cancer

Back in June (2010), my mother broke her hip.  She ended up having a stroke during the surgery.  This required a lot more time in the hospital and then having to go to a nursing home while she did physical therapy.  Then for about the last 2 months, her right leg had been in pain, but no one seemed to know why.  Finally, several days ago, my brother ended up calling 911 because she was in so much pain, and they took her to the hospital.  They found that her right thigh was fractured from her thigh to her knee.  On top of that, they found a 3" mass on her leg.  While during surgery to put a pin in her leg, they biopsied the mass.  It was found to be cancerous.  Well after numerous tests, several CAT scans, & special blood workups, they found that she has cancer, that started in her lungs, and has moved to to her legs now.  She has Stage 4 cancer & non-small traditional carcinoma.  She also has emphysema and hardening of her arteries.  And obviously, it has traveled through her body from her lungs to her legs.  We will meet with several more specialists tomorrow (Monday).  She has smoked for around 40 years now.  Smoking is what caused my father to have cancer, and my uncle Brian (his brother) to have cancer as well.  Watching my dad lie there dying a little more and a little more each day, bleeding from his nose, his mouth...was very hard on all of us (my Aunt, brother, sister and stepmom.)  My dad was in a hospice center for weeks because he was too sick to take care of at home.  My grandma, my dad's mom, also had cancer (though hers was not caused by smoking.)  Now we are faced with decisions of whether it is better to do chemo and/or radiation.  We have many questions to still ask the doctor.  My relationship with my family is not a normal one.  I am so different.  That is just me.  I am the "oddball of the family" you could say.  But you know, it is okay, because God wants me to be different.  I am who I am, and will never really fit in.  But during this time, I have to accept my differences, and we have to do what we can for my mother's care.  We have to put our differences aside and do what we can.  Only God knows how long someone will or won't live.  Only HE has that control.  The doctors can give us their best "estimated guess," but only God can give life and take life away.  

Capturing An Idea

     What is an idea? Charlotte Mason points out that “an idea is anything which captivates our minds and causes us to think.” Some people are filled to overflowing with ideas. For a moment, think as you imagine a child would. A child can take a simple stick and create a myriad of things with it...an arrow, a toy gun, a wand in which to lead an orchestra, or even a stick for roasting marshmallows over a bonfire. Their minds abound endlessly with ideas.
     As adults, some of us are overflowing with ideas that they can't seem to get down on paper fast enough. Some of us, well, can take someone else's ideas and run with them with a speed of light. God has blessed some people with creative juices flowing to the brim, while others may not be quite so creative, but can put into action what the other person's ideas are. That is the second step of an idea, isn't it? Putting in to action the initial idea?
     As Stephanie Walmsley, author of CMME (Charlotte Mason Made Easy) says, “Ideas can be good or bad, they can reproduce, they can grow. They can have a powerful impact on people and change the way people behave.” Or, perhaps even how we live our every day lives, just from an “idea.”
     Ideas can be a very influential things in the minds of the right hands. Some of the greatest ideas in history have proven to be beneficial still to us today. Think about it...what would we have done if Thomas Alva Edison had never discovered the first light bulb?! Or what if the Wright Brothers had never built the first airplane that actually got off the ground? The world as we know it would be nowhere near the same!
     For more information and knowledge on the “ideas” that Charlotte Mason spoke of, you can go to: http://www.charlottemasonmadeeasy.com/free-CM-biography.html as well as find a 12-week CM course at - http://www.charlottemasonmadeeasy.com/

Our Twin Grandsons Turn 1

  Our beautiful twin grandsons

                    were born on Jan. 7th, 2010 

during a snowstorm.