pizzelles anyone?

Our family's bi-annual family reunion is coming up.  Thinking of family and traditions and the generations makes me think of my little Italian grandma. And thinking of grandma makes me think of (among a multitude of wonderful memories) pizzelles.  

My pizzelle maker died last fall after 35 years of faithful service.  I've been on the lookout for a vintage one to replace it ever since, rather than buying a new model.  They were way too expensive on E-bay and I was about to cave in and buy a new one when one of my swapping friends spotted one for me!  She only paid a couple of dollars for it and it is almost identical to the one I had for so many years!

Needless to say, I was very overjoyed to get a "new" vintage pizzelle maker!  Here is the recipe I usually use:

12 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups oil

1/2 tsp. pure anise oil OR 1 TBSP. anise extract

4 cups flour

Beat eggs well, then add sugar gradually while beating.  Add oil and flavoring.  Still beating, add flour one cup at a time and mix well.  Refrigerate batter before using to enhance flavor, but not necessary. That's it!!  Makes 6-7 dozen cookies.  Start through clean up is less than two hours.

I know, I know.  Doesn't sound very healthy, does it?  Well, before you pass judgment, consider that my grandma lived to be over 93 years old and she LIVED those 93 years.  And she made these all the time!

In any event, we love our pizzelles and I made them today.  Half of them I am giving to three different families.  Here's how I do it:

After mixing the batter well and preheating the pizzelle maker which has been oiled using a paper towel,  I drop a soup spoon size amount on each mold.

Every pizzelle maker is a little different, so you might need to experiment to see how long to bake your cookies, but I usually shut the lid for about one minute, till they are a nice light golden brown color. (This recipe is for thin pizzelles.  If you make thicker ones, you will have to bake them slightly longer.)

When I'm ready to remove them from the baker, I use a butter knife to gently lift them out, and place them on a cooling rack.

After they are cooled, I sprinkle them with powdered sugar.

This container is going to a swapping friend who just had twins last week!  Some more are going to the friend who found the pizzelle maker for me, and some others going over to my brother, who just got home yesterday from his week long chemotherapy.  That still leaves plenty to have around the house here!

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Col. 3:17

* "I am linking this recipe up with Walking on Sunshine and Foodie Friends Friday"

Chemo-HAIR-apy

Years ago, my grandparents were in a local musical group called the Grandmas & Grandpas, and their motto was "we'd rather wear out than rust out".  That phrase came to my mind this past Friday night, when my brother Don threw a head shaving party in preparation for his upcoming cancer treatments.  About 100 family and friends gathered to show love and support. The event, dubbed "Chemo-HAIR-apy" was held at the Emerge Ministries location where Don is Vice President and a practicing Christian psychologist.  He turned it into a fund-raiser to benefit the Children's Center at Emerge.

 Don has been pushing through this cancer battle ever since his Multiple Myeloma diagnosis came last November.  To say he has been an inspiration is way understating the impact his positive attitude and unwavering faith in God has been on a myriad of people around the world.  (Our local newspaper ran a front page article with his story on February 17, 2012 and it has continued to be picked up by papers as far away as China and Australia. He is still receiving personal notes from strangers from all over the place!)

In about a week, Don is scheduled to be admitted to University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio to undergo the greatest challenge yet in his journey.  The day before his autologous stem cell transplant, a very strong and toxic chemotherapy drug will be administered in hopes of killing off any remaining cancer cells.  Don has an amazing head of thick hair for a 59 year old man, so the head shaving party as an alternative to losing it in clumps from the drug's side effects was an effort to put a positive spin on a dreaded reality.

Don invited folks to do something silly with their hair.  Our brother Bob was quick to oblige:

Hubby and I wore hair bows:

And my mom did THIS:

We all ate some pizza, salad, and cookies and there were pens and papers on the tables for attendees to write personal notes to Don.  For a small price, folks could throw a whipped cream pie at a volunteer from the Emerge staff.

Most people know that Don detests men's pink shirts, but just for fun he was willing to wear one!

Here I am with Don and John Palmer, President of Emerge Ministries




Some of the family right before the shave

Marcie, Don's wife, looks on as the head shaving begins...

Don is saying something like "I think you are cutting a little shorter than usual"

Now that wasn't so bad, was it?

The evening ended with John Palmer leading us in prayer, asking God to do what the doctors aren't able to...

Don being pushed by one of his grandchildren..



and loving on two of mine.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:13

"Personality is what you are to others..."

Today is my mom's 83rd birthday!  And I want her to know I've not forgotten what she wrote in my autograph book more than 50 years ago:

"Personality is what you are to others, character is what you are."

So often we are judged by our outward appearances...our looks, our style of dress, how much we weigh, how we present ourselves publicly, and so forth.  As a teenager,  one of my close friends told me, "if it wasn't for your hair...you would be...nothing! Really?  I laugh at that memory now.  I know she was trying to compliment me and in an awkward way was saying that I did a pretty good job with my hair style and it was one of my best outward features.  

Sometimes even now friends make comments to me like "you need to get a life" or "you need to get out more often".  When I hear that sort of thing, I just accept that they are making a judgment about an aspect of my personality that they can see outwardly.

My brother Don, who happens to be fighting a very serious form of cancer, updated his blog recently and talks about risking intimacy in relationships. We don't always let the barriers down and allow others to see us up close and personal. Sometimes I hesitate to "show myself" because I don't want to seem like I am trying to draw attention to myself or make it look like I am asking for a pat on the back.  It's often more comfortable just to keep things between me and God.

I also don't like rejection (who DOES?!) and I've lived enough years now to fully know that not everyone will accept me for who I really am, what I have to say, or love me in spite of my best (and often flawed) attempts at communicating.  Still, being misunderstood is painful.

Having said all of the above, I want to share a couple things that gave me a lot of personal joy yesterday.  My hubby and I took a couple of hours to pick up donated casseroles, soups, and cookies from our church and deliver them to an inner city ministry.  We had opportunity to chat with the house mom and a young girl doing some community service as part of her legal obligation.  After that, we stopped at a local restaurant and picked up some food which we delivered to a friend who is staying day and night at the children's hospital with her special needs son who was admitted with breathing problems, and her 2 month old nursing daughter.  Her other two children are with their grandmother.  My friend isn't married and can't work, so finances are very limited and she simply could not afford to buy meals at the hospital.  

I haven't stopped to analyze why yesterday was so meaningful to me personally or why I felt such joy in serving others.  But if I had to guess, I would say it is probably because in spite of our own job uncertainty and my brother's health crisis, and a few other things going on that keep me on my knees, I realized again how very blessed I have been in so many ways.  There's just something about getting close enough to the real life situations of others that makes you realize you don't have it so bad, in spite of frustrating or even agonizing circumstances.  

So I want to say "thank you Mom!" for instilling in me very early on that character development is far more important than any of the things that people see about my personality.  

"...for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." I Samuel 16:7

A new year brings new perspective...

One of the positive things about getting older is the ability to look back over our lives and see areas where we have grown and changed for the better. Often our physical eyesight weakens with age but our spiritual vision can become sharper than ever if we allow it. We understand things differently because we have lived longer and we have more information and experience.  Time has a way of softening and healing.  Perspective changes. Confidence grows.  Living each day becomes more intentional. I like to think that's what is happening with me.

Every now and then something really major happens that drives home the point even more profoundly.  When my brother got his cancer diagnosis a little over two months ago, the earth stood still for me.  Suddenly our joblessness seemed like a minor scratch on the record of life by comparison. All our focus shifted and priorities rearranged themselves.  I've never experienced a major earthquake, but I've seen before and after pictures.  One minute everything is neatly in place and things look normal.  Then the shaking and rattling begins.  A few seconds or minutes later, a building or a highway or a room is totally unrecognizable.  For the people affected, life is never the same.

Life will never be the same for me anymore either.  My brother's cancer is incurable.  Many of the drugs are new and experimental and risky. We know the worst is yet to come as he faces stronger chemo treatments and a bone marrow transplant using his own stem cells.  The unknown looms large even as we hope and pray that the treatment plan will cause this cancer go into remission for a long time. 

Moments and days have become more precious.  Finding the sacred in everyday living has become the new normal~~valuing relationships more than ever the new quest. Discovering all over again that things can make life beautiful and interesting, but people give life meaning.

Shortly after the holidays my brother came to stay with us for almost a week while his wife needed to make a trip with her high school students.  They only live 4 miles away, but he couldn't manage being alone for that long because of some mobility issues due to pain. He teased me that I hadn't babysat him in over 50 years! I can't begin to explain what a gift this special time together was for all of us. We laughed, we cried. We talked, we prayed. Then we talked and prayed some more.  We ate together, watched DVD's, received visitors, went to church.  With transportation help, he was able to work half days.  How often do adult siblings get an opportunity to share this kind of quality time? As I like to say, we got to talk in "complete sentences" ~ something that often is a challenge when our large family gets together with all the children.

One of the things my brother is teaching me is to look for what he calls "God moments". He's seeing them everywhere, and I am too. Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear of someone, directly or indirectly whose life has been impacted in a positive way because of my brother's situation.  Strained relationships have been healed.  Practical needs have been met.  Situations have fallen into place in amazing ways. People are blessing and being blessed.  The stories are his to tell.  But allowing God to use this cancer for His glory is my brother's heart's desire.  Here is a link to the blog he is writing.  

Memorial Day '10

Don ran in our town's 5K race.  He actually has 11 marathons to his credit.

Relaxing on vacation last June.  For the first time ever, all the siblings, spouses, and our mom went to the beach together.

Don has always taken good physical care of himself.  Here he is making all of us a juice drink.

Shortly before the diagnosis came, Don and Marcie went to see their oldest son graduate from the Navy's officer candidate school. We could never have guessed the pain he was having was due to a cancerous tumor crushing his L5 vertebrae.

 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you..." Ephesians 1:18a

Life Interrupted...

My world has been knocked off its axis.  No, it isn't about the ongoing unemployment.  That's just been a little bump in the road.  We've been down that road before, and eventually it will smooth out.  There are options we haven't even begun to explore.  Something will come together and we will survive unemployment one way or another.

A few weeks ago Bob and I were enjoying dinner at Olive Garden with my brother and his wife.  They were treating us in celebration of our 35th wedding anniversary.  Don winced every now and then...his back was still bothering him and physical therapy wasn't helping.  He was disappointed because he had hoped to be training for his 12th marathon. At age 59, he was the picture of health and vitality.  He had been running for fitness and stress relief  for decades.  But this new pain in his back was bringing all that to a screeching halt, and he was having all kinds of scans and tests run to see what was going on.

One night he ended up having to go to the ER, the pain was so great he felt he couldn't move.  He was admitted to the hospital for more tests and morphine.  A few days later he sent us a text message late at night.  "got the test results.  news not so good."  As my husband read the details to me, I was at first stunned and then angry.  I wanted to start throwing things.  I felt sick to my stomach.  I thought I was having a nightmare and I just wanted to wake up to my normal life again...life as it had been before this news.

I'd heard of multiple myeloma before. Our grandmother died from it 40 years ago.  It is an incurable blood cancer that settles in the bones.  It is very rare, representing only about 1% of all cancers.  And just a few years ago I had done a little research on the internet when I had a small tumor removed from my inner elbow area.  Mine was not malignant but I was curious as to the symptoms of multiple myeloma.  That was when I found out that in spite of many new experimental drugs, radiation and chemotherapy, not much progress has been made in finding a cure or in survival rates. Still, the doctors are saying this cancer is "very treatable".  So we hope.

In my brother's case, a tumor was found on his L5 vertebrae, and had in fact crushed it, causing the severe pain he is experiencing.  More scans, more tests...  The good news so far being the cancer has not metastasized in any other bones.   Chemotherapy begins in just a few days.

As I sat before my brother yesterday while he rested on the hospital bed that has been set up in their family room, he held both of my hands for a long time.  He is taking a liquid morphine every 2 hours so he faded in and out as we talked.  He wanted to tell me about the good things he sees happening already as a result of his suffering.  "God stories" as he calls them.  His faith is strong.  He is determined not to "waste his cancer".

We don't know where this road is leading.  It's not a journey any of us would choose to travel.  Only God knows the end from the beginning and the number of our days.  In spite of the shock, the pain, and the uncertainty, as individuals and as a family we will choose to say "Blessed be the name of the Lord."  And we would so appreciate your prayers for healing, for strength, for faith to remain strong through the storm.  Thank you friends.  I know you will.

 Don Lichi 

Sept. 2011

Vacation Highlights: Hatteras, Kitty Hawk, and the wild horses

We had all agreed ahead of time that everyone was free to spend their time however they wanted, with no pressure to do "group" sight-seeing.  So we pretty much all did our own thing,  though we had enough "togetherness" to enjoy each other's company as well.  One afternoon, hubby and I decided to take off and visit the famous Hatteras Lighthouse. Cape Hatteras is about 1 1/2 hours from our beach house. 

As soon as we got there and started to walk around, I experienced one of those unexpected moments of emotion and tears as I thought about how much my dad would have loved being here with us.  He loved lighthouses, and had painted many of them, including this one.    

It was so breezy that I couldn't keep my hat on.  This photo gives perspective as to how tall the lighthouse is, and we definitely were not up for climbing the narrow steps!  We toured the keeper's quarters, which is now a museum, and watched a video that explained how this lighthouse was moved inland almost 3000 feet in 1999 to save it from coastal erosion.  It is just an amazing story that I will never be able to comprehend.

This photo was taken standing at the original location of the lighthouse.  Before we left the area, we also enjoyed a park ranger's lecture on pirates!

Another day, the whole group of us took a short ride to Kitty Hawk to see the Wright Brothers Museum.  Being Ohio natives, we have a great sense of pride in Wilbur and Orville Wright, who strategically took their invention to the shores of North Carolina to test it out!

I just can't get my mind wrapped around the fact that only 66 years after this historic event, a man landed on the moon.

 The National Monument...

Here I am with mom and sister Marcella...

One morning, the ladies decided to go on a tour to see the wild horses.  So we all piled into a tour van and had the time of our lives!

The guide, of course, knew right where to take us.  

The horses are Spanish Mustangs, and are protected by the U. S Government.  People are not allowed to approach them or try to feed them.  It was so weird to be driving on this beach so close to the water.  I felt like we were in the middle of "nowhere".  What a breathtaking sight it was though!

from left:  Connie, Lynn, Marcella, Mom, Barb, Marcie, Jacque, and Cindy.

Vacation highlights: two creative activities

We only had 1/2 day of rain the entire week, and it came on Sunday morning, our first full day of vacation.  It didn't bother anyone really, and one of my sisters came prepared with a couple of creative things for us to do!

Would you believe that she taught us all how to etch a stenciled design onto glasses?

My sister Cindy demonstrating how to do it

The hardest part was choosing the stencil I wanted to use



Next step is to trace it onto clear, transparent contact paper

Hubby and I working on ours together.  You peel the contact paper apart
 and carefully smooth it onto the glass.

From left, Sis-in-law Marcie, sister Cindy, mom, and sister Barb

Next, with an Exact-o knife, you cut out the stencil

Using a paint brush, you then apply the glass etching cream

only to the areas to be etched.

After waiting 5 minutes, you rinse the cream off

I thought they came out pretty nice for our first try!

Toward the end of the week, we did one more creative activity. Using photos that everyone had taken through the week, we made these cute albums!