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

Spring has truly sprung...

March has come and gone and it is Easter weekend already! I'll pedal back another day to recount my busy life between the buns, but just wanted to post a few pictures of how I have been de-stressing this past week.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I gravitate to the kitchen when I need a creative outlet and a chance to play.

It was hubby's birthday a couple days ago, and we had a low-key celebration over here...

We decided to go out to eat this year for our Easter dinner, but I still felt the need for a little tradition...so we colored some eggs...

I thought they were just beautiful, but the little artists wanted to decorate them even more with craft paint.  That ended up being a lot of fun!

Yesterday I had some time all to myself, and I made a batch of these apricot thumbprints...

Very easy!  Here's how:  Heat oven to 350 ℉.  Mix 1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 egg yolks, and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Add 2 cups flour and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Roll dough into balls and dip into slightly beaten egg whites.  Then roll in 1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts.

Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Press thumb gently into center of each ball.  Bake about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and fill centers with jelly.  Return to oven and bake 2-3 minutes longer.  Carefully remove cookies to cooling rack. Makes 3-4 dozen thumbprint cookies.

I couldn't let Easter go by without making hot cross buns.  You can see the recipe here.

The hardest part of making these is waiting patiently for the dough to rise until it doubles in size.

But when it does, just knead it slightly, then form rolls and place on cookie sheets and allow to rest 30 minutes before baking...

I found myself in the kitchen again this morning by about 4:30! I wanted to get the crosses on the hot cross buns in time for my hubby to take some to his early morning men's group.  For some reason I felt the need to boil more eggs and bake more cupcakes (???) ...

Now I'm busy packaging some of this stuff up to give away becaue I sure can't have it all sitting around here!

I'm also putting the finishing touches on these little wooden Easter boxes that I found at the thrift store earlier in the year for less than 50 cents each!  I bought one for each of the six grandchildren and filled them with a chocolate bunny, chocolate eggs, and some tiny jelly beans.  

I'm grateful for so many things this holiday...for a mild winter and now springtime; for a time of focus and contemplation during the Lenten season, for wonderful memories of past Easters with family, friends, and at church; and most of all, for a Risen Savior who died that I might live.  Peace and love to all as we celebrate the glorious day with millions everywhere! 

"He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said"  Mathew 28:6

February was fun...

Oh Febuary, I was so in love with you this year! I never knew you could have so many endearing qualities.  In the past, it seems I've only known the desolation of your cold, gloomy days and blustery, assulting snow and ice.  But this time you came to me gently and your mild, sunny ways melted my heart.  I celebrated you like never before.

It's time to leave you now, February.  We even had one extra, glorious day together...Thanks for this beautiful sun-kissed day ~ I will not soon forget the warmth of your embrace. What a sweet surprise you have been! I needed you so!

Decadent Peanut Butter Pie*

‎"Pie is meant for sharing. Pie connects people. Pie knows no cultural or political boundaries. Pie makes people happy. And happy people make the world a better place. That’s why the world needs more pie." ~ Beth M. Howard

I stumbled into Beth Howard's blog as I was leafing through my Country Living magazine, where she was featured.  The title is what caught my eye:  The World Needs More Pie.  She also has a memoir that is due out in print shortly: Give Piece a Chance.  I'd never heard of her or her blog until this morning, but I did feel an immediate bond of sorts with her.  I am a pie baker, albeit on a much much smaller scale!  And she is right! Pie DOES make people smile.  Why IS that?

I think some people are just intimidated by pie making.  They think it is something mysterious and best left to the professionals.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  I think the thing I like most about making pies is not only is it a creative outlet, (a beautiful and delicious home made pie IS a work of art, is it not?) but results are fairly immediate and as Beth says, pies make people smile!  Rarely does anyone say, "sorry, I don't do pie", so the chances of having your masterpiece rejected are fairly slim.

So I thought I would put this recipe up today in case anyone wanted to make it for Valentine's Day this week.  My friend Jennifer brought a couple of these to our Thanksgiving dinner last year and it was LOVE at first bite!  I put one together this afternoon...it's chilling in the fridge right now!  Very easy to make and only takes a couple of ingredients.

Makes one pie, 6-8 servings/ prep time:  15 mins. / Ready in 2 hrs.

Ingredients:

1 cup JIF Creamy Peanut Butter plus 2 Tbsp (divided)

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 12-oz. container (4 1/2 cups) frozen whipped topping, thawed (divided)

1 prepared chocolate pie crust

1 11.75 oz. Smucker’s Hot Fudge Topping (divided)

Directions:

1. Beat together 1 cup peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer on medium until well combined.  Gently mix in 3 cups whipped topping until thoroughly combined.  Spoon mixture into pie crust.  Using a spatula, smooth mixture to edges of pie.

 2. Reserve two Tbsp. of hot fudge topping in the corner of a resealable food storage bag; set aside.  Microwave remaining topping on high for one minute.  Stir.  Spread topping over pie, covering entire peanut butter layer.  Refrigerate until set.  Spread remaining whipped topping (1 1/2 cups) over hot fudge layer, being careful not to mix the two layers.  

 3. Cut a small corner of bag containing topping.  Squeeze bag to drizzle topping over pie.  Place remaining 2 Tbsp. peanut butter in a resealable food storage bag.  Cut bag corner and squeeze to drizzle in opposite direction from topping.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

So if you want something quick, yummy, and mysterious to serve on Valentine's Day, this would be it. And don't forget to smile!

* Decadent Peanut Butter Pie ©/® The J. M. Smucker Company

"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