Well, we are down to one day. We are pretty much packed and ready to go.  Just wanted to share a recipe for Roast which we had on Sunday when Jodi, Eric, Jaden and Caleb came over to eat. It was one of the “old fashioned Sunday meals” which we enjoyed so much. Even the great laughter of Jodi and I watching Randy fall asleep reminded me of just the “good ole” days when we used to sit and watch our parents on Sunday afternoon sleep on the couch pretending to watch golf on TV. It is times like these that make me forget that the world, she is “achanging” and we seem to not have time to create these special memories which do not cost anything. We laughed until our tummies ached. Eric and Jaden were watching car racing on television and Randy snored, oops, I mean slept in his lazy boy recliner and the smell of chocolate cake still permeated the room. So until I find a hotel with a computer while we are in Italy, this is the last recipe I will post for a couple of weeks……Maybe when you cook this roast, it will remind you of the lazy Sunday afternoons we grew up with……Enjoy! and God’s blessings to you.

Well, as many of you know, we are preparing to leave for Italy on Tuesday and I have heard from many friends that I need to “blog” while there. If I can have some time at a computer, I will be most happy to do so. I have enjoyed writing so very much. I am reading a book by John Eldridge, as I have written about before called, “Walking With God”. John is writing that we need to learn to listen to God during our day and not just set Him on a shelf after spending time with Him in the morning. but asking the Lord what does He have on His agenda for me each day. Well, I am really trying to do that. It has been amazing to see His hand at work and since I am learning to look for the ways that He speaks that sometimes, before I have passed off as just “oh, wasn’t it nice to hear from so and so today.” When in actuality, God brought them to mind or crossed my path so I could be praying for them or to encourage them or to help in some way. That is exactly what happend this morning. I was driving down Parker Rd when I saw a car that reminded me of a special lady who stayed with us a couple of years ago for the summer. I really began to think of her and think of how precious she was and how we were so blessed to have her in our home. Then a couple of hours later, I receive an email from her. It has been several months since hearing from her. And wouldn’t you know it, God had laid me on her heart to contact  about something she was needing. Now I know many of you might be thinking, hum, “that was just a coincidence” but as we come closer to God and learn to hear Him and to invite Him into our daily walk, we haveHis  Spirit that tells us “with God, there are no coinsidences”. Everything is purposed and planned and “He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in his paths.” Isaiah 2:3

Now, go out and be a blessing to someone today! Love to all of you and thank you for checking out my blog! Let me hear from you sometime!

Have I mentioned that I love the rain? It is just so great to be sitting and listening to thunder and watch the lighning. It always makes me want to get in the kitchen and bake something. It was a busy but great week. I was able to cook until my little heart was content. I cooked for 25 ladies on Tues, cooked a meal for Randy’s parents and a family in our Sunday School class and will make dessert for some friends coming over tomorrow night. This week I have had probably 15 people ask me if I have seen the Julia/Julia movie because when they saw it, they thought of me, which I considered a great compliment. Not that I cook like Julie Child, but cooking is such a favorite passion of mine. I think I would be happy if I could stay home 3 or 4 days ever week and do nothing but cook. But life has to go on and right now, there are many things to do, so I cook when I am given the time. The potato recipe that I wrote today was one dish I served to the ladies on Tues and many of them wanted the recipe so thought it would be fun to put it on here. You will find it under appitizers/sides, until I figure out how to add another category to the list,ha.  We are leaving for Italy in a couple of days, so hopefully I will learn several new dishes while we are there. We are meeting friends and will explore places which we have never been. Since I have been painting, it will be fun to see the different type of pictures we will take. Hopefully I have learned a little from my cousin, Marion, on how to take pictures I might want to paint. Enjoy your Labor Day and will write when I get back!

Here it is another week, how quickly they seem to come. Had Bible Study and dinner with friends last night and came home with a most beaautiful chandelier, which our hosts gave to us, since they had bought a new one for the house they have just completed.

So now, the trick will be to see how I can talk Randy into getting up in the attic and wiring this new addition to our family, so we can proudly display another new light. I have to tell you that our house is known in every neighborhood we live as the house that competes with the airport as to who has the most lights. One Christmas, Randy actually ran (I know you cannot believe that he moved that fast, and you are right, he walked fast)into the bedroom, waking me up with these words, “OMGosh, Noel, an airplane just tried to land in our front yard.” Now, that brings me to another story that you will be finding out soon enought. The day after Thanksgiving each year, Randy and I become Frosty and Noel for the Christmas Season. We always have a little Christmas poem on our answering machine and it just seems to help get us in the Christmas spirit and also, drives our children crazy!. It is just another way we find to completely embarrass them, which get’s easier and easier. So back to my day yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon squeezing lemons to make the Eagle Brand Pie (3 of them) which, I can tell you is alot of squeezing. A little over an hour’s worth. But the pies turn out great and I take them to the dinner. We were enjoying them after having dined on lasagna and Susan, one of the ladies there says, “this pie is great, it reminds me of one I grew up on. It had Eagle Brand Milk and it was just so good”. When I asked her if it was just like this one with the egg yolks and lemon juice, she replied that theirs didn’t have any eggs, just frozen lemonade and cool whip. So when I received the recipe from her, I couldn’t believe it. I had spent hours making 3 pies and hers was the same and takes only about 15 mins. So I made 4 more of the pies today using her recipe and it was a breeze. No wrinkled hands from all the lemon juice trying to be extracted from the lemons. So am sharing Susuan’s recipe with you. It is amazing how good and light and yummy it is. In fact, let’s call it, “Yummy Lemon Pie” That says it all! Go under desserts for the recipe.