Son-in-law Tim had a birthday on Monday, October 18. We wish him many more happy, healthy years as we travel into the unknown future.

Tonight, daughter Verena and Susan and children brought supper in and are staying the night. Dustin and Loretta also came for supper. Three-year-old Jennifer wanted to go home with Loretta and Dustin for the night. It’s hard on Susan to not have her here with her but at least she is just across the road. Jennifer loves going to their house.

Susan and Verena’s supper consisted of cheesy potatoes, chili soup, and peanut butter pie. I sliced cheese and put out crackers to eat with that. It was so nice to not have to make supper. It was very delicious.

We are having nice, sunny weather the last few days. We took advantage of the weather and washed all the windows. Laundry dried so nice as well. I know these days are limited this year, so we enjoy them all we can.

We had to get a new hopper-fed coal stove for our house, but after hearing how much a new one was, we decided to buy a used one. It is one-and-a-half years old, so hopefully it will last us awhile yet. We had no idea the price went up that much since we bought our last one.

We have the stove in the basement under a big vent in our living room. The heat comes up through the vent. There is a jacket around the stove that we can open the door of if it gets too warm up here. We heat three floors with that stove. We pour coal into the hopper and as the coal burns more coal feeds down.

Our coal didn’t come yet. But we have some left from last year, so my husband Joe started the stove tonight for the first time this fall. It feels cozier now. It probably won’t be long until the snow starts. Our leaves are falling from the trees, but they really thinned out from the storm damage this summer.

Tomorrow daughter Susan and children will go with our neighbor lady to serve lunch to the Amish school that is close by. Daughter Verena will stay here for the day. It is always so good to have Verena back home for a night.

Sister Verena spent a few days with sister Emma and sons. Emma washed all Verena’s laundry. She hadn’t been feeling well and had quite a bit of laundry that needed to be washed. She came here for several nights then went back home. Sister Emma and I want to go help Verena with her cleaning one day this week yet.

Emma also has many lonely days without her dear beloved husband Jacob. She hides so much of her sorrow and braces up for the family. It is so easy to go on with our lives and not know the pain of what these grieving widows feel, especially at night. God doesn’t give us more than we can bear. Let us pray for each other. Jacob’s 49th birthday would be the first of November. That will be a hard day for the family, I’m sure. Rest in peace, Jacob—you are still so greatly missed!

Everyone has gone to bed, so I think I’ll wrap this up and call it a day as well. Daughter Susan brought me a book she wants me to read called Into the Deep. It is about a man losing his wife and four children when caught in a flash flood. Such a tragedy, but God makes no mistakes. So, we trust He knows best. Stay healthy and God bless all of you richly!

Peanut Butter Pie

8 cups milk
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
4 (9-inch) pie shells, baked
Whipped topping

Crumbs

9 cups powdered sugar
3 cups peanut butter

Heat milk to scalding. In a separate bowl, mix granulated sugar, flour, salt, and eggs. Add mixture to hot milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until think. Remove from heat.

Make crumbs: Stir together the powdered sugar and peanut butter until it has a crumbly texture. Place 3/4 cup of this crumb mixture into bottom of each baked pie shell. Reserve the remaining crumbs for topping.

Divide cooked mixture among pie shells. Let pies cool, then refrigerate.

When ready to serve, top with whipped topping and sprinkle the remaining crumbs evenly over the four pies.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email [email protected] and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.