Four years ago, on August 5, we were busy hosting daughter Susan and Mose’s wedding. Happy Anniversary Mose and Susan. We wish them many more happy and healthy years together with God as their guide. They have been blessed with two wonderful sweet children, Jennifer, 2 1/2, and Ryan, 12 months. Those two little ones keep Susan busy. She had some anxious moments yesterday when she went out to get the mail and came back and Jennifer had locked her out. Susan said she tried to explain to her how to unlock the door, but Jennifer couldn’t figure it out. Finally, Susan managed to get in through a window. I’m sure she was relieved once she was inside with those two little ones on the loose. Susan said she has learned to never leave for just a minute without a key.

Tomorrow is the wedding for niece Laura and Enos in Berne, Indiana. Our driver will be here at 5:30 a.m. then we will pick up sisters Verena and Susan, sister Emma and Jacob, their son Benjamin, and his special friend Crystal. I’m not sure if anyone else from their family is going along. Daughter Verena is the only one from our children going as she is a table waiter at the wedding. I was asked to help cook.

Tonight, our church is invited to neighbors Joas and Susan for their annual fish supper. Joas loves to fish and every year they have the church over for a fish supper. I will take a dessert. I’m not sure yet what kind of dessert but the girls will make it. I am still sewing on my dress for the wedding tomorrow. I want to finish it this morning. It has just been so busy lately that it was hard to find time to sew.

Yesterday I told daughter Elizabeth to come over and bring her laundry so we can help her wash it. Her son T.J., 1 1/2, and baby Allison, 7 months, have had ear infections, so they were fussy lately. It can be frustrating for a mother to care for her children and see there is work waiting to be done. How well I remember those times and how much it meant for my mother and sisters to help me out with the work.

Elizabeth’s laundry was folded and ready to put away when she arrived back home. She acted so relaxed to have that job off her list for now, which of course will be back on her list later this week. We know how much laundry three young children can make. Oh, but they are worth every minute of our time. Allison is standing by furniture and crawling all over. She is so petite and it is hard to believe how little but mighty she is. She has bright blue eyes (same as her father) and always such a big smile. Abigail, 3, and T.J. love to play hide and seek with son Kevin. They enjoy when he takes time to entertain them. Kevin spends a lot of time with our border collie dog Buddy, so when Kevin hides from the children Buddy always gives it away because he’ll go to wherever Kevin is.

Kevin, 15, and daughter Lovina, 16, picked the green beans this week. We are also still enjoying sweet corn. Kevin helped me pull the sweet onions and tie them up to dry by the walk out of our basement. We had a very nice crop of sweet onions. They taste so good with no hot flavor at all. I think these are almost the biggest onions we have grown. My husband Joe put plastic down around them this year.

I have new glasses and Joe has glasses for the first time now, too. It is taking him some getting used to bifocals. I don’t like mine, but you need them to read.

God’s blessings to all.

Zucchini Casserole

1 pound ground beef
4 cups sliced zucchini
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 onion, chopped
salt and pepper

Cook zucchini in 2 cups boiling water until tender. Brown beef and onion. Mix all ingredients. Pour into casserole. Dot with butter and cover with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

 

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 now from the publisher, Herald Press, 800-245-7894. 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  LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.