It’s hard to believe that it’s Wednesday already. This week is going much faster than I would like. I could hear the rain during the night, as it was warm enough in our house to have a window open in our bedroom. We have had absolutely gorgeous weather lately, and then last night, it started raining. Many leaves have fallen from the trees in our yard. The autumn scenery is so beautiful, and all created by our master artist. Are we thankful enough for all his blessings?

Sunday, our family had lunch at daughter Loretta and Dustin’s house across the road from us. The menu was mashed potatoes, beef and noodles, mixed vegetables, grilled hamburgers (and all the toppings for hamburger sandwiches), lettuce salad, fruit dip and sliced apples, and ice cream. It was delicious! We played Phase 10 in the afternoon and spent time outside since it was sunny and 75 degrees.

Tim and daughter Elizabeth and their four children stopped in on their way home from spending the day with his parents and sister and family. They had lunch there. Tim hitched their black horses Prince and Dusty double to their surrey buggy. A surrey is a two-seated buggy. Prince and Dusty are father and son and look very much alike. They look really nice running together.

Monday, sister Verena and I went to daughter Susan’s house. She had surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. Her friend Ervin went with her. She has a very painful mouth now, but I’m sure it will feel better after it’s all healed.

Sister Verena and I helped daughter Verena with the children, laundry, and cleaning up the house. Of course, dishes always accumulate, so sister Verena spent much of the day washing dishes. Daughter Verena and I washed Susan’s, Ervin’s, and the children’s laundry. The three little boys have shirts and pants that look all the same size. There are lots of little items to hang up with laundry for five little children. I am amazed at how well the children get along; to think they only knew each other since May. Ryan enjoys having little “brothers” to play with. Jennifer and Kaitlyn have become close “sisters” and are good at entertaining their little brothers.

Yesterday, we did our laundry. Both days were great for doing laundry.

Tim and Elizabeth left Allison, two, and Andrea, eight months, here while they took T.J. (Timothy) to get checked out. His asthma had fired up, and he was coughing all night. He could hardly talk without coughing and wheezing. They had been giving him nebulizer mist treatments. The doctor said they needed a different medicine for the nebulizer. He said doing what they had been kept T.J. from getting worse and from being admitted to the hospital. Hopefully, he’s doing better. I want to call Elizabeth this morning to see how he is doing.

This brings me to a question from a reader wondering about the calls and voicemails I wrote in an earlier column. Our community allows us to have a home phone in a building outside the house. Some have a loud ringer outside, so that the phone can be heard ringing. We can leave a voicemail to call back at a certain time to connect. Our phone is in our pole barn, not far from the house. I hope this answers your questions. Also, the pictures from the benefit were taken by an Amish driver Sue, so thanks to her, you got a glimpse of all the food.

Back to having Allison and Andrea here. . . Andrea gets around everywhere, pulls herself up, and walks behind a push toy. She has the biggest brown eyes, and her smile melts your heart. Allison is blonde-haired and has bright blue eyes (her daddy’s eyes). She came down to the basement with me while I was washing laundry. She’s good at entertaining herself. While I hung laundry out, she was swinging or riding the tricycle.

I always wanted to say congratulations to Vernon and Marsha. I hope they had a nice wedding day. We are sorry we were unable to attend. There was just too much happening on October 14. We appreciated the invite.

Last night we had vegetable soup and venison summer sausage (made by son-in-law Tim) for our supper. I’ll share my vegetable soup recipe. Enjoy! God bless!

Vegetable Soup
1 pint canned beef chunks
1 small onion (left whole)
1 quart tomato juice
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 pint canned or frozen corn
1 pint canned or frozen mixed vegetables
salt and black pepper to taste

Put beef chunks, small onion, tomato juice, and potatoes in a 4-quart pot. Cook until potatoes are soft. Add corn and mixed vegetables and heat until boiling. Onion can be taken out since it’s only for flavor. Or, if you prefer, you can dice it before adding and leave it in soup to eat.

 

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.  Because Lovina is Old Order Amish, she does not have email or a telephone in her home. Lovina does not respond to comments on this website, if you would like to contact her directly, click here.