It’s 5 a.m. and the thermometer shows that the mercury dipped down to 46 degrees. Brrr! The gas lights feel good this morning since we don’t have any heat yet. I only light the gas lights when extra heat is needed—otherwise we use the cordless battery lights. It’s surprising how much heat the propane lights throw.

We have ordered our winter’s supply of hard coal. I don’t know why we were so surprised at how much the price of coal has gone up, with everything else going up in price. Seems groceries cost so much more too, and then a lot of work is low so that doesn’t help. God is above all and we need to trust Him.

My husband Joe left for work 15 minutes ago. Son Joseph will leave around 5:30, so I need to go make him breakfast and pack his lunch before I finish this.

Joseph just left for his construction job. Son Benjamin is off work this week from the RV factory. He is planning to go work a few days on construction with a friend of his.

Tomorrow morning I hope we can finally do our laundry. It has been rainy all week, then today I’m leaving. My plans are to go with Dustin and daughter Loretta to town. Dustin is also off work this week from the RV factory.

Friday night most of our family gathered here for a taco supper in honor of daughter Lovina’s special friend Daniel’s 21st birthday, which was September 26.

Saturday our family went to help sister Emma and family. Her son Benjamin and Crystal are making living quarters in her pole barn. It is coming along nicely and will make a nice place for the young couple to start out. It seems so different to not see brother-in-law Jacob around there. I’m sure it gets very overwhelming for Emma at times to have to look after everything. She made a good breakfast and lunch for all of us. Her married daughters and family were there helping as well.

Sunday around 12:30 p.m. Joe and I, with our horse Midnight and buggy, and Dustin, Loretta, and baby Denzel and daughter Verena with Dustin’s horse Spirit and their buggy following us, headed south. First we traveled the twelve miles to visit Joe’s sister MaryAnn and Jake. Jake is still in quite a bit of pain from a fall he had in July. He fell when trimming trees and broke his back. Jake is 58 and was always active, so this is very hard on him to not be able to get around much. MaryAnn is Joe’s oldest sister. She is 60 and is a great nurse to Jake.

After a couple hours of visiting, we headed back north and stopped to visit Joe’s second oldest sister Ruth and Chris. Chris has also had a lot of doctoring with his health and been laid up a lot. He is also used to be active, so the slowing down has not been easy. Chris and Ruth are in the process of building a new house since they moved from Oklahoma. They are now living in their son Chris Jr’s house. Joe’s sisters MaryAnn and Ruth married brothers (Jake and Chris).

Ruth made supper for us, which was very good. It was nice to get to visit with all of them, as we don’t often see each other. We used to all be in the same church district years ago. Ruth helped me out a lot when my children were younger. MaryAnn did a lot of sewing for me also, years ago. So it was really nice to catch up. We arrived home around 7 p.m. It was an enjoyable drive!

Sister Verena is spending a week with my sister Liz and family. She probably gets to help spoil sister Liz and Levi’s tenth grandchild, Lamar Michael. Niece Rosa and Menno were blessed with their third son last week.

Tomorrow our plans are to go to the U-Pick and pick grapes to put into juice. Hopefully that will bring an end to this year’s canning.

God’s blessings to all!

Pecan Pie Brownies

Brownies
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cocoa
1 cup butter
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon flour (for tossing with chocolate chips)

Topping
1/3 cup corn syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 1/2 cups pecans

Sift flour, salt, and cocoa and set aside. Add butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs to a large bowl and mix together. Add flour mixture and mix well. In a small bowl, sprinkle the teaspoon of flour over the chocolate chips and toss. Add the chocolate chips to the mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased 9 x 13-inch dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Set aside.

For topping, mix together the corn syrup, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, and melted butter in a bowl. Add the pecans and stir until all are covered. Pour over the brownies and spread out gently. Bake again for 25–30 minutes until done.

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.