Hello! Someone asked me if I had to think about what I write or did it just come pouring out? With the exception of one blog, all I've written just "comes". The one that I had to work at, I ended up going back and re-doing it because it just didn't express what I was really thinking, it seemed "forced". I find it easy to just write what's in my head & on my heart and happening in our home...I have time to express our thoughts this way. Sometimes talking in person doesn't allow time or whatever to speak of the deeper-than-surface stuff. This is one of those blogs that I probably ought to take some time to think about - but again, I'm just typing away!!

I did something last night I haven't done in just about 35 years now. Nothing bad - and please, if this is part of your everyday life, please don't take offense. OK - here it is. I made Hamburger Helper for dinner. What's more - it tasted good and we will probably have it again!! Don't get me wrong - there is nothing wrong with HH...it's just, well, I'm a caterer of sorts. I have over 200 cookbooks & magazines to draw from, I have a pantry full of stuff, along with a freezer with stuff in it, ready to go and a brain overflowing with ideas! One time, right after a luncheon we catered, my dear friend and the host of the luncheon, Phil, came into the work kitchen, folded his arms across his chest, leaned against the counter, tummy full of beef tenderloin, stuffed pea pods, turtle truffle cheesecake, frozen chocolate crepes with caramel sauce & whipped cream (real, no less) and asked what we (Don & I) had for dinner the night before. I had been preparing all day the day before the luncheon and so for supper, poor Don, we had TV dinners. I was embarrassed to tell him, but I told him the truth and he just cracked up - a "juxtaposition" to be sure, he said. It was kind of embarrassing - you know what I mean...TV dinners? Well, in the cooking world, HH hovers right around the same playground as TV dinners (which we also like...and I used to hide them under my groceries in the cart lest a catering client might see me! I am WAY over the embarrassment these days. I hang out those TV dinners for the world to see, though I did turn the HH box face down in the cart). Like a tailor or a seamstress buying a dress at a mart-store, or a carpet cleaner having all wooden floors. It's just a little embarrassing and begs the question, so are you good at what you do? Do you enjoy it? Or is it just a job? My point is, for someone looking at our grocery cart or knowing what we had for supper, would they be able to tell that I'm a caterer? Not when it's full of prepared stuff like that.

For everyone - everyone - I come in contact with, can they tell by looking at my life on the outside that I am a Christian or is my life/being a Christian a "juxtaposition" of terms? I am ashamed to say that, no, not always has an outsider been able to see Christ clearly in my life (sometimes not even an insider!). Cancer has allowed me a long hard look at the package others see all the time - and of course, that leads to the heart of the matter. Am I pleasant? Helpful? Grouchy? Do I convey the love and hope of my Savior? Am I a "glory-child" of God's - giving Him the glory for His work - through good times and difficult - in my life. Am I obedient? Faithful? Though we are most grateful to the doctors & medical world for their God-given talents, abilities, and expertise, it is ultimately GOD that we give glory to for His unfathomable blessings. Like the TV dinners or the HH, I am embarrassed to say that I have not always been the best poster child for my King as I could be. I've lost my temper, I've spoken sharply to another, I've just plain sinned. We don't like to use that word, but that's what it is - that's what God calls it. But by the grace of God, He has forgiven me as His child - and now, now through this journey, as 1 Peter 1:7 says, "These have come (vs. 6 tells us what "these" are...trials of many kinds) so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

Truly, truly I have not/am not suffering grief as like that of the one that penned those words, Peter, or the rest of those in the New Testament I read of...Paul, Stephen...no, my suffering, the little bit of it, is by no means to the extent of theirs. But I cling to the end of vs. 7 - that my faith, of greater worth than gold, may be proved genuine and may result in PRAISE, GLORY, AND HONOR (not embarrassment) when Christ is revealed. Amen and amen.

No special recipe needed for HH, but I do have a recipe to share with you. A dear friend, Sandi Getter, brought this to a funeral luncheon one day. It was all the rage. Ladies were hovering around the salad, trying to figure out what was in it. It was so delicious. She was gracious enough to share it with us - thank you, Sandi. We had it a couple of Sunday night's ago at a church potluck and if you haven't tried this or your part of the country hasn't enjoyed this yet...double the recipe; you won't be sorry!

Sandi's Pretzel Salad
1 cup of broken pretzels (small ones work best)
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. sugar

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
20 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
8 oz. Cool Whip

Mix broken pretzels, melted butter, and 1/2 c. sugar together and press into a greased 13x9" baking pan. Bake at 400* for 8 minutes. Stir when taken out of oven and stir several times while it cools to room temperature.

Mix the softened cream cheese and sugar together with a mixer. Add the pineapple and stir. Fold in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until serving time. Just before serving, stir in pretzel mixture.

Have a great weekend...
Love,
Debbie

P.S. I had some of the HH leftovers for breakfast...mighty tasty.