We all felt badly about Maggie's 21st birthday being overshadowed by the Virginia move...but we figured sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That was okay with Maggie...but not Grandad! He kept asking when the birthday dinner was.

So Maggie made some homemade pasta (delicious!) and tried out a new cake recipe (it was steamed cake), and I put an Indonesian Beggar's Chicken in the clay pot. Then we called Meemaw and Grandad and invited them to Maggie's birthday dinner. Maggie, I hope you marry someone who will do right by you just like your Grandaddy!

Maggie didn't like her new steamed cake recipe, so she quickly whipped up a second cake. I think everyone but Maggie liked the steamed cake. All I know is, both were gone the next day! This is Maggie explaining that the cakes were a total flop. Our old family joke.

Sunday evening, Anna stood before the church and gave her presentation explaining her upcoming missions trip to Nepal and Cambodia.

Afterwards, Maggie and Lizzie sang with her. The song was the oldie, My House is Full But My Field is Empty. I have been humming it ever since.

This is a piece of the new recipe I tried from my American Cowboy magazine (Apr/May 11) called Borderline Pie. We loved it and ate both pies...but we all had something we would change. I would slice the tomatoes thicker (you can't even see them!), Maggie would take the tomatoes out, someone mentioned not enough black olives, Anna said omit the 3 tbsps chili powder, etc...! We all agreed that there was too much white sauce (a mixture of sour cream and mayo). I can't find a copy of the recipe anywhere online, so if you want a copy, email me and I will send it to you.

Monday night we decided to spread the piles of mulch in our front yard. Since it takes almost two hours to mow the front yard with all the apple trees, we've decided to lay a thick blanket of mulch on the whole area and hopefully never mow that area again. So the tree man who brings our free mulch has been dumping many truckloads. Here's Maggie, holder of the rakes, pitchforks, and dog.

Lizzie enjoyed her turn on the tractor. Everyone loves to drive the tractor!

Mike worked hard.

Doesn't everyone spread mulch when it's pitch dark?!

Ranger is keeping an eye on Ollie the dog...making sure he doesn't get any more attention than necessary.

My forsythia that was rescued from the dumpster is doing nicely.

Poor Allen. He stabbed his pitchfork into the ground so he could go ride the tractor...but he forgot to move his foot. The tines went right through his boot but just bruised his foot...no broken skin, PTL. Mom, please don't take my picture! The rest of us tried hard not to laugh.

The past several times that we've had buffet style parties, we've run out of room on my stainless steel table for the serving dishes. So I brought up the heavy duty hutch from down in the basement. It doesn't match my oak set, but this hutch is a family favorite. Nevertheless, the hutch offers lots of additional surface space for serving. It took me a while to get used to it...but now I love it. I already miss it being in the basement where we stored all the board games and puzzles. I liked that the games could stay dustfree in the bottom cabinet part. Oh well!

Tonight Maggie and Lizzie made dinner...and it was a real winner! Maggie took our old favorite recipe...a quiche...and made it dairy and eggfree for us. Yummy! We loved it.

Here's a closeup picture. The "egg" part is made from millet! It sure tasted like egg. I hope she makes this often.

My children are spending the evening with my parents...everyone but Ruthie. She needed snuggle time, so the two of us watched a movie in front of a roaring fire. Mike installed an automatic garage door opener on the second garage door. That will be convenient to use.

My brother, Floyd, had his back surgery this morning. He will come home tomorrow morning if everything keeps going well. The construction business is sure hard on backs!

Our hearts are full of prayer for the Japanese as we see the pictures on the news websites showing misery like I have never known.

Many blessings ~ Kathie

And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight.

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.

The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend

Even so, it is well with my soul.