Lovina's family is growing up and growing larger

Today my daughter Lovina is 5 years old. It is so hard to believe she will be going to school this fall. We gave her a doll stroller and a doll for her birthday. She is very protective of it. Her younger brother Kevin would just love to push the stroller around but Lovina says she is afraid she will break it. Kevin told me he wants a stroller for his birthday too but he wants a blue one instead of a pink. Meanwhile, I will be baking Lovina a cake tonight and will let her blow out candles. She said she wants a "brownie cake", but I think she just means brownies. We'll see.

She is very excited about having a birthday. Which, speaking of birthdays, I am not as excited about having mine on May 22. I will be 38 so in two years I will hit the big 40 and I used to think that was old.

Our thermometer showed 32 this morning. Some things in the garden have frost on it but I don't know if it will affect anything. Hopefully these cold mornings will soon be over. I have my garden plants now but am not sure if I should put them outside yet. We are enjoying our winter onions and our first radishes out of the garden. I think radishes always taste better when the weather is cooler. Rhubarb is very plentiful this year and also the asparagus.

I have made eight batches of rhubarb jam so far. I recently shared my rhubarb jam recipe in this column. If you prefer the jam to be thicker, add 6 ounces of gelatin instead of 3 ounces . That is what my mom always added to each batch. I like it better with 6 ounces also.

My parents would have their seventh great grandchild now if they were still living. Baby Susan was born to my niece Susan and her husband Joe making my brother Amos and Nancy grandparents for the fourth time. Susan joins a sister, Nancy. Uncle Henry is not too good as of this writing. He had heart surgery to put in four bypasses last week.

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Aunt Barbara 's funeral is still on hold until Uncle Henry recovers enough to be released from the hospital. Our thoughts are with Henry and the family.

I am still recuperating well from my surgery.

This afternoon, I have an appointment as the doctor plans to take out my stitches. The test results came back clear so it has been a blessing.

We are thankful for the good results. It makes a person thinks of what a person goes through when the tests don't always show clear.

We were once again shown the love of friends and family during the past week. Saturday one of our ministers came with box after box after groceries that the families from church had sent for us as I recovered.

This is known as a "grocery shower" in Amish communities. We feel so unworthy of it all but we hope we can also help others in their time of need in the future.

Granola cereal is something I never make but someone put a bag of homemade granola in the grocery shower. The children really liked it.

I will share a recipe, this recipe can be cut down because it is for larger families:

HOMEMADE GRANOLA

20 cups oatmeal

2 cups pecans,chopped

2 cups coconut

2 2 /3 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoons salt

2 2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1 /2 cups water

2 tablespoons maple flavoring

2 teaspoons vanilla.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, stir the liquids together. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Bake at 275 for one hour or until golden brown. Stir every 15 minutes.