It is a nice sunny January morning with the temperature at 30 degrees. My husband Joe, son Benjamin, and son-in-law Daniel Ray all left for work early this morning.

For Benjamin and Daniel Ray, it was the first time after a two-week break for the holidays. Joe was only off Thursday and Friday for the New Year’s Day holiday. Tomorrow they will all be home again for Old Christmas/Epiphany. Our community always has Fast and Prayer Day until lunchtime. Daughter Lovina and Daniel have invited our family to come to their house for lunch. It’s a nice day to spend with family.

This afternoon, Susan and Ervin will bring 2-year-old Ervin Jr. and 5-month-old Sharlene here. Their other five children will come here on the bus from school. Ervin will have surgery at the dentist’s, so Susan wants to be there with him. I enjoy having my grandchildren here. Daughter Verena will come over and help me watch them. All our grandchildren love their Aunt Verena. I think they think she’s much more fun and cooler than Grandma, haha! Verena has a great way with children.

Granddaughter Jennifer will have her 8th birthday on Jan. 15. They grow up much too fast, it seems. She loves to help take care of her baby sister, Sharlene. She acts shy around strangers, but she is a little talker around people she knows well. She has an ornery streak in her, too. She is fun to tease. I’ll never forget the first months of her life when she lived here, and this Grandma really spoiled her.

On Saturday, we assisted daughter Loretta and Dustin with their pork butchering. They were glad to have that big job done and have meat to put in the freezer for future use.

On Sunday, we attended our church, which was around 8 miles from here. Our friend Jodi took Daniel Ray, Verena, Joe and me. After church, Jodi picked us up again and we traveled a few miles farther across the state line into Indiana to Joe’s sister Ruth and Chris’s house. It was so good to see them and their daughter Lydianne again. We were served some good snacks and had a great visit with them. Please join us in praying for their 16-year-old grandson, who is in Riley’s Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.

We then had supper at our daughter Loretta and Dustin’s house in honor of granddaughter Kylie’s first birthday. They gave her a cupcake with a No. 1 candle in it. She has fun digging into that cupcake. She rocked back and forth when we sang “Happy Birthday.” She is such a sweetie! Her brothers, Denzel and Byron, had fun helping sing. They said they want a birthday too. They have a little bit of a wait until July and August, haha!

Byron was so proud to show me that he can go potty now. He’s doing really well with the potty training. Next in line will be Kylie. Right now her favorite pastime is cleaning out her mother’s cabinets. We had a delicious supper of mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, homemade wheat bread, butter and grilled ham and steak. Also, cupcakes and Jell-O.

We would like to butcher beef this winter, but the price is just so high. Maybe we will have to do without. Joe was looking last summer for some calves to raise, so we have our own, but that didn’t seem to work out.

This is now later, and it is almost time for the bus to come. Ervin Jr. is sleeping, and Verena is taking care of Sharlene. Jr. was so happy when he came. I gave him a few snacks and then held him, and he fell asleep right away. Sharlene is breastfed, and Susan has some milk for her in bottles when she gets hungry. Hopefully, she won’t have a fit about her milk coming from a bottle. Joanna (son Benjamin’s special friend) stayed with Ervin and Susan’s children one afternoon, and Sharlene was fine with getting it from the bottle. We tried formula one time, and she knew that wasn’t the right one and wouldn’t take it. So young and yet so smart already.

I’ll share an overnight cookie recipe.

God’s blessings to all!

Overnight Cookies

2 eggs

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening or butter (room temperature)

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs, brown sugar and shortening until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Roll into a large log and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate overnight. Then slice 1/2 inch thick and bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

• Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Her three cookbooks, “The Cherished Table,” “The Essential Amish Cookbook” and “Amish Family Recipes,” are available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, P.O. Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply), or email questionsforlovina@gmail.com and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.