"joy of the Lord....

"The Joy of the Lord is your strength..."Nehemiah 8:10
And we need strength tonight...We found out sadly that John's cousin, Anna, (the one who was an army nurse in World War II), is hospitalized, and seriously ill..She is 91 and her strength is waning especially since she found out about three weeks ago that she has a bone cancer. So tonight we are sad for her battle with all the things that go with cancer, and being hospitalized, and all her immediate family are gathering close to support her. All we can do, far from her, is pray.
Before we received this email tonight, I was wondering about my journal tonight. I had thought about family recipes today, about foods that family especially would cook, that was unique to us. Grandma used to fix something that I never knew anyone else to cook---cornmeal dumplings. She would start with a ham hock, use this as a gravy and drop in cornmeal "pones" and let them cook slowly. The loose cornmeal made a gravy, and this was so good! I am sure it was not healthy, probably full of salt! Does anyone who reads this know how to cook this??I would love to try it just once more.
Grandma would also cook fresh turnip greens, and top them with poached eggs...very yummy. She made hot biscuits every morning and used a batch as a starter, not yeast, but from lard. She lived to be 98 and never had any blood pressure or heart problems..but she also mowed her yard with a PUSH mower until she was near 90, so that might explain why she could eat like that and never have health problems.
I have several old cookbooks that were family ---they are very old.
Gran taught me how to cook a roast, and the best banana pudding, making (from scratch) homemade vanilla pudding for the base.
Well tomorrow I go to the neurosurgeon and hope he will release me.
I am really enjoying "being on vacation" from the chemo. It really feels like a true vacation!
Please pray for our Anna, and her peace at heart and mind and body, also health if God wills.