It’s Friday morning, the children are all sound asleep, so I’m eager to seize these moments to fill you in on apple sauce day with grandpa's.

Yesterday excitement reigned high as Grandma and Grandpa made the trip from Danville Ohio to spend time with their two sons and their families for a week. By the way, if you have the opportunity of being a

grandparent, I want to encourage you as to what a blessing a grandparent can be. Even if our children have one set of grandparents living out of state, they have a very special part in each of the children’s lives. Our children love talking with Dawdys (Dutch word for Grandpas) on the phone. Another dimension that is quite special to us is just to know that daily, we are in their prayers.

Yesterday both Grandma and Grandpa helped the children, and I make chunky applesauce. Daniel helped by taking care of the children, including one little one that had a fever. The children relished the opportunity to work with Dawdys. I smiled as I watched Julia and Dawdy race. Dawdy put apples through our little hand-crank apple peeler, and Julia put the cores through the juicer. The four quarts thick juice we got from the cores is being turned into apple butter. As I write, I can smell it as it is slowly baking in the oven.

I was pleased with another 30 quarts chunky apple sauce to add to the 75 quarts regular apple sauce we did a few weeks ago. Our children like to eat apple sauce alongside almost any hot dish. We certainly should have more than enough for the following year. While most of the applesauce was canned, I also put some in large containers and stuck it in the freezer to serve when we have church or perhaps for the adoption party.

Today the children will help me turn off the rings and mark all the lids with a 19, which stands for 2019. Since I started writing the dates my jars some years ago, I’ve come to like it that way if we do have any leftover from one year to the next, I know exactly what was canned which year. Since we reuse our flats occasionally, I still come across some that Julia ‘helped’ me write when she was only three or four years old. Now Austin is old enough that he too, wants to help Julia write the dates in the lids. Now the best part of all is left- putting the jars on the shelves in the can room, thanking God for food for the family.

So we have two more days left with Grandma. I don’t have definite plans for today, although I do have a large basket full of butternut squash that is waiting to be cut, (peeled, cooked, and canned. We will then use it as a substitute for pumpkin.

Okay, now for a good old fashioned apple butter recipe.

Apple Butter

• 3 quart apple sauce
• 2 cups cider
• 1/2 cup light Karo
• 1/2 cup dark Karo
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon real lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt

Dump everything into a large roaster. Mix and bake at 350 for 3 hours until thick and dark brown. Add 2 teaspoons cinnamon 30 minutes before removing from oven. Enjoy fresh on a slice of bread or pour into jars and seal.