Saturday evening we had a surprise visit from Uncle Joe and Aunt Betty. They were staying at a nearby hotel in honor of their 41st anniversary which is today. They had plans to also stop by and visit sisters Susan, Verena, and Emma and her family.

The Amish youth (16 and older) are once again giving their annual spring program at the community center. The proceeds will go to the cost of the building and to a few widows in our community that need some work done. We plan to attend the program this coming weekend. They sing songs and act out short plays. It lasts a couple of hours. They have the guests all stand up and join along in the singing halfway though. . There are 32 youth from our church and surrounding communities and they work on this for weeks ahead. Each actor introduces themselves and where they are from.

The clocks have jumped an hour ahead again. It was still dark at 7 a.m. when the children headed out for school. We were enjoying the daylight when they were leaving so now we start all over again. Every morning there will be a little more daylight than before. When it was daylight earlier in the morning the boys hurried around quicker. They got dressed, ate breakfast and went outside to play basketball until the bus came.

Loretta, 10, and Joseph, 8, were excited to receive new Bibles recently. My husband Joe told the boys to come help do the chores one evening. Joseph came down the stairs and said, “Mom, I was reading my new Bible”. He said, “I just skipped the words I didn’t know and just read the ones I knew.” It was touching to me that he was in the bedroom trying to read his Bible when he could have been outside playing. Do we take enough time to teach God’s words to these dear innocent children? As a mother of eight life gets very busy but it is moments like this that make the work and worry worth the effort.

Kevin, 5, still spends most of his afternoons outside with Buddy the new puppy. When Kevin bends down to pick up something Buddy will grab off his hat and run. The chase begins until Kevin retreives his hat. Needless to say Kevin has several holes in his hats but Buddy keeps him enterained. Jacob, Emma, and family stopped in on their way home from church yesterday. We told them to stay for supper. We had grilled steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, lettuce salad, cheese, pickles, hot peppers, hard-boiled eggs and ice cream on the menu.

Try this recipe for an easy, quick and delicious chicken salad sandwich! The recipe, by the way, can be made as a hot sandwich or cold, different people prefer it different ways.

Hot Chicken Salad Sandwiches

2 cups diced, fresh cooked chicken

2 cups diced celery

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons onion salt

1/2 teaspoon mustard

1/2 teapsoon salt

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Spread a generous amount on your choice of bread. It can be served cold or hot.