Harvest Berry Pie, Guest Blogger: Rachel, & Giveaway

So this week, I'm changing the format a bit. I have asked different women in my life to write a post for me. They will be featured with a pie recipe. It will be for this coming week since our own Pie Party 2010 is in 5 days. Wooo! Whoo!

With my wonderful guest writers this week and I take a small hiatus, I was featured on Or So She Says today! Check them out and leave some "comment love" as Mariel says. They have lots of tutorial and fun ideas.

Rachel, my guest blogger, is a native to the Rocky Mountains and cherishes the family - her spouse, children, siblings, and parents. When I asked her to write, she asked if she could share what her Mother-in-law recently wrote because it touched her heart. So via Rachel, these are Janet's words.

Did I even know what or where the basal ganglia was before the night of June 29th?   I’m sure I learned about it somewhere along the way, but evidently it  was not one of those things I felt was really important to commit to  memory. Perhaps just as well. For the first few frightening hours, I  never really considered that I would be without him. I guess that’s what  you do when you’re forced to cope—you just go on believing that your  world will somehow right itself. Now as I look back on it, I realize  that I probably should have said some different prayers. No mind, I  guess He knew what I meant. The doctors showed me the ugly blotch on the  CAT scan and explained just what and where it was. I recall that I  somehow thought it was quite fascinating, a sort of Rorschach  test-looking thing, and asked to look at it again and again. As if by  identifying it and facing it, I could make it go away. Ah, but it didn’t  go away, and so I just waited that long night praying there would be no  more bleeding, no more damage than had already been done. And in the  days and weeks that followed, I learned a lot more than I ever wanted to  know about stroke.

How  life changes in the blink of an eye: 20 days ago Michael took an 8-mile  hike. 17 days ago he was paralyzed, and yesterday he walked again.  Well, I suppose it may not seem like walking to most of the world, but  he did indeed walk. 50 steps to the end of the hall with the aid of a  "hemi walker", and the physical therapist close by his side. The left  leg did definitely move forward and support a little weight. He walked  those 50 steps three times--and I must tell you there was not a dry eye  in the house. His will and sheer determination was awesome to see. He  has a long way to go, but he has made great strides in the last couple  of days.

110  days later, Jason, bless his heart, announced last Monday that the  river blind was complete and it needed to be tested out. “C’mon Dad,  we’re hunting tomorrow morning—need to be there at first light!”  You  see, that’s just the way Jason is—it’s not, “How will we do this? Or,  “Gosh, that’s going to be difficult”…it’s simply “Let’s do it!” God  bless him!

Alarm  goes off at 5 AM, just like every other day of hunting for what—33  years now I’ve been married to this bird hunter? However, gone are the  days of being able to snuggle down deeper in the covers and listen to  Michael getting dressed, my advice and directions muffled from deep down  under the electric blanket; (Psst—have you seen my good hunting socks?”),  locating all of his gear (My camo gloves are not in my bag—any ideas?).   Things are different now. There is a “new normal” in our lives, and  it’s a bit more of a joint effort. Michael likened it to having to help a  child get ready to go outside in the winter—help with the coat, help  with the boots—you get the picture. But I assure you, I loved getting up  to help him. Just to see the light in his eyes and the excitement in  his voice was worth every moment of lost sleep. At last he’s all bundled  up, Jason pulls up in his truck, and off the two of them go to share  sunrise on the Platte River once again, just as they have done every  autumn for 33 years.  How is it I seem so often to smile and cry at the  same time these days?

So  now those things that once seemed so “normal” become milestones in our  lives. A morning in the duck blind,  catching a trout on a fly rod, a  walk in the woods, traveling the I-80 corridor to visit family in  Nebraska and Iowa—those things that we may have once taken for  granted—are now experiences to be savored and appreciated more than ever  before. And I’m thinking that we are two people much more in tune with  one another than we used to be. 

We’ve always been fairly satisfied with  each other’s company, but I would occasionally fuss at him that he  didn’t “talk” to me more. But I find now that we can sit in the same  room or ride side by side in a car without the need for words. Perhaps  we have just learned to accept and appreciate the blessing of shared  silence. And maybe it’s that we are now in a place where words are no  longer needed to evoke the profound memories of the events that shaped  us.

 Sometimes, not often enough,

We reflect upon the good things,
And those thoughts always center

around those we love.

And I think about those people

who mean so much to me,

And for so many years have

made me so very happy.

And I count the times I have

forgotten to say thank you,

And just how much I love them.

*-*-*Thank you so much for your sharing!*-*-*

Harvest Berry Pie 

Source: Newspaper Clipping


Ingredients

1 (6 oz.) graham cracker pie crust

1 (14 oz) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

2 cups Europe's Best 4 Field Berry Mix (1/2 of 16 oz pkg)

1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, defrosted 

Combine sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice in large bowl. 

 Puree frozen fruit in food processor or chop finely with knife. 

 Blend into milk mixture. Pour filling into crust. 

Make sure you have someone to help clean up!

Stir whipped topping. Gently spread over  filling. Freeze 7 hours. To serve, remove pie from freezer and place in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes or until pie can be easily cut.

Lotza news today! Yippee!
Giveaway Winners:

Sue at Sue's News, Views 'n' Muse

Jocelyn at We Believe in Christ, We Hope in Christ

Congratulations to the winners! Look tomorrow for this week's giveaways!