The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News - Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties

Hello, my friends!

Thank you for such a warm welcome of my first article a few weeks ago! Your inquiries as to whether or not to expect this column weekly made me realize that I should probably clarify that tidbit of information.

As much as I'd love to write this article weekly, I think the best option for this busy mom is to have it be a biweekly column, (or whenever creativity hits me, which is just about as random as the Iowa weather).

Speaking of the Iowa weather, this weather reminds me of a musical I was in at the Spencer Community Theatre during Iowa's sesquicentennial in 1996. It was a touring musical entitled "Did 'Ya Know," cowritten by one of Everly's musically and theatrically gifted, Connie Goeken, and by Spencer native, Tim Frank. The musical was a beautiful tribute to Iowa in humor, passion, informative song and dance. The "cornhead" costumes were truly a sight to behold!

One of the songs, "Io-weather," had lyrics that said something like "Ioweather, Ioweather, go to bed without a cover, wakeup frozen to each other..." I think we all feel these lyrics tenfold the past few weeks. One day my children are in shorts on the swing out back and the next they're wearing a parka and trying not to have their teeth blown away by 50 mph winds. Good grief! What a barometric rollercoaster! However, the Lord knows we are thick skinned and made for this. Right? You betcha!

I don't have much to report this week, but wanted you to know that even though it doesn't feel like spring and even though the winds blow boldly and skies are sometimes gray...that the Lord looks on each of you with favor and the sun will shine on another day. There is still much beauty to be seen in the wait for perfect weather.

In my book, "A Prayer a Day for Mothers," it focuses on the verse Psalm 113: 5-6 – "Who is like the Lord our God – the One enthroned on high, who swoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?" It reminds us to not be so consumed by the every day tasks that we forget the bigger picture. Keeping that bigger picture in mind allows us to see the tasks that we face with such urgency, as the sometimes-miniscule things that they may truly be in the grand scheme of life. Let's not give energy to things that don't deserve it and rest with trust in His plan.

May your week be filled with patience, the sight to see the magic God bestows upon this world and us all (even in the smallest of things), and may you be blessed with joy in the mundane.

I'll leave you with another one of my family's favorite Hope Lutheran Church cookbook recipes. We shall talk again soon! Enjoy!

GOLD NUGGET MEATLOAF

By Lois Drury, Bernice Krogh and Freda Jensen

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2/3 c. milk

2 tsp. salt

1/w4 tsp pepper

3 slices bread, crumbled

1 ½ lb. hamburger

1 chopped onion

½ c. raw shredded carrot (trust us it's delicious)

1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded (we leave this out)

Sauce:

¼ c. brown sugar

¼ c. catsup (ketchup for you non-Iowans)

1 Tbls. Dry mustard

Directions:

Beat eggs, add milk, salt, pepper and bread. Mix and let stand. Mix hamburger, bread mix, onion, carrots and cheese. Pat into loaf pan and spread sauce of brown sugar, catsup and dry mustard already mixed on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 ½ hours, depending on loaf size. (My grandma uses a 7x11 glass pan instead of a loaf pan and cooks for about 1 hr.)

Sentinel-News contributor Iesha Toft lives in Royal.