This is Tuesday morning just past 5 a.m. My husband Joe left for another day at the metal and truss shop. Son Benjamin left around 4:30 a.m. Son Kevin is still sleeping, and I need to get this column written so it’s done for another week. I’m always glad when my children volunteer to write it. Daughter Verena penned it recently and I keep telling Kevin to get his pen going again. We will see!

I packed the men’s lunches with leftovers from last night’s supper. I made mac and cheese, then grilled some ham and pork chops we still had in the freezer from last winter from the pork we butchered. I grilled it on the gas grill on our front porch, and it didn’t take long. Joe said it was very tender and cooked just right. He loved it so I felt like I received a very nice compliment hearing that from an expert at grilling meat. He doesn’t like when the meat is not cooked enough or too dry.

Joe prefers grilling on a charcoal grill and does not care to use a gas grill. He gave me this gas grill for my birthday one year. He tried it a few times and decided he didn’t like it. He almost started a fire the last time, so I kind of banned him from using it. He thinks you start it like a charcoal grill where you let it get really hot before you start cooking. When I came out, he had all five burners on high, which didn’t work too well for hamburgers.

He said I can have my gas grill and he’ll keep his charcoal grill. I prefer the taste of charcoal grilled meat too, but this is so much easier for me to step outside and check the food.

Sometimes I’m glad Joe doesn’t read my columns. He says he knows everything already that I write about. There have been a few times when someone asks him about something I wrote about him. He says, “Wait, how do you know that?” Oops! That is what it’s like when you are married to a writer. Our minds wander and before you know it, stories of your family find their way into your column.

On Sunday, we attended the funeral of my cousin Barbara’s husband Jonas, 56, from Lagrange, Indiana. What a shock to hear of his sudden death from a work accident. Jonas leaves to mourn his grieving widow, 12 children (four that are married), with the youngest being 9. Also left behind are his widowed mother, seven brothers, seven sisters, 16 grandchildren and a lot of extended family.

The funeral was very largely attended and held in three different buildings to accommodate all the people that attended. Jonas and Barbara were both neighbors to me growing up and we went to the same school. Jonas has a sister, Katie, that was in my grade in school. We have many fun memories of those days. We would go to each other’s house overnight for birthdays, etc. I had not seen Katie in years. Her husband Randy passed away from cancer, so she is also a widow. With the long line at the viewing on Saturday and the huge crowd of people at the funeral, I didn’t get a chance to say more than a few words to Katie.

Our sympathy to cousin Barbara and all of the family. She still has seven sons and a daughter living at home with her. Such a big responsibility to raise on her own. May God guide them through this difficult trial in life and ease their pain.

Son-in-law Daniel Ray has a new leaf blower and is trying it out on our many leaves that are falling. He burned a huge pile already and you can hardly tell with more leaves falling every day.

God’s blessings to all!

PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups pumpkin

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

Filling

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Cream sugar and oil, add pumpkin, eggs and vanilla, blend well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Drop by teaspoons full on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Mix filling ingredients together. Take two cookies and spread filling in between. Makes 20 whoopie pies.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Her three cookbooks, “The Cherished Table,” “The Essential Amish Cookbook” and “Amish Family Recipes,” are available wherever books are sold.