Taking a Breath, by Carol Steward

Good Morning everyone! I can't believe it's been three weeks already. Last night as I was cleaning the house for my Mom's 78th birthday party, I found a rock that I received at the ACFW conference. It says "Breathe" and that's a great reminder for me. I get going so much that I sometimes forget to slow down.

I must be growing up, because it just seems like the school year started. This photo was fall on my campus , and my home is actually in the neighborhood just to the left. Odd that it took me so long to start working at the university when I practically live on the campus. For those who have prayed for my coworker, I wanted to quickly update you. She went to be with the Lord two weeks ago. We're thrilled for her to be healthy again, but miss her so much as we don't hear her say "Good Morning" each day and we've lost a wealth of information to our office. We're learning to carry on and appreciate how much she gave to all of us. It's brought all of us much closer and I know she'd be happy for that.

I don't know if all of you heard about the wild event in Colorado yesterday with the 6-year old and his father's experimental aircraft, which happened to be floating around in the sky (and very close to going over my house) for almost three hours and landed just outside of Denver International Airport airspace. If not, check it out, it's a crazy story. http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?aid=86980 For 5 hours, they thought the little boy had been on the aircraft, and I was sick with worry for their family. I know how that frightened little boy felt, too afraid to come out because he heard his father yelling in fear that he'd been on that "UFO" (can't make myself call it a balloon, it looks like a flying saucer to me). When I watched that video live, I worried that he had in fact fallen out somewhere along the way. I also remember a time when I was three and had hidden in a wood box of blankets and heard how mad my mom was when she was looking for me. I didn't want to face that either. I thought how wonderful it would be if this little boy had done the same, afraid that he'd be in big trouble for letting the aircraft go. What an unexpected happy ending.

So, since my life has been a little crazy, I thought I'd share a recipe that we pulled out of our recipe box last week and fell in love with. I substituted applesauce for half of the oil, and it was delicious, both batches. :)

Pumpkin Bars

4 extra large eggs

1 cup veg oil - or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce

2 cups sugar

Beat eggs, oil, (applesauce) and sugar until light, then add:

1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin

Sift all dry ingredients together, then gradually add to the pumpkin mixture:

2 cups unsifted flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp of each ginger, cloves, nutmeg

For cookie bars, pour into a greased jelly roll pan, 17" x 11" or into 10" x 15" for cake. Bake on center rack in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Frosting recipe, 2 Tbsp butter, 3 oz cream cheese, about a pound of powdered sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 2-4 Tbsp of milk.

Add a cup of coffee or milk and ENJOY!

Breathe and enjoy your weekend!

Carol