Over the past few days I have been thinking about what military caregivers go through.  Ups and downs, downs and ups.  Just like civilian wives I guess, or military wives… except sometimes its a bit discouraging when you know your husbands health may not get better.  In fact, his health might get worse.

Traumatic brain injuries are the talk of the town lately.  We think about todays impact TBI has caused on our veterans – but I wonder about the long term effects.  Lately, the buzz on the street is – TBI patients are more likely to take on brain disease such as Parkinsons Disease and Alzheimers.  Pretty freaky, hugh?

Today, I made this image for my fellow caregivers.  Its really easy to look at all of the scary things – but very important to remember the positives being a caregiver has made in your life.  Being a veteran caregiver is incredibly stressful at times – but its also very rewarding.  Rewarding, knowing that your veteran sacrificed his health and well being for the great country of the United States.  Going to war, so that hopefully – our children and grandchildren won’t have to.

Ingredients

6 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 cups sugar
6 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups apples – peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
1-2 cup broken nuts

Directions

In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and apples. Stir into flour mixture. Add walnuts and mix. Divided mixture between four greased 8-in. x 4-in. bread pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until bread test done. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan.

*Please note, this is a big batch that will make four loaves of apple bread.  You can always freeze a couple and save it for a later date, or give some out to friends. 

You read it right, this little meat dish is called Porcupines.  My kids tried guessing why they are called Porcupines, the only reason we can come up with is the rice sort of looks like porcupine quills.  You can make this with any ground meat.  I used venison this time…

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground meat
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
Directions

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, rice, 1/2 cup of water and onion. Blend in salt, celery salt, garlic powder and pepper. Mix well. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the meatballs; drain fat.
In an 11×7 inch baking dish, combine the tomato sauce and 1 cup of water. Place the browned meatballs into the tomato sauce, turning to coat well.

Cover and bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. Uncover, and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

*You can easily double this recipe, we have a family of five and I have to double it as my teenagers are big eaters!

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups quick cooking oats

Directions

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets (tip, I use paper towel with grease on it so I don’t get my hands all yucky). Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

*Sometimes, to switch it up I add nuts – chocolate chips or raisins.  :)

This winter has been really mild.  We haven’t had but a couple of inches of snow on the ground at a time.. its been really nice!

That’s all… I know, short – but sweet.

Love, PK

I’m confused.  I can’t go into detail online, but its weird.  It’s not like me to be confused.

Love,

PK

On the back of the book, it states that this Bible study is for women that have felt inadequate, threatened or pushed into situations that seem over powering.  It’s a nine week study, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit that many weeks into a study.  Normally, I pick a Bible study that is short and to the point.  But, I couldn’t help but keep thinking that indeed… I am a hurried, harried and pressured military wife.  My husband is no longer in the military, however – my heart will always be that of a military wife.  The things our family deals with daily are because of my husbands military background.  PTSD and TBI play a big part of our lives still.  A stressful part of our lives to say the least.

I picked the book up, looked at it and set it back down.  I walked around the Bible book store, glancing at other Bible studies and music CDs.  Eventually, there I stood… looking at Esther again.  I decided to buy it and to begin the study.  On January 19, 2012 I started the study of Esther.  It has been a little harder than I thought it would be.  Right now, I only have two nights under my belt with a third one that will be finished tonight.  I admit, its sort of difficult learning the names of the Kings and places the story of Esther talks about in the beginning of the book.  Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes and Darius… Wow, what names to learn.

I’ve already learned a couple things I didn’t know about the book of Esther.  One funny little thing I learned is that the book of Esther talks about a seven day party.  Every military wife likes a good party, and if you are like me – you like being the hostess of the party… decorating and making sure everything goes well.

I’ve been warned that the book of Esther in the Bible never mentions God one time.  To me, this is weird – and I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before.  I’m wondering what I will learn from this Bible study.  I know God has really laid it on my heart to read this book and to study the book of Esther – I just don’t know what His plans have to do with me reading this book.  I hope I will learn more about my relationship with Christ, and I am hoping to be encouraged – as Lord knows, right now – I need the encouragement.

Ever so often I will write a follow up article to let you know how I am doing with the study.  Have you read the Beth Moore book, Esther? If you have, did you learn anything? Please share your experiences with me and other military wives interested in learning about the book of Esther.

You can also follow my progress on my Facebook Fanpage or Twitter.

I have quite a few frozen apples in my freezer from this past fall and realized I better get-a-cookin! Tonight, I doctored up an old Apple Cake recipe, changed a few things here and there… wah-lah… I came up with Pattis All American Apple Cake recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour pan… set it aside.

Take apples, sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

• 6-7 apples – cut/peeled and cored
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 5 teaspoons sugar

Then… in a separate bowl mix:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder

Add the following to the flour mixture:

• 1/4 cup orange juice (I use freshly squeezed, its about one orange)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of melted butter

Last but not least, throw in:

• 1 cup broken walnuts

Pour half of batter in cake pan (or tube pan).  The batter is thick! Add about half of the apples to the first layer of batter.  Pour remainder batter on top of first layer of apples, then top cake with the rest of the apples.  Bake at 350 degrees for aprox 40 minutes.

This morning one of my daughters had a small surgery.  I was SO surprised at what a wonderful hospital we went to.  It was clean, the doctors and workers did not lose one shred of paperwork, the care was top notch… nothing like the Army hospitals we have seen.

Why are military hospitals so far behind civilian learning hospitals? Very sad!

Sincerely,

PK