Celebrations

Yesterday we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and one of our sons and his wife celebrated their first. It rained pretty much all day, but that did not dampen our spirits at all.  We rejoiced to be in church with some of our children and hear the Sunday school message.  Our daughter provided a luscious cake to share with the Sunday school class, and she and another son provided the flowers on the altar. Then we gathered with the rest of our family and a western setting for photos. I will post those when they get in.  Our daughter arranged for the Ann Bradford Photography (www.annbradforddesign.com)  to take our photos. Then our family along with the photographer and her husband joined us in fine dining at the Pinnacle Peak Restaurant in Tucson.  Our two little grandchildren had a wonderful time.  Later, I shall share more news, but now I must be off to prepare a special dinner for another son's birthday.

God is so incredibly good to us.  How can we thank Him for all He has done?

The dinner menu: Oriental Sausage Casserole, broccoli, homemade dinner rolls with butter and jam,
and Ice Water Cake with white icing for the birthday cake

Here is the recipe for the casserole

2 pounds sausage
1 bunch of celery chopped
2 cups of chopped onions
1 bell pepper chopped (green)
1 bell pepper chopped (red)
1 can water chestnuts
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 cups brown rice
2 packages (4 packets) dry noodle soup
9 cups hot water

crumble the sausage and cook it until well browned.  Drain fat.  Saute the chopped celery, onions and peppers in olive oil.  Put the rice in the bottom of a very large dish or roaster add the cooked sausage, vegetables, water chestnuts, drained, and the slivered almonds. Put the dry noodle soup on top and add 9 cups of very hot water and stir.  Bake for 1-2 hours at 350 degrees.  If the top browns too much cover with foil.