Over 30 and Still a Copy Cat

I used to laugh at my sister (behind her back of course) when she came to visit Mom and Dad. She would bring all this special stuff…a cute little decorative basket full of herbs and vitamins, her own water and even her own sugar! Raw sugar, turbinado sugar, raw cane sugar…whatever you want to call it.

A few years passed and a secret sister gave me a cute little decorative basket. After I emptied it of the gifts I set it on my counter. A few days later, I transferred my vitamins and herbs to it. Just enough room. The next time we went to Michigan for the weekend I found that the cute little basket fit perfectly into my toiletries bag and I didn’t have to “pack” any medicine or take a chance on forgetting what we used on a daily basis. Interesting!

A few years after that, Barb moved into our town. One day she invited us over. We enjoyed family time together, a meal and even sampled some homemade chocolate chip cookies. What awesome form they had! And a nice texture, too. “So, Barb, what do you do to these that is different than mine? Mine always fall flat.” The only difference was the sugar. Of course, she used raw sugar in her cookies. She used it for everything. But hey, it might just be the recipe itself. She gave me her recipe and I took it home to make my own batch of cookies. They fell flat. I didn’t use raw sugar.

The next time Tony went to the Amish bulk food store in his travels for work he picked up a bag of raw sugar. I made chocolate chip cookies again. Great form, great texture! It's been5 years. Guess what’s in my cupboard for baking? Guess what I use on my cereal in the morning? Guess what I take to Michigan when I go up for the weekend?

Editor’s note: My sister has done extensive research and this is WHY she uses raw sugar. The refining process not only takes the B vitamins out of white sugar but the white sugar in turn robs your body of B vitamins. Raw sugar still has those B vitamins in it and leaves what B vitamins are in your body alone.

Change of Plans

Sunday, we were eating dinner when suddenly all of the phones in the house were ringing one right after another. My cell phone, Tony's cell phone and the home phone. Two of my sisters had been trying to contact us to let us know Dad hadn't been feeling well. That morning his blood pressure had dropped as low as 80/45! The sister from Missouri was making immediate plans to go to Michigan. And so our plans for a nice leisurely afternoon nap in preparation for a busy week - the last week of school - were hijacked. We were quickly thrown into packing mode (getting easier after the last several trips taken just a few weeks apart).
Dad finally consented to see his doctor Monday morning. Guess he felt kind of foolish not to do something when two kids from out of state show up to escort him to the doctor's office :) Extensive lab work, a chest x-ray and an abdominal ultra-sound later, we still have no answers.
I am comforted to know, however, that even when our plans change and things must come to a screeching halt and have to be shifted around...God's plans have NOT changed. He's not taken by surprise at anything that has taken place this week. He's in control and I'm content to let it stay that way.
I will add that in spite of what we may have anticipated during the ride up here - envisioning him being to sick to communicate or be out of bed - we have actually had a very nice visit with Dad. Last night we enjoyed a rousing game of Mexican Train Dominoes (kicking myself now for not getting pictures!) and Dad came in second, only one point below my sister, Barb.