My Dad's Birthday and a Recipe

How was your day today?

I didn't get to go for my jog because of the weather.

{rain, rain, go away...come again another day!}

Does it count that I 'ran' all day in the van?

:-) 

Today is my wonderful father's birthday!

He is such a great example to me and I love him very much.

The boys have been very busy preparing for his birthday with homemade cards and the girls have been hard at work making knitted accessories for him.  Madelyn knitted him an army green bookmark with a cross on it and Eleanor knitted him a 'chocolate candy bar'.  Really!  She knitted what looked like a chocolate bar and then a wrapper to go around it.  She even used gold in between the 'bar' and 'wrapper' to look like foil.  

My girls LOVE. TO. KNIT. and I'm totally ok with that!
{except when they neglect their chores} lol

This is kind of what Elly's looked like...just to give you her inspiration.

My dad loves chocolate.

{that's where I get it from}

Anyway, seeing as my dad is THE HARDEST person to shop for, I was going to make him a homemade German Chocolate Cake{his fave}.  My mom had already done that, so she suggested that I make him something with rhubarb since it is in season and he loves it!

I happened to have rhubarb frozen from several weeks ago in the freezer and  I also had some yummy strawberries.  Enter...Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. 

I had JUST gone to our local bulk foods market and found organic rolled oats and evaporated cane juice for ridiculously low prices. 

 $.90/lb for rolled oats and the cane juice was only $1.54/lb.

AWESOME!  You can hardly buy conventional foods at that price! 

Oh, how I love our little market!

Anyway, I thought you might like the recipe for this because

 it was really yummy and better yet, it was super easy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 3 cups diced rhubarb
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup rolled oats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, butter, and oats until crumbly. You may want to use a pastry blender for this. Crumble on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture.
4. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and lightly browned.

Here is the finished product!

Here is a pic of my family.  My sister, mom, me and my dad.

I love them so much!

Happy.

Here are the kiddos posing with grandpa after showering him with gifts and serenading him with 'Happy Birthday' and Jack's favorite song of all time...

Victory In Jesus.

It was really great to see my family today even though it was a short visit.  

We just never know what a day will bring and I'm so thankful to have my parents still with us.

Not everyone is so fortunate, so I really try to count my blessings. 

After 'running' around today, I rushed home to meet my husband and we headed to a dear friends' for dinner.

They are a part of our Shaklee team and more importantly, they are totally kindred spirits.   

Don't you love when you meet someone and it's like you've known them forever?  

It is so wonderful to know that God brings people into our lives to bless us and we are so thankful for that!

Much love,

xoxo