Reflecting on graduation...

Well, I made it through yet another milestone. I can now say I am officially the parent of a high school graduate. The last couple of weeks have been really busy with all of the senior activities. I prepared myself by buying waterproof mascara, I thought for sure I'd need it and surprisingly enough I didn't. I think by the time we got there I was just happy. So proud of Jade and all that she's accomplished. I'd listened to her practice her speech several times so even that didn't make me cry.

The only thing that bothered me was that my dad wasn't able to be there. My mom and step-dad were there, as were my sister and brother-in-law (he videoed Jade's speech, I haven't gotten a copy yet, hopefully it came out well!) My friend who is visiting from Minnesota braved 4 hours on the freeway to be there. Jade's friends Kaylee and Brianna were there with us and Brianna said the sweetest thing on our way of the the stadium. She wanted to make sure we took a picture of just the 3 of them, they have one from each one of their graduations. *sigh* That meant so much to me as a mom, you hope and pray that you're kids are going to have good friends, and that just touched me.

So, this week Christian has promotion from eighth grade and Mackenzie has promotion from sixth grade. I keep shaking my head wondering where the time has gone. Oh, and Jade and I have freshman/parent orientation at LMU.
It's a beautiful thing to watch these kids and their friends becoming wonderful young people.

I hope you find something that fills you with beauty this week.
Ciao.

A Story of Three Men

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long
white beards sitting in her front yard.

She did not recognize them.

She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry.
Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?" they asked.

"No," she replied. "He's out."

"Then we cannot come in," they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had
happened.

"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"

The woman went out and invited the men in.

"We do not go into a house together," they replied.

"Why is that?" she asked.

One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said
pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another
one, "He is Success, and I am Love."

Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which
one of us you want in your home."

The woman went in and told her husband what was said.
Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!" he said.
"Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and
fill our home with wealth!"

His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"

Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the
house.

She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better
to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"

"Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice," said the husband to
his wife.

"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the three old men,
"Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two
also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth
and Success: "I only invited Love, why are you coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or
Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you
invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him.

Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!!!

~Author Unknown~

I hope your week is filled with beauty.

Ciao.

Graduation Announcement

Erskien and Barbara Lenier

are pleased to announce

Jade

is graduating, Salutatorian

from Centennial High School

the Sixteenth of June

2010

Seven o’clock in the evening

1820 Rimpau Avenue

Corona, CA 92881

Jade will be attending

Loyola Marymount University

in the fall of 2010

Recipe of the week: Peach Cobbler

Peaches are one of summer's treasures. Two years ago, we had so many peaches on our tree, we ended up freezing 20 gallon Ziplocs of pitted, sliced peaches. I made peach smoothies, peach cobbler, peach pie, even peach salsa. What we loved the most was the peach cobbler. I took this to a bar-be-que and it was gone in 5 minutes, I didn't even get a piece! It's an easy recipe but takes a little time. If you can get peaches off someones tree, great! If not, try to buy organic, peaches are one of the fruits that are typically sprayed with a lot of pesticides. If you like more cobbler on the top, it's easy to double the topping. If you try it, let me know what you think. A Votre Sante!


Peach Cobbler

1 cup whole wheat or unbleached flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tea baking powder
1/2 tea cinnamon
1/4 butter
5-6 cups sliced peaches
1/3-2/3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla divided

Preheat oven to 400. For the topping, in a medium bowl stir the flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

For the filling, in a large pot combine the peaches, the 1/3-2/3 sugar, the cornstarch,1 /4 cup water and 1 tsp vanilla. Let stand for a few minutes. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Pour into a 2 quart baking dish (a 9x13 pan should work too, if your doubling the recipe a lasagna pan will work)

In a small bowl stir the egg, milk and vanilla together, add to flour mixture, stirring until just moistened. With a spoon drop the topping onto filling, covering most of it.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!