Recovery

After Caleb's illness . . .

I longed to get my eyes on him 

to see for myself that he was well

to see that Kati and Andrew were well

to hear the ups-and-downs and behind-the-scenes of their ordeal with Caleb's health

to love and spend time together

to help Kati recharge after such long and lonely days.

I am so grateful for the week that I was able to spend with this dear family! 

Seven wonderful days of baby holding/kissing/snuggling. Plenty of time to talk. A few coffee runs. Learning a new game while holding a sleeping baby. Good food. 

I'm really not scowling; I am just a poor selfie-taker!
But I wanted to record a typical moment from our week together. 💗

I was delighted to see that Kati and Andrew are doing well, enjoying their time together as a family, settling back into a routine (or as much of a routine that one can have with a baby . . . during a pandemic!).

And Caleb? 

Amazing! He is gaining weight every day. He is happy . . . smiles easily, baby-talks, sleeps well at night. In the one week that I was there, he grew out of his swaddles into the next size, he started to reach for things with his little hands, he began to notice their dog Pepper, he noticed the fish tank as it bubbled, and the incisions on his little belly were remarkably improved. 

I thank the Lord for answering our prayers for Caleb, for His strength for this young family, and for allowing me the opportunity to visit them and put my mama-heart at ease. 

Caleb's Bumpy Road

I took another unplanned blogging break these past couple of weeks when our family suddenly found ourselves dealing with a medical crisis involving grandbaby Caleb. 

At his two month checkup, Caleb was diagnosed with pyloric stenosis. He spent ten days in the hospital, requiring not one, but two surgeries to correct this condition. It was a long haul for that precious little boy. It was also hard on his mommy and his daddy who not only had to see their baby suffering, but, because of current covid-related restrictions, could not be together for those ten days. And it was hard on the extended family of grandparents, great-grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins who waited for frequent updates on Caleb's health from afar. 

But . . . Praise the Lord! . . . the second surgery was successful, Caleb rapidly began to improve, and he came home this past weekend! The little family is happily reunited! 

Doesn't Caleb looked happy to learn he is finally going home?

And here he is this morning, alert, handsome, and healthy!

"The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy!"

Psalm 126:3

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

When my daughter-in-law Sarah came with the children for their piano lesson last week, they brought us a quart of freshly picked blueberries. Yum! We nibbled a few, and added a few to our yogurt and our morning cereal. But I wanted to make one special blueberry-something before they disappeared.

I suggested a few possibilities like Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake or Blueberry Crisp, or Blueberry Cheese Pie, but Ron requested muffins. 

So I have a blueberry muffin recipe that I have been using for many (38!) years. I have shared it before here on the blog before. I absolutely love the photos that accompanied that post, photos of the grands picking wild blueberries when they lived in Maine. Here are some . . . 

Throwback to 2013

(Oops. Got a little sidetracked with those cute grands.)

Back to this post and these muffins . . . 

As much as we enjoy those muffins, I wanted these to be something special, so I pulled this clipping out of my recipe collection.  It was a feature in an old issue (June 2002) of Martha Stewart Living called "Muffins 101." The article included several basic muffin recipes, suggestions for add-ins, recipes for a variety of toppings, and basic how-to's. 

Using this article as a guide, I created some blueberry muffins with a scrumptious streusel topping. 

These muffins are moist and delicious. One person in my house said that they could just eat the streusel topping with a spoon! Martha's recipe for streusel uses confectioner's sugar which gives it a perfect consistency. Of course, there is also plenty of butter in the topping, so that doesn't hurt!  

These muffins met my requirement for something "special" to make with our blueberries! If you want something special for your summer breakfast table or for guests, give these a try!

P.S. You can substitute another fruit like raspberries or chopped peaches. They will be just as good!

BLUEBERRY STREUSEL MUFFINS

(Makes 12 standard muffins)

Muffin Ingredients:
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk, room temperature 
1 large egg, room temperature
1 1/4 cups blueberries
streusel topping (recipe below)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter or grease a standard muffin tin.

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; whisk to combine.

In a medium bowl,combine butter, vanilla, sugar, milk, and egg; whisk to combine.
Fold butter mixture and fruit into flour mixture just until mixed. (Don't overmix!)

Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each cup. Press 2 tablespoons of streusel on top of each.
Bake until tops are golden, 15 to 18 minutes.
Remove from oven; let cool in pan 15 to 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature.
(I think these muffins are just as good - or even better-  the next day!)   


Streusel Topping:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.
Mix with your fingers until mixture is moist and crumbly.

Robin

Yesterday we said good-bye to my beautiful aunt.

Robin was my mom's youngest sister, only nine years older than me. She was also a wife to Tom, mother to Ashley, Milly (MIL = mother-in-law) to Heath, and a grandmother to five-week-old Emma. She was bright, fun, artistic, courageous, fantastic decorator, hilarious, an overcomer, creative, generous, detail-oriented, vivacious, a planner, athletic, and gorgeous. 

And she was loved by many. She will be terribly missed.

Meeting Caleb!

It was a relaxing, baby-holding, baby-kissing, baby-snuggling, coffee-sipping, good eating kind of visit!

Less than a minute after we arrived at Kati and Andrew's house, I held Caleb in my arms. 

Be still my heart. 

I look a little travel weary, but the miles melted away when I met this precious boy! 

I told you in ~this post~ how disappointed I was not be able to travel to be with Kati during Caleb's first days of life. I had wanted to see him "while he was still red." 

So yes, it was HARD to wait . . . but he was so WORTH the wait!
(There is a spiritual lesson here!)

This is the first time Aunt Bekah held her new nephew.

(But not the last.) 

Kati and Andrew's dog Pepper stuck very close by each "stranger" who held Caleb. 

By the end of the week, she trusted us to hold him.

The first time that Ron held his new grandbaby. 

Caleb reached his ONE MONTH mark while we were visiting, calling for a little celebration! 

♡ Family life ♡

There is gray hair and baby drool on my shoulder . . . but I love this picture!

Hanging out.
Pepper, Papa, Aunt Bekah, and Caleb.
Never mind that one of the sofa cushion covers was in the wash from a baby mishap.
Life is good here. 

This is not the first time that we have had to wait to meet a grandchild. Ryan and Sarah lived far away from us when Nora was born . . . and even further when Peter was born. We met each of those babies for the first time when they were about seven weeks old. 

But before we ever met them, we loved them. 

I did not have to learn to love Nora when I met her. I already loved her dearly, because she was mine. 

When I met Peter a couple of years later, I loved him immediately because he was family, my very own grandchild. 

Before I met Caleb last week, I loved him intensely because he is the child of my child and he belongs to us.

I loved Nora, Peter, and Caleb, whom I had never seen, with a deep, rich love.

And one day, when we who are the Lord's get to Heaven and we meet for the first time, I don't think that we will have to learn to love one another. We will love one another with a deep love . . . because we are family, because we are His.