Old Friends' Recipes

Some friends at church had a baby, and I signed up to take them a meal. I nabbed two of my favorite recipes and started cooking. In the middle of mixing up the ingredients, it struck me that I had chosen two recipes given to me years ago by some very special women. Connie, Joan and Anna.


When we were first married, my husband and I lived outside Detroit in the suburbs. He was a youth and music pastor at a church in Washington, Michigan. And if you know anything about churches, you know about potlucks. Yum! Potlucks are the best if you're a new wife and inexperienced cook. All you have to do is taste and ask for the recipe. My first recipe came that way.

Connie wrote it down for me. Actually, she got it from Joan, another amazing woman in the church. Everything Joan said sounded so beautiful and sophisticated when she spoke with her Belize accent. I wanted to grow up to look and sound just like her.


Now Connie, oh, Connie. She was the life of the party, tall, thin, always wearing lipstick and nail polish. I didn't even own either at the time. She knew how to make you laugh and make you feel loved. I sure do miss Connie.

But the main dish came from a fellow mom, Anna. She brought Hamburger Rice Dish to me when my first baby girl arrived. It became Jeff's favorite meal. Anna was a young mother, like me, who became a good friend. We spent many Sunday evenings at a restaurant with other young married couples, laughing and sharing stories.


Unfortunately we moved back to the farm when our baby girl was just three weeks old. I wish our children could have known each other. I know Anna would have been a wealth of Godly advice.


I am thankful for these women, and others (like Carol, my very first babysitter) who came into my life when I was young and homesick, needing friendship and  advice, especially advice on how to cook! And so I want to use this post to thank them, and let them know they meant the world to me and are not forgotten.


Who are the women in your past that influenced you?