I recently made a big pot of collard greens. I don’t make them the traditional Southern way (ham hock and lots of grease) but I think they are great. Maybe not quite as good as the greasy kind but really good. Lauren holds her nose every time I pull these out of the fridge. Dave won’t go near these. Carmen was my vegetable eater so if she could still eat, I bet she would like these! 
I’m as southern as cornbread and collard greens! What are you?
Collard Greens (NOTE: You could easily half this recipe as this makes a lot.)
2 lbs. collard greens, chopped and woody pieces removed
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
1-2T. olive oil
4T. white wine vinegar
2 t. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Boil chicken broth, water, olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. Add collards and sugar. Boil 30 minutes. Add more vinegar and sugar to taste. (The sugar is to cut the bitterness of the collards, not to make them sweet. So only add extra sugar to make them less bitter.)
Today is Carmen’s 32nd month birthday! Happy 32nd to you sweet Carmen!
For the past few weeks, we have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off (true Southern saying!).
We have been dealing with night nurse drama, particularly sleeping during shifts. Carmen needs awake and aware nurses. We are so grateful to have the help at night. But, we have to be able to trust the nurses caring for our daughter. Big prayers needed that we find the best nurses for Carmen!
The interview with Make-a-Wish went very well. The interviewers will take Carmen’s wish to the board and they will decide to go forward or not. We are hoping and praying that Carmen’s wish is granted as it would be amazing!
Thanks to Monica for all the princess Polly Pockets!
Have a great weekend!!!
Edited to add: Some of you may post comments that don’t show up right away. WordPress has a very sensitive spam folder so some comments get sent into spam. We try to check the spam folder on a regular basis to approve comments. Thank you for understanding!
We’d like to pray for you. If there is anything we can pray about, please send an email to dave@beautifulcanvas.org. We’ll track your prayer requests on this whiteboard. Your prayer requests will be kept completely confidential.
Tonight we have our interview with Make-a-Wish. We have thought of something that we would love to do for Carmen’s wish. We are asking that you pray that Make-a-Wish will consider our idea.
I’m sorry I can’t give more details now but will tell you how it goes after the interview!
Have a great day!
Irish fact for the day: 1 in 50 Irish Americans are Tay Sachs carriers.
1 in 250 in the general population are Tay Sachs carriers. A simple blood test will determine if you are a Tay Sachs carrier.
I often hear people say that they are not concerned about Tay Sachs because it has never been seen in their family before. Of all the families we have met with a child with Tay Sachs, not one had seen it in their family before. So, go get tested!
Lauren and I colored and cut out shamrocks today for St. Patrick’s Day. I cooked corned beef and potatoes. I thought the corned beef was GROSS! Dave ate some but I just ate my potato. Lauren ate chicken nuggets!
Here is a picture of the girls with the shamrocks we made.
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