Siebenunddreißig

Today marks my 37th birthday! I am so excited about this . . . I've been waiting all year to get rid of the nasty even-numbered age of 36. Thirty-seven happens to be one of my top-five favorite numbers, followed by 7, 17 and 77, just ahead of 57.

Since I return to work today and school is not on for the boys yet, my parents are coming over to spend the day with Mitchell and Ty and my mom will be making one of my favorite meals for supper . . . wareneki and farmer sausage with cream gravy. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a traditional German-Mennonite dish, full of calories, carbohydrates and fat. A wareneki is similar to a perogy, but instead of a potato-filling, the dough is filled with what I call real cottage cheese - not the creamy or dry stuff that you buy in the store . . . this comes from farmers who milk their own cows and take the time to make the cottage cheese as a result of that process. And the farmer sausage is also made traditionally . . . it is not purchased at the supermarket. My parents get it from a meat-processor who lives near my mom's home town. And the cream gravy--well, that's produced by mixing real cream in the same pan that the sausage was fried in, creating an absolutely delicious topping for the wareneki. So yeah . . . not something we normally indulge in, but when my mom offered to do this for my birthday supper, I could not resist. I plan to contribute to the festivities by making a Saskatoon berry Chiffon Cheesecake. Again, full of calories and fat, but hey, you only turn 37 once, so I'm ignoring all the rules of proper eating today.

In preparation for writing this post, I did a little bit of research to find out if anyone famous shares my birthday. There wasn't anyone familiar in the listing specific to August 26, 1972. However, as a result of my research, I discovered that Mother Theresa was also born on August 26th, but in 1910, not 1972. So, I decided to include her thoughts in my post today. I think she was an exemplary woman of humility and compassion. And since seven is my favorite number, I am going to leave you with seven quotes, words of wisdom from Mother Theresa:

*Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.

*Spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

*We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

*I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.

*If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

*Love begins at home and it is not how much we do . . . but how much love we put in that action.

*Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.