The Story of Nedra's Bread for MDA

Most of you are aware that the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) fund raising drive concludes on Labor Day. Our brother Ron is manager of a 7-11 convenience store. The 7-11 stores are active each year in MDA fundraising and Ron's store is no different.

Ron does various programs and activities to reach a goal of approximately $5,000 in donations from his store alone for MDA. He has an annual cookout, asks for MDA Bucks contributions, promotes a Silent Auction and has a Bake Sale.

The Bake Sale is where my sister Nedra really gets involved. For the past several years she has baked at least 100 loaves of pumpkin and banana bread for his bake sale. This year she started several months ago and surpassed that number -- she baked 150 loaves for the Bake Sale which will run this first week of September. Now, don't get alarmed the pumpkin and banana bread both freeze really well and Ron's freezer has certainly been full.

Included in this Blog is a copy of her original recipe (she still pulls it out of her recipe box when she bakes another batch of bread). Also printed below is the recipe (in the event the original is a little hard to decipher).

Pumpkin Bread
Mix together:
4 eggs, beaten 3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil 2/3 cup water
1 can pumpkin (2 cups)

Sift together these dry ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour 2 teaspoons soda
1 1/2 teas. salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture.

Add 1 cup finely chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bake in 4 loaf pans at 325 degrees for 1 hour. For the last 15 minutes bake at 300 degrees. Check glass plans at about 45 minutes.

This same recipe can be used for Banana Bread (use 2 cups mashed bananas instead of the pumpkin); for the Zucchini Bread (use 2 cups shredded zucchini).

Nedra, Larry and I all join together to help Ron in his fundraising efforts. However, since Nedra spent many, many hours baking loaves of bread, I wanted to highlight her efforts in this Blog.

Stay tuned for the next Blog .... I will write about my experience of helping with his MDA Cookout last Friday.

Celebrated Cathy's Birthday!

Friday, August 21, 2009 was a special day ... Cathy's birthday ... and her lovely daughters Christine and Lauren helped Larry, Connie and Nedra celebrate with her at Lakeshore (our home). It was a fun time. Lauren was our master chef responsible for grilling the steaks! Nedra showcased her baking skills with a strawberry cake. Connie filled in with the rest of the meal ... and a couple of hours before the celebration time decided we needed table decorations and something special. I (Connie) decorated a basket, sorted through some photos of events we had all enjoyed and designed a "Remember When?" game.

We had the cake and ice cream on the patio and enjoyed our "Remember When?" there as well. We made some good memories --- just wished that Harold could have been here with us. But duty at Harvester Church in St. Louis called for his presence. He will be flying down next Tuesday, August 25th to spend a few days in Oklahoma City. That is always special!

Each evening I text a scripture to Christine and Lauren. And they often send one back to me. The one I shared on 8/21/09 was from Psalms 8: "O LORD our Lord how excellent is Your Name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens! " Lauren had sent one earlier: " Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap the harvest if we do not give up", Galatians 6:9.

Helen Keller wrote two very profound statements: "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." She also stated, "Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

I want to finish this blog for today with something I heard many years ago: "Stick to the task until the task sticks to you. The beginners are many, but the finishers are few." So keep on keeping on!