World Famous Egg Nog

World Famous Egg Nog

I grew up in Northern New Jersey, and one of my favorite times of the year was Christmas, not only for the presents, the visit to grandma’s, more presents, outstanding turkey and Yankee Stuffing, but also because it was the only time of the year that Egg Nog was available.  When my family moved to Texas in the early 70’s, I was devastated around Christmas time because we couldn’t get egg nog.
I didn’t want my children to suffer this devasting loss, so we came up with this excellent recipe that has won international fame.  (Ok, here in Mexico and in Texas.  International.)


1. 4 egg yolks
2. 1 quart whole milk
3. 1 pint half and half
4. 1 and ¼ cup sugar
5. vanilla


Put the milk, half and half and 1 cup sugar on the stove top, stir occasionaly .  Bring to boil and remove immediately.
While the milk mixture is heating, mix ¼ cup sugar with the egg yolks and vanilla.  Continue stirring until the milk comes to a boil.  Stir constantly and repeatedly the entire time.
As soon as the milk comes to a boil, slowly add the milk to the eggs, stirring constantly.
Serve hot with whipped cream, or with egg white clouds, or as is.  Try it chilled serve ice cold.  Either way is delicious.

How We Got Our Van

About four weeks ago, Pastor Rick, (He's a friend of mine) said that I should probably look for a Chevy Astro Mini Van instead of a Buick Le Sabre.  I had been looking for a Buick for about two months, off and on.  They are a very nice car, comfortable ride, and good gas mileage.  I had only been able to find old or expensive ones; not a late model inexpensive one.

I decided to heed Rick’s advice, and the first van I noticed on Craig’s list was a 2000 Chevy Astro.  I went out to see it, and asked the owner, Jason, if I could drive the car for the day in Austin.  He said to go ahead.  I picked up Rick, and we spent the day riding around in a nice, clean, comfortable, and plush minivan.  I took it to the mechanic, and he said it was a good, solid dependable vehicle.  We left the van with the mechanic to change the oil, spark plugs, filters, transmission fluid and to charge the AC.   Rick drove me back to Jason, and I paid him.  The price of the car, (1800) and the parts and repairs, (500) and the registration came to right at 2500.  What a blessing and that was just about all the money we had to spend.

A few days later, while driving our new van, we got a call from Amarillo, Texas.  A family with six children and a seventh on the way wanted to buy a fifteen passenger van.  They couldn’t find any in Amarillo, and noticed that ours close to San Antonio.  I told them all I could about the van, including everything that was wrong with it.  They still wanted it and the husband flew down the next day to pay cash for the van and drive it away.  This was a jaw dropping experience because the van had troubles: oil and transmission leaks, transmission shifting problems, check engine light, tendency to overheat, body damage, cracked windshield, burned out AC compressor, and a few other minor problems, all of which I told the family in Amarillo about…and they still wanted the van.

The purchase of our minivan and the sale of our big van came during the only window in time we had in New Braunfels where we had our van parked.  About two weeks later we came home to Mexico.

Last night, here in Mexico, we attended a coming home party in our honor.  The hostess’s mom, Elizabeth told me that four weeks ago she had a dream where God told her to wake up and pray for “Conrad.”  She had this dream several times during the night.  She woke up her daughter, Betsi, and asked her who “Conrad” was.  Betsi explained to her who Sheryl and I were, and that we were in the United States at that time.  Elizabeth started to pray for the next few days that we would do God’s will on the earth, and not be hindered in doing it.  At her house, Elizabeth shared with us her dream, and also another dream that occurred a few days later where I went to her house with my family, sat down on her couch, and explained what had happened. 

After listening to her story, we compared dates, and I told her, while seated on her couch with my family present, exactly what had happened in our car purchase and sale, and that now I was fulfilling the last part of her dream in listening to her story and explaining how it tied in to our story.  Maria Luisa, also present at the time, shared how on September 4^th, about ten days before we bought the van, she had a dream where we bought the green minivan that we have.  She sent an e mail on that date telling us she dreamed about the van we purchased before we purchased it.

I have never bought or sold a car so quickly and thought that you would enjoy this interesting anecdote.

Blondie

When Jonathan was very young, one of his therapists said that a pet would be very good for him. He went on to say that studies had shown that interaction between a child with a damaged nervous system and a pet, like a cat or a dog would help promote a healthy nervous system in the child. We thought that would be a good investment for Jonathan, who suffers from hydrocephalous.

We began looking for a Labrador Retriever, since they are very child friendly dogs. Not too long after that, we found a family selling pure bred Golden Retrievers, and they wanted $5000 pesos, or about $500 dollars for each dog. That was well beyond our budget, so we decided to wait.

About a month later, close to Christmas, we called back, and found out that the family had sold all of their dogs except for one; she was three months old now, and they couldn’t get rid of her. We offered them $1000 pesos for her, about $100 dollars, and they accepted that. Our Golden Retriever, which we named Blondie, would prove to be a very worthy dog.

Now if a dog is called a Retriever, well, then, it should retrieve. We wanted her to live up to her name, so we took Blondie into our backyard, and I threw a tennis ball. She went, got it and brought it back. That was exciting, so I did it again. Sure enough, Blondie went and got the ball. Suddenly, everyone in the family wanted to throw the ball, so we took turns. Blondie quickly learned that Jonathan couldn’t throw very far, and she would intercept his throw in the air, which brought great delight to Jonathan.

Nearly every day for years, Jonathan and I would play catch with Blondie for a few minutes, and, slowly but surely, Jonathan would advance in some physiological way. Finally, when he was three and a half years old, Jonathan started walking. He was also able to throw the tennis ball much further. Blondie now had to work to play catch with Jon.

The Bible says in Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.” Blondie was created to give pleasure to God. I think that in helping Jonathan in his rehabilitation, Blondie fulfilled that function in her life, and we were privileged to have her in our family these past nine years. This past week, Blondie started acting very sick. She wouldn’t eat, she was very sluggish, and she only wanted to sit under the shade-tree by our back door and rest.

Today we took Blondie to the veterinarian. We were told that she had developed a large tumor in her abdomen, her heart was close to collapse, and she had a large and fast growing tumor behind her left eye. We made the decision to put her to sleep.

The Bible tells us some interesting stories about animals: Two cows left their calves to pull the ark of God’s covenant to Israel. (1 Sam. 6:7-12) A donkey carrying a rather wicked prophet of God spoke to him and refused to go forward, sparing the prophet’s life. (Num. 22:23-27) A dove left a place of safety to pluck an olive branch from a tree. (Gen. 8:11) A donkey and her colt that had never been ridden carried the Son of God. (Mat. 21:2) It seems that animals in the Bible obeyed God and did His will. I think Blondie fits into that same category, and I hope she has been rewarded for that service.