Last week, my sisters Verena and Susan did a good job cleaning the windows in the upstairs bedrooms. We like to take the screens out and bring them to the basement to spray off with soap and hot water. The summer dust accumulates on them.

Just before lunchtime, Uncle Joe and Aunt Betty from Geneva, Ind., drove in. They stayed for lunch and visited with all of us. I want to wish them a happy 50th wedding anniversary on March 14. Not everyone gets to see their 50th anniversary anymore, so I think that’s special!

We also washed laundry that day, and with the temperature in the 50s and the sun shining, we hung everything outside. We washed the curtains from the bedrooms upstairs while the windows were getting cleaned. All the laundry was dried, folded and put away again, which is a sure sign spring is not too far away. The curtains were ironed and hung back on the sparkling windows.

On Monday, daughter Susan and children and daughter Verena drove the five miles to the doctor’s office to have 7½-month-old Ryan checked out. He had been running a temperature and was very fussy, so Susan stayed home from church with him. The doctor said he had an inner-ear infection and gave him an antibiotic and ear drops.

I had Susan bring her laundry here, and daughter Loretta and I washed it while they were in town. We washed ours, too, so we put through quite a few loads of laundry. I hung most of it outside, and it dried fast in the wind. It’s always harder to hang clothes on the lines on windy days, but they dry fast.

Wednesdays are usually the day our married daughters Elizabeth and Susan come home for the day along with our five sweet grandchildren. Yesterday Elizabeth and Susan washed off the walls and ceiling in the master bedroom, and also cleaned the windows and furniture. It was relaxing to go to bed last night with our bedroom so refreshed. The master bathroom still needs to be cleaned, but that won’t take long for me to do one day.

My other daughters were baking cookies and washing dishes, rocking babies, etc. They made chocolate crinkle cookies. This recipe will be in my new cookbook, coming out next month. They also made “ranger cookies,” which are an oatmeal cookie. They wanted to make “outrageous cookies,” but we were out of chocolate chips.

Granddaughters Abigail, 3, and Jennifer, 2, love when their aunts let them help mix and bake the cookies. Some turned out very small because the little girls were helping, but they enjoyed it. Ryan is back to smiling and chattering, and is acting so much better than a few days ago.

I made a list of everything we hope to accomplish in cleaning before we host church services in April. It’s not that we can’t host the services if this doesn’t get done, but I like to set a goal, and the list helps to get everything done. How refreshing once the house has a thorough cleaning from top to bottom.

Plans are for me to do quite a few book signings after my new cookbook is out. I know I will relax much better leaving and knowing my house is cleaned for the summer months ahead. The girls are always happy to mark things off my list. They will also be glad when we are done.

This month 16 years ago, my husband, Joe, and I and our six children made the move here to our home in Michigan from our home in Indiana. Eight weeks later, we were blessed with our seventh child, Lovina. She came earlier than expected, and I had her by emergency C-section and spent a week in the hospital.

Sixteen months later, we added another son, Kevin, to our family. Sixteen years went by so fast! Time does not stand still.

Chicken ’n Rice Casserole

1 cup cooked chicken

1 can cream of mushroom soup

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup diced celery

1 cup cooked rice

1 teaspoon minced onion

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons salt

2 hard-boiled eggs

Mix together all the ingredients and put in a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs, crushed crackers or tortilla chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Readers can write to her at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org and your message will be passed on to her.