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Show B2 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, July 15, 2008 The FAMILY PAGE Swell Recipes Focus On The Family Kids Home Newspaper Figuratively Speaking FOCUS ON THE FAMILY Fathers, too, Have a Hard Time Letting Go of Children Dr. James Dobson Q We hear so much about mothers being depressed and unable to accept the empty nest when the kids leave home. In our family, however, it was Dad who took it hard. He went into a tailspin for more than a month. Is this unusual? No, it happens very commonly. In a recent study, 189 parents of college freshmen were asked to report their feelings when their son or daughter left home. Surprisingly, the fathers took it harder than the mothers. That resistance to the empty nest was the theme of the movie, “Father of the Bride,” which was a hilarious and touching tribute to the love of a father for his daughter. When George, the dad, sat across from his daughter at the dinner table and learned that she was engaged, he took the news hard. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had to clear his vision when he saw his daughter as a baby girl, and then as a ten-year-old tomboy, and finally as a beautiful young woman of eighteen. His little girl had grown up so quickly and now she was A leaving home. He would never again be the main man in the life of his precious daughter and there was grieving to be done. Why do men sometimes take the empty nest so hard? One of the chief explanations is regret. They have been so busy -- working so hard -- that they let the years slip by almost unnoticed. Then suddenly they realize it is too late to build a relationship with the child who is leaving home forever. For those of you who still have children or teenagers at home, take a moment regularly to enjoy your remaining time together. Those days will be gone in the blink of an eye. I’m having the hardest time trying to teach my boys about honesty and truthfulness. I talk and talk to them and it just doesn’t seem to do much good. What Q would you advise? Someone said, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one.” There is truth to this statement. Children may not remember what you say, but they are usually impacted for life by what you do. Consider the task of teaching your boys to be honest, for example. Yes, you should teach what the Scripture says about truthfulness, but you should also look for opportunities to live according to that standard of righteousness. I’m reminded of something that happened several years ago in the state of Georgia, when the Bulldogs of Rockdale County High School overcame a big deficit to win the state basketball championship. Coach Cleveland Stroud couldn’t have been more proud of his team. But then a few days later, while watching the game films of the playoffs, he noticed that there was an ineligible player on the court for forty-five seconds during one of the games. He called the Georgia High School Association and reported the violation, costing the school the title and the trophy. When asked about it at a press conference, Coach Stroud said, “Some people have A said that we should have kept quiet about it. That it was just forty-five seconds, and that the player wasn’t really an impact player. But you gotta do what’s honest and right. I told my team that people forget the scores of basketball games. They don’t ever forget what you’re made out of.” You can be certain that every member of the Bulldogs’ team will remember the character of Coach Stroud. A letter to the editor of the local newspaper summed it up well. “We have scandals in Washington and cheating on Wall Street. Thank goodness we live in Rockdale County, where honor and integrity are alive and being practiced.” Your boys and girls need to see you doing what is right, even when it is inconvenient to do so. (Dr. Dobson is founder and chairman of the board of the nonprofit organization Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO 80995(www.family.org). Questions and answers are excerpted from “Solid Answers” and “Bringing Up Boys,” both published by Tyndale House. Copyright 2008 James Dobson Inc. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. SWELL RECIPES Still Enjoying the Art of Cooking Kathy Ockey Bonnie Swenson has had a lot of experience cooking in many different venues. When she was a child her mother and father owned a business and they were gone during the day, so it was up to the oldest child at the time to cook for the family. When Bonnie was in the eighth grade she started learning an art she would continue throughout her life. She makes wonderful meals for her family, has had a catering business and now has the opportunity to prepare meals for the guests at Castle Valley Ranch. Bonnie said she has always been interested in cooking food since she was small. When she was in the second grade the students made recipe books for their mothers and she was fascinated with the many different recipes that seemed very “fancy” because when her mother cooked she did not prepare complicated dishes. When Bonnie was a young mother she watched Julia Child on television. She loved the French names and the beauty of the French cooking and learned a lot from the program. Later in her life she had the opportunity to travel to France with her husband when their son was released from his mission. She said she had some delicious French cuisine and tried everything – even some dishes she didn’t think she would like, and found they were delicious. She was also impressed with the look and presentation of the food. When Roger was in college Bonnie said they didn’t have a lot of money for extras and she was drawn to artistry in her food preparation. She found out that it doesn’t matter what you prepare if the presentation is beautiful, and food can be fun to prepare because there is no limit to what you can experiment with. She said she very seldom uses a recipe, she keeps them in her head and each time she makes a dish it turns out differently because of the various seasonings and ingredients she experiments with. She says it is OK to mess up and try again and has learned more from her failures than her successes. Bonnie started a catering business and it gave her a chance to cook for other people. She said she always had to laugh when she catered a dinner and was asked, “Does your family always eat like this?” She said her family ate more traditional meals, but the catering allowed her to try new and exciting dishes. Bonnie said it is important to let your children cook with you and enjoy the excitement of fixing a beautiful dish. She had a roommate that literally did not know how to boil water but believes children need to learn how to cook so they can do it when they leave home. It can also be a great experience to cook with your children to spend time together in the kitchen. Bonnie loves her job at Castle Valley Ranch because it “takes cooking to the limit.” She can fix a lot of different dishes and gets to play with food. She has also met a lot of interesting people who “become almost like family, and it is hard to see them leave.” Bonnie says cooking is a matter of being organized so cooked dishes are completed at the same time. It is also important to clean up as you go and also to have the necessary supplies at hand so you don’t have to stop in the middle of preparing a meal to go to the store. Bonnie took a 4-H cooking class when she was 10 and was devastated when she didn’t get a ribbon for her cookies and everyone else did. It encouraged her to keep trying. “I’m still cooking and they aren’t!” She said. Bonnie submitted the following cool recipes for a hot summer day. Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad Dressing Mix dressing ingredients and let set while you assemble the salad 1 teaspoon fresh ginger root, finely grated 1 clove garlic, pressed 1/3 cup rice or white wine vinegar 1/4 cup orange juice 1/4 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon Sesame oil 1/2 cup finely minced green onion 2 teaspoons sugar Salad Bonnie Swenson 8 ounces bowtie pasta, uncooked 1 cucumber seeded and chopped 1/2 cup red bell pepper 1/2 cup chopped red onion 6 ounces fresh spinach leaves (preferably baby) 1 -11 ounce can mandarin oranges, drained 2 cups diced cooked chicken 1/2 cup sliced toasted almonds Cook pasta in salted water. Drain and add all other ingredients. Pour dressing and let marinate for 20 minutes before serving. Dorothy’s Lime slush 1-12 ounce can frozen limeade 11 cups water 3 cups sugar Large bottle of Sprite Mix together and freeze. When frozen scrape with an ice cream scoop and fill glass. Pour Sprite over the top. Serve with a lime slice on edge of glass THE ANSWER MAN A Royal Mark Andy Seamans 1. Name the current monarch ruler of England and tell us of what royal family is this monarch? 2. What is unique about the hands of Walt Disney cartoon characters? 3. What was the record label on Elvis Presley’s first few phonograph records? 4. What is the common name for the wolf species known as the prairie wolf? 5. What Major League Baseball team moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954? 6. Name the Major League Baseball team that moved to Washington, D.C., in 2005 and tell us its new team name. 7. What is the descriptive term for a home run with all three bases occupied, thus driving in four runs? 8. Name the American Indian princess who married a colonial leader in the 1600s in one of the New World settlements and from where they then traveled to England. 9. Quite sadly, while the couple in the preceding question was planning a return to her colonial home she developed what some say was smallpox and passed away. Some in the historic colony would like to have her returned to her childhood home. Name the historic colony where Pocahontas would be placed in a grave and given a monument. 10. What is the name used as a title for the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution? Answers can be found on Page B4. |
