On birthdays it isn't uncommon to have these delicious cinnamon rolls requested by the birthday person, sometimes instead of birthday cake! The family story behind the name is that whoever makes the cinnamon rolls claims the privilege of referring to them as (insert baker's name here)'s Most Famous Cinnamon Rolls. Most Famous Cinnamon Roll Recipe Ingredients ½ cup warm water 2 packages yeast 2 tablespoons sugar 1 package instant vanilla pudding 2 cups milk - room temperature ½ cup butter - melted 2 large eggs - beaten 1 teaspoon salt 8 cups all-purpose flour ***** 1 cup butter - melted...

Our family-favorite caramel corn recipe. We are serving it today as part of our first traditional Monday Meal of the year! Microwave Caramel Corn Ingredients: Popcorn, popped, approximately 6 quarts2 cups brown sugar ½ lb. butter½ cup white corn syrup1 teaspoon vanilla1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon baking sodaPecans, toasted, if desired Put brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Cook on medium low and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Blend and pour over popcorn. If you plan to add nuts, do so immediately after you pour on...

Krissy is the daughter of dear friends of ours and received an autism diagnosis at age 2. Despite participation in various early interventions through the public school system, she made agonizingly slow progress. At five years old, Krissy finally began to talk, and at age six had developed a large vocabulary of words, but had very limited communication skills. For instance, if she wanted a banana, she did not know to come and ask for one. Instead, if you asked her, “Do you want a banana?” she would echo, “banana” if she did want it, or be silent if she didn’t. Occasionally...

In response to an article I recently reposted about family devotions, there was a comment about the difficulty of doing family devotions when your family includes special needs children. This is a very valid and relevant concern, and one that many families are facing, so I will make mention of a few personal experiences. While our family currently does not have any special needs members, we did have an 8-year-old girl with severe autism live with us for about a year. I acknowledge that our experience is limited, but here are a couple of things we found helpful. When Krissy came to stay...

There are dozens of ways to make camel bags. Ours are very crudely made and yet have served us well for many, many years. Here is what you will need: 2 yards of burlap glue gun coarse glitter Fold in half lengthwise, for easier cutting and cut so that the finished piece measures 72 by 24 inches. We drape our bags over the back of our dining room chairs. If your chairs are appreciably wider or narrower, you may want to adjust the second measurement.   Using a glue gun, glue along all the edges... ...and fold over about 1...