An unexpected blessing

Since it was unseasonably warm again today we decided to take advantage of the weather and drive somewhere for lunch! We did this yesterday too, but who is counting?  As we left home our first stop was at the mailbox where we collected today's mail and looked to see who had sent us Christmas cards.  One was from our friends in Frankfort, KY.  I thought about how much fun we had when we visited them a couple of years ago and how much I missed them.
 We had decided to drive to one of our favorite eating places, Bread of Life.  I was driving so, Peanut, could look around.  When we arrived in Russell Springs I started to pull over at the Mighty Dollar Store where we always stop first but today Peanut said, "Let's go eat first, I'm hungry."  We arrived about 15 minutes later, and were seated near the buffet. 
I looked across the table to say something and who did I see, sitting right there in a cafe in the middle of the farmland of Casey County Kentucky?  It was our friends from Frankfort, Cloyd and Judy! They were on their way to Tennessee to visit family.  We probably caused a minor disturbance with our enthusiastic greetings.  We were able to enjoy lunch together and then we all made a stop at a store in the nearby Mennonite community and at the Mighty Dollar.  It's funny how all the little things that happened this morning brought some people together in the right places for an unexpected blessing!

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On another bright note I was able to get some orange slices and chocolate drops at the Mennonite store because everyone knows you can't have Christmas without those in your candy dish.  At least my grandmothers always had them!

Besides candy I also bought some raw peanuts and made this treat tonight.

Candied Peanuts

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups raw peanuts (skin on)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves.
2. Add peanuts to sugar water and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the peanuts are completely sugar coated and no sugar syrup remains, about thirty minutes.
3. Pour out onto ungreased cookie sheet and spread out a bit. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet and then store in sealed container.