I’m excited today to be baking pies for some great friends. They have organized a terrific effort in our county to bring holiday goodies to all of the firefighters and EMTs in our county. In the oven right now is Red Hot Firehouse Apple Pie and a Chocolate Chip Pecan pie is waiting its turn to bake.

Want to make an apple pie? Here’s how:

Prepare a 9 inch pie crust (you need a top and a bottom crust).

For the filling:

Peel and chop up 6-7 granny smith apples into a bowl. Put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in the bowl to keep the apples from browning.

Add: 1 TSP cinnamon, 2 TBSP flour, 1/2 TSP salt, 3/4 CUP sugar, and 1/4 cup red hot cinnamon candies. Stir it all up. (the redhots are optional, but they really give the pie a holiday flair)

Pour it in the pie shell. Add the second crust on top. If you don’t want to figure out a lattice top pie, you can simply put the whole crust on top, crimp the bottom crust to the top, and cut a few slits in the center of the top crust. I used a Christmas tree crust cutter to do mine.

Brush melted butter on the top and sprinkle sugar to give a browned and sparkly look.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 375 degrees.

As if baking pie weren’t fun enough, it’s a special honor to help out these folks with their effort. Here’s why: they have turned tragedy into hope. Not too long ago, they lost a child to cancer. It was a horrible loss–one I cannot imagine. They decided last Christmas that they would bake goodies to thank some of the emergency workers that frequently came to their home during their daughter’s illness. It wasn’t long before they expanded their efforts to appreciate more of these under-thanked heroes.

They’ve expanded their efforts so much that they’re delivering 40 dozen treats a day for THREE DAYS. That’s a lot of cookies. I’m adding a few pies a day to their efforts, and I’m so thankful for all the people in our community who have been baking, donating ingredients, and signing up for delivery times.

These people give me hope. So much hope.

In light of recent events in our nation–such tragic events that this mother and educator cannot comprehend–I am choosing today to follow the example of these good friends of mine. Tragedy happens. We don’t know why.

But in the cold, dark soil of tragedy, we must sow seeds of hope. Sow hope. So…HOPE.

Today, hope is coming. It is coming this Christmas. It is coming each day that we choose to hope–even in our broken world. I am so grateful today for the gift of hope.