May this inspire you to realize how awesome you are and how powerful you can be with the power of our Lord.  "With God, all things are possible"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3NDn7j2GLo

Yesterday, I was doing laundry when the machine started freaking out. The load was off balance and the machine was banging against the wall and dancing in an agitated manner, its feet hammering the floor. I ran in and quickly shut it off, then waited for it to stop its spinning. After rearranging the load, I started it up again. As the machine started it's spin cycle again, this time calmly, I noticed that my hands were holding the sides of the machine in a comforting action and the thought that came to mind was, "That's just like a good friend.While you freak out she will hold you and be there to comfort you. She may help you shut out your world for a bit so that you can readjust and refocus but she will stay with you until you are running calmly again."

I appreciate Pastor Chris Martin's current focus on friendships. Friends are so very important in life. In this age of cell phoning upstairs to ask you son to bring down your slippers, e mailing your grandmother with an e card for Christmas,  doing a days worth of chores without ever touching a foot to the ground outside the garage, talking to 3D people around you is becoming a rare sport. Everyone is so busy being busy that we can live in a cocoon of lonliness and not even be aware of it.

Here are some scissors,Sis, let me help you get out of that cocoon.

If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Ecclesiastes 4:10

The church my family has attended for four generations sponsored different missions in Africa when I was growing up.  Each school year a missionary would come with a movie about a particular mission.  The images I saw and my love of Jesus made me want to do something, so I always had a mission bank to put pennies into to then send off to different missions. 

 This is how I look at Knots of Love. Each woman who has made one of these quilts has talked about how  they have been touched by the spirit of the child it will hold in the future and the sense of peace the Lord gives them as they work on  the blankets..  As they put their prayers,  love and care into each stitch,  they report feeling a strong connection to the blanket they are making.   The process has been simplified over the years and now Denise and I make up the kits to hand out.  Each kit contains the material and batting cut to size and pinned together.  Also added are the simple directions to make these pillow case quilt blankets.  The color-coordinated yarn is added as well with everything tied up like the gift that it is. 

Just before Christmas 2009, we were able to send twenty blankets to Germany for our missionaries Dieter and Lucy  Schade to hand out to the young families they encounter and bless their lives.

Now we are gearing up to send blankets to Honduras this summer with Bob and Angie Valtman’s team.  If you wish to contribute to our movement please contact Denise or myself either through the site or at church and we will set you up with a kit.