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Nov
21
Written by:
Julie Arduini
11/21/2009 1:00 AM
I am very thankful that I can still knit and crochet, even though I've lost 70% of my sight, and sit in pain every day. I know the Lord has a reason for why I am this way.
My grandmother taught me to knit when I was about 8 years old, so I've got nearly 50 years of practice. Grandmother also made Christmas Stockings for all her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren until she died in 1984. I have carried on that tradition with my grandchildren, and a few of my sister's, until Linda started making them for her own.
At this time, a very dear email friend of mine has asked me to help her cause. For a few years, she has sent money and things to a missionary for the villagers in Kericho. This village in Africa is so poor, they don't have blankets or sleeping mats. Their small babies have to lie on the dirt floor of their hut, or on grass that is not very comfortable on their soft new skin. Penny asked me if I could knit some baby sweaters to help through cool nights. I have yet found a sweater pattern that I like, and they are all in sizes 3-6, way too big for a tiny baby.
I have knit quite a few small hats, several blankets, and have tried some sweaters. I'm just no good without a pattern. Most patterns are too small for me to read, so my wonderful daughter types them up on my computer where I can magnify and follow them. I have looked on the Internet, and don't find much. Can someone help me?
I am running out of yarn, and have very little resources to get any more. If any of your readers have any scraps or full skeins, and wouldn't mind helping this cause, I would appreciate all the help.
Sometime in November, a member of our church is going to go through scraps of material she has so that my granddaughters can sew together some sleeping mats, especially for the babies and younger children. It is a worthy cause, and a great way to teach these girls not just how to sew, but also to serve some of God's children that are way less fortunate than we.
You know, we, who have so much, often complain about our blessings. A missionary was sent to a country to share the Gospel. This people he was teaching were happy, yet they had so little. In a conversation they had, he mentioned the old woody wagon his family owned, and as a teenager, he hated having to drive it. The family he was talking to sat with their mouth opened, then one of them said, "Your family owns a car?" Then another time in a conversation this young missionary mentioned how inconvenient it was that he never could get to the phone because his younger sisters were always hogging it. Again the family was surprised, and one remarked, "You have a phone in your home? We have to travel 25 miles to use a phone." The missionary was too embarrassed to tell them that, no they didn't have one phone in their home, they had 3.
What other blessings do we enjoy, actually take for granted, that we complain about? One of my granddaughters' complaint is that there's nothing to eat. The cupboards are literally full. They are not going to go hungry by any means. It's just that what they would like to have is not in the cupboard. Unlike children in other countries who have absolutely nothing, we are so spoiled that if we don't have a can of peaches, just pears or applesauce, there's nothing to eat!
Many times we complain about the way the Internet is working, or our computer is too slow... What are we complaining about?
I am thankful for all the blessings in my life. I count them daily, and miss a lot of them I know.
Jan Abney
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"The Bible calls children a blessing and debt a curse. Yet we apply for curses and prevent blessings!"( Doug Phillips )
"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~~ Robert Maynard Hutchins
"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
- JAMES MADISON
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