4 left

I finished quilt #96 this morning before church and delivered 9 of them today. The missionaries from Kazakhstan were visiting our church this morning and both the husband and wife came up to me and introduced themselves. I felt so blessed to be serving such selfless people who are willing to give up everything and move to such a faraway country to serve our God.

They said that the last time they were at the orphanage, the quilts were gone. They were panicked and asked the 'mother' what had happened to the quilts. She took them to a storage room and there, neatly folded and wrapped in tissue paper, were each of the quilts. She said the quilts were too precious to be used in the winter time and they were being stored until the spring. She had brought out the old, ugly quilts for the winter so these beautiful ones wouldn't get dirty and ugly. I told the missionaries to tell the 'mother' we could just make them new ones if these got dirty or ugly.

They also said that when they opened the first box of quilts, all 30 children started yelling, mine, mine, mine as they pulled the first quilt from the box. They said the smiles on the faces of the children were so wonderful. Each child knew he/she was loved from far away.

I was so glad to have gone to church today. I have a terrible migraine and felt like staying home, but knew that I had to go and deliver the quilts I had finished. I am so blessed to have gone and so energized to be working on more quilts.

As I think about my goals for the upcoming New Year, I am reminded that I started quilting last year as a ministry to share the love of God with others. God has given me a talent of making quilts and each day I am blessed to be able to used those talents to share the love of God with others. I may never be able to visit Kazakhstan in person, but each quilt I send is a hug from the Lord for those children. I also hope that I am teaching my own children to love all people. My youngest understands this the most I think. Each quilt I make, he asks me who it is for. I have one on my design wall now and he just asked me if it was for a child who doesn't have a mom or a dad. I hope each of my children grows up to share the talents they have been blessed with and in doing so shares the love of God with others.

After all, that is what we are put on this earth for.