Sometimes.....Often..... Usually..... Dare I say....Always.....The craziness of life brings the best blessings and surprises!!  :)  Today that blessing is a visit from 2 of my beautiful nieces!  Bored at older brothers' basketball tournaments.  Not quite old enough to stay the weekend alone.  Spending time with me eating powder donuts, candy canes and pumkin spice muffins.  Making crafts.  Watching girl movies. Waiting for big sister (one of my other beautiful nieces!) to get home for Christmas break late tonight.  The added benefit of my niece coming home from college is that she is bringing one of my daughters with her and I will trade her sisters for my daughter.  I am not sure who is getting the better deal!  (Just kidding, Carrie!)

But having all these lovely ladies coming and going  through my day, takes me back  a few weeks to a brilliant patch in my quilt.    The college girls were home from school (all except Alexa *sadness*) and we celebrated one of our favorite Christmas traditions--packing shoe box gifts for Operation Christmas Child!  We learned of this amazing ministry when my oldest daughter, Bryanna, was in Kindergarten and have done it every year since.  Sixteen years!!! :)  There is nothing quite like praying, planning, and packing a special Christmas gift for a child, often the only gift they have ever received in their entire life.  We always try to include a picture and our address.  In all the years we have packed boxes, we have received a few letters back from a variety of places.   An orphanage in Slovenia. A little girl in the Philippines.  A school girl in India that my youngest daughter corresponded with several times.  Then the Tsunami hit.  It was her area of the country because we had looked it up on the map.  We have not heard from her since.   Each child has become a special piece in our life quilt, loved and prayed for.  This tradition has trickled down to younger cousins and we enjoy getting together and shopping, wrapping, packing and praying together.  

If you want a glimpse into our Packing Party, click on the slide show to the left.  You will see some of the most awesome kids in the world, my daughters and nieces and nephews!  Special moment--check out baby DeLaney packing her first shoe box!!  

If you want to see some of the touching, funny, amazing and heart warming moments when children receive their boxes, you can go to youtube and search Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box.  Have tissues handy!! (I am not sure how to link to it, plus there are soooo many I could not limit it to one, so I hope that you take time to go check it out on your own.)

If you have packed a shoe box gift before, I would LOVE to hear your stories!  If you have not packed a box before, there is always next year!!  For more information you can visit samaritanspurse.org.  

Blessings!

Dark and Light

Just as a quilt is not stitched in a day, life takes time.  As I return to what two years ago promised to be a grand adventure, I reflect on all that has happened during that time.  While the rich textures of  family, friends and faith continue to be woven together in priceless patterns, I must confess that at times, my crazy quilt life has felt pretty frayed.  It is as if the seams have been stretched and pulled; pieces I thought to be permanent, ripped out mercilessly. Darker colors have found their way into the patchwork of my life.  My heart has been pricked as the needle moved in and out of the heavy fabrics of pain, change, separation, and loss. There were times I wrapped myself in dirty rags of self-reliance, anger, and fear, refusing to find comfort or peace in the Master Quilter's workmanship.  There were times I doubted that even He could make anything beautiful out of all the ugly scraps of life.

Ah!  But now, as always, when I choose to see it, there is the shining white thread of Amazing Grace, weaving all the shades of dark and light together.  I see now, mixed with the darker fabrics, the bright colors of triumph and promise, the soft shades of forgiveness and hope, the brilliance of adventure and freedom.  I see intricate embroidery woven in the blood-red thread of Unfailing Love, overlying the seams, lending beauty and strength.  I see, here and there, a pure crystal, sparkling among the shadows, tears that fell from the Master as He wept over me in the dark days.  And through it all, He ever so gently stitched together a masterpiece more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.

And so, today, I invite you once again to join me in my Crazy Quilt Life!  Grab your favorite Peanut Butter treat, cozy up in your favorite blanket, and let's see what awesome patterns the Master Quilter can make out of all the colors and fabrics of our lives.