warm the preemies project...

so a couple of weeks ago ... right before christmas ... i was making a new baby hat with a new pattern ... only it didn't turn out to be very big and i couldn't figure out what i had done wrong ... and then papa god put this thought in my head that i should be making hats and outfits for the preemie babies at the nearby hospital.

now i used to sew little burial gowns for the preemies who didn't make it when i was part of the UMW, but that was always with the thought that the babies that used them would be the ones who didn't make it. and although i knew that those little gowns were very much appreciated, it wasn't something i felt i was supposed to do.

i only had a little bit of baby yarn left over from making some baby blankets and wasn't sure how i was going to make this project happen when i have no job and no income. so i put it on facebook that if anyone wanted to donate a skein of yarn, they should lmk and that i would appreciate bright colors. before i knew it i had several ppl sending me money for yarn. i hadn't asked for money, i had asked for skeins of yarn, but these women sent me money and said to buy what i needed. it was confirmation that papa god wanted me to do this...

i set up an account in my quicken to keep track of the incomes and outgoes, and went to buy yarn. imagine my surprise when i had coupons and yarns i wanted were on sale. i was able to get more yarn than i would have been able to -- and i did that on two separate shopping trips -- not just one. so instead of spending $75, i would be spending less than $50 ... again, another testament to the favor papa god was putting on this project.

i've been crocheting like crazy since then and my goal is to get quite a few outfits done and then take them to my church to have them blessed before delivering them to the hospital. and i won't stop there -- i have so much yarn that i will continue to do this until i run out ... but i have a feeling i won't run out, because i have a feeling that papa god is blessing this project and i will keep doing it for not only this teaching hospital, where most of the preemie and NICU babies end up, but also another smaller local hospital as well. i know that papa god is in this project and it makes me feel good to be using my god-given gifts to do this for papa.

mi familia

two weeks ago was my family reunion in PA. we do this every year -- sometimes we can make it -- sometimes we can't. this year my brother got to come -- he lives in Texas, so its a big deal when he's here at all let alone for a reunion. the last reunion he came to was the year my mom died -- 21 years ago. so imagine the surprise on ppl's faces when they saw him there yesterday.

most of the time ppl show up at these things and we haven't seen each other for a year or more and there r so dang many of us -- my dad was the baby of like a dozen -- and we don't really know each other and we have to introduce ourselves all over again. then there is this sort of self-imposed "clique-ishness" that happens and idk y it happens but its kind of annoying how ppl push themselves into pockets and don't come out of the pockets to chat with others. this year, that didn't happen and it was kinda cool.

sometimes i feel like there r so many ppl at these reunions that they can't all be related to us and maybe they r just strays off the street looking to belong to a family. i mean, everybody needs to be able to say they belong to a family ... even the family of papa god.

this year we also all got to meet the great great granddaughter of a man who was my great great great grandfather's son -- and the brother of my great great grandfather. yeah -- confusing i know. there is some speculation that my great great great grandfather (john) came here from ireland -- although there is also speculation that he was born here to parents who came from ireland. we know where he is buried and so after the reunion we went to visit his grave (i'd never been there before) and there were a zillion daughertys there -- no lie!!! so i took photos of all the headstones -- many of which u can't read anymore coz they r so worn down.

when ur standing there looking at these names on these stones and realizing that somehow ur related to them its kind of overwhelming. u don't really know them -- sort of like the living ppl at the reunions -- yet there is a real sense of family connection.

i discovered that i had a great uncle who was a pastor and before that i had two great great uncles, and a great great great uncle who were all pastors. idk where their mantles went when they passed on coz my great uncle had a daughter and she didn't become a pastor and i also wonder how many other ppl in my family were pastors. it makes me realize though that my love of papa god was forged a long long time ago in ppl i don't even know.

watching ppl at the reunionß, seeing faces, i can see resemblances in them to the ones in the old photos from generations past that i put in my scrapbook. it isn't just looks that r passed on -- all the talents can be passed on as well. the artists and musicians who were in my family show up in my children and my cousins, and their gifts. all of that is passed down from generation to generation and needs to be cultivated and activated so its not lost. we can't afford to squander what gifts we've been given -- future generations can't afford it either. we need to be mindful and protect it and grow it to pass on to the next generations.