Faith Brown's quilt

Several years ago, I promised Faith Brown a quilt for her high school graduation for her to take to college.  Purple is her favorite color, so I collected a lot of purples to make her quilt.  She also wanted gray and black to be in the quilt.  I found a quilt pattern called French Braid and thought it was just the thing for her, because of the many times through the years that Emily has French braided her hair when we babysat her and her siblings.  So February was dedicated to making this quilt!  It was easy to do, just too small of pieces for it to be a quick project!  If I do this type of quilt again, I will do the math and make the pieces lots bigger!

We heard that Faith and Dr. Cara would come to see us the first weekend in February, so I got busy so I could have something to show her when she came!

Their visit was a quick overnighter after Faith looked at a college in Kentucky.  We packed in as much visiting as possible!

 I took this picture of Faith with one of the strips of French Braid.  She recognized one of the fabrics as one Emily had used to cover a head band for her.  I was glad there was a fabric with a sentimental link for her.  There are at least 32 different fabrics in the whole quilt!  Many of them have memories for our family, from dresses or other quilts I've made.

Another picture as they headed out the door to the airport!

How we do love these people!!

 After many, many hours of work, I finished the quilt top on February 24.  I had to get it done by then, because Tim and Brenda came to see us, and they could take the quilt back to the quilter for me.
It is a super single size.

It is at the quilter's now.  I hope to get it back in time to finish it for her May graduation.

Catching up with January

On January 7th, we were privileged to eat at the Pastor's home with the Stetlers, Strouds, and Staleys.  It is so wonderful to be part of the Burlington KY Bible Church and to worship and fellowship with the dear ones there.  We have the best pastoral team we know of!

 Pastor Darrell took this picture of us.

 Darrell and Regina.  We love and appreciate them so much!

 We took a drive and captured the frozen waterfalls that are all over the roadsides in Kentucky during the coldest days of the year.  We think they are pretty.  Some places have the chain link fencing, because the rocks are continually crumbling down and the fencing keeps it from landing on the roads.

 Our diligent college student, Elizabeth, studying hard in her junior year.

Rowen had his 60th birthday on January 21.  His dessert was cherry/blueberry pie 

and it was yummy!

We are thankful that Rowen is as healthy as he is and able to do the very physical job at Budget Blinds.  It is very tiring for him, especially the closet systems installations; very different from the fairly sedentary microscopist job he had for 25 years.  What a blessing to have a loving, godly husband and father in our lives!

Emily was very sick with a bad cold in January and had to miss several days of work.  On the last day she was off, she felt well enough to do a drawing she had been wanting to do since last April.  It is a picture of our pastor and his wife under one umbrella during a driving rain on Easter Sunday.  She prints out the picture, then a black and white, and uses those to measure and look at while she draws.

 All finished!  She framed it and gave it to them as a gift.

 On January 28th, we got to eat with our Care-n-Connect group at the Coopers lovely home.  It was fun being connected to Marvin and Joyce Cooper, and Frank and Sherry Martinoli.  In that group, there is always plenty of stimulating conversation!

Charis Chasah (Grace in Greek, Trust in Hebrew)

In our Christmas letter, we said we were expecting another grandchild in 2018.  This is the story of Charis Chasah.  Randy and Joy were expecting a baby in June.  At the 14 week ultrasound, all was well.  But in week 18, Joy realized all was not well.  The baby had died about week 16.  Charis Chasah was born on January 10.  She was a little girl who fit easily in her daddy's open hand, fearfully and wonderfully made, but not for this world.  She is in heaven already, with her brother Malachi and another one they had named Gabriel, not knowing if it was a boy or girl. Charis means "grace" in Greek, and God has given His grace through the loss.  Chasah means "trust" in Hebrew, and they are trusting God always knows best and never makes a mistake.

They had a small funeral service in the cemetery in Mitchell, South Dakota
on Saturday, January 13, a cold, wintry day. 

The children all released balloons that said Baby Girl on them.

This is a drawing of the little grave stone that will be placed.

 If you think of our children, pray for the continued comfort and encouragement they need.  They have had two Native Americans die so far this year who were associated with their Reservation Church family; one was a Christian, and hopefully the other one was saved before he died. (Lord, help us not to leave any question marks when we die!!!) There have been many stresses thus far in 2018, and Randy and Joy and their children need encouragement and wisdom.