Sitting in My Mud Puddle--or Casting My Cares

As Jonathan and I left the breast surgeon's office Thursday, I was awkwardly carrying my heart-shaped, polka-dotted cat pillow we had just been given by hospital staff. As we walked through the busy hospital lobby and out the doors, I hoped people who saw us didn't know what it was for. This was just the first of many such rather humiliating moments to come, I figured. It would be nice if the surgery was about a broken arm or a stomach issue or something nice that you could just say what it was and not have to stop to think just how to explain what was going on in your life and body right now without offending the wrong person by saying the wrong word or having them think something was awkward or on the other hand have them wish you would just out with it and say it, because so what?

Besides, it was drizzling, and not the kind of day to quickly feel cheered up when you went outside. Instead, I hurried through the sleet to get into the van. Jonathan, still courteous after all these years of marriage, closed the door for me.  

We told our daughter all about the NED announcement, and how the surgeon still was insisting on surgery--as soon as possible. In a matter of minutes they had me scheduled for May 13, leaving me all of 3 weeks and about 5 days to get well enough to attend Sam's wedding.

I sat in my seat in the van, totally overwhelmed, and feeling punished. I had just (at least temporarily, and that was the problem, but at least for now) I had just reached the point of NED, after years of almost unbearably strict diet and treatment after treatment, none of which were comfortable. 

To this day I am strict with my diet. We make yummy birthday treats for the birthday person (Jonathan yesterday) and I get to watch everyone eat it while I eat my salad and chicken with chickpea sauce over the top. 

I felt as if first I had been punished with cancer;

then I was punished for having cancer;

and now I am being punished for not having cancer anymore. 

Had the cancer been serious, they would probably not have proceeded with surgery plans. I wouldn't have had to deal with that. (Just other worse things later, but not that.)

I said how I was feeling out loud. 

Because that is how I am. I often process my feelings out loud, which may or may not be a good thing. 

And when we arrived home to a terribly muddy driveway, we had to park the trailer we were pulling, filled with material for the business and rebar for our deck rails, at a neighbor's place. 

Their golden retriever dogs were enjoying the drizzle, and one lay right down in the big mud puddle. 

Right where I had been sprawling a couple hours earlier. 

Right in an emotional mud puddle. 

I realized this almost right away, which is something I am trying to grow in--to realize when I am sinking into an emotional mud puddle and get out quickly, like that dog did. It sat in the puddle, enjoying the pity party for a moment, but then it got itself up and got out of there, just like I needed to do. 

I knew very well the idea that I was being punished for having cancer was not from God, and the idea that I was being punished for not having cancer was also not from God--even if it felt very real.

And then, like the chirping robins had come to the garden Danny tilled for the Ambroses up the hill last week, the message came that Nick Rine preached at Beavertown GM church this evening (I watched online accidentally because when I got on the computer to blog, instead the service came on). I had stayed home to recover from this exhausting week while the others went to evening service.

The message was on "casting your care on the Lord, for He careth for you."

The purpose of proceeding with a mastectomy is to hopefully prevent future recurrence or metastasis. It's not about being punished. It's not about the hospital just wanting their $51,000, as was the bill estimate presented to me.  After all, the financial agent called me to let me know that my insurance will cover every penny of it. And it's a good thing. Because I would sure hate to have to pay for something I do not want!!! 

Anyway, right now, I'm endeavoring to cast my care, as Nick Rine urged his audience, on to my wonderful Lord. 

"Throw it hard on him," we were exhorted, not just laid gently, but hurled on Him. This awful burden and dread--throw it on the Lord. Let the robins sing again, and let the blossoms bud. 

He cares for me. He knows my dread of surgery and being left without part of my body, having no idea how it will affect me, just knowing it will, and how it will affect my marriage and my husband and my self image. 

Remembering how horrible it was the other two times I came out of anesthesia. I didn't do well with anesthesia. The first time I was throwing up over and over, and the second time it took me a long time and I was sobbing uncontrollably, left with almost unbearable pain for weeks after that oral surgery.

This time a whole body part will be cut off, and who knows how many lymph nodes.  

But for now, I may as well cast the cares on God, because Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow, since there is enough trouble in each day for that day, and worrying only adds to it.

I can suffer with this surgery a whole two weeks ahead of time, or I can go outside to listen to the robins and meadowlarks, go visit the new mother hen with her four baby chicks, and enjoy cherry blossoms on my birthday.

That is, if the tornado weather bypasses us. Right now Crystal is keeping her eye on the radar because we are under tornado watch until midnight. 

And so maybe for now I can worry about tornadoes instead of surgeries. 

Because isn't it fun sitting in mud puddles??

 

 

Hannah Graduates from High School!

Last week, Hannah graduated from home school high school.

It was hard for me to believe, but as I went over her transcript, counting up credits and finishing the grades, it was true that she had finished my requirements.  

We had a party Friday evening where I would present her diploma and we could celebrate. 

I had a little speech about it, telling how Hannah had diligently studied even while I was gone to Arizona over and over and then going through chemo for months. Every morning for months, she would bring down her algebra, and we'd sit together, me with my hat and blanket, and her with her book and pencil, and we'd go over the problems in algebra that she (and probably I, too) didn't know how to work out. We'd work together to get through the course. Now we celebrated together, as the day before I had been pronounced NED and today she received her diploma!

She discovered that I had forgotten to have Jonathan and myself sign the diploma! So we found a pen, I signed in front of everyone with a flourish, and then tossed the pen just like President Trump did when he was signing executive orders.  

We asked dear old Pastor Ambrose to pray.

Hannah had a little speech, too, thanking different ones there who had contributed encouragement or involvement in her schooling and learning. Then she had a special presentation for her main teacher! 

 

It was the cutest huge teacup with flowers planted inside and a butterfly perched on top.  

Hannah played her guitar and sang "The Lord's Prayer." 

Mathel Ambrose presented Hannah with a gardening book that had every answer to any gardening question Hannah would ever have, she said!

Hannah's friend Sally and her brother gave her the cutest mug and a handbag for carrying either her project yarn or her Bible, they said. 

Mathel picked one of her prettiest tulips and brought it along. There were several other very special gifts, including tallow balm, given by the Grillo family, made right near where they live in Wanblee, SD. It was a very special evening spent with friends. Afterward, well over a dozen young people headed off down to the river for a little hike while we mothers visited.

PET Scan Results--NED--Seriously?

Yesterday Jonathan and I waited silently in the surgeon's office. I'd spent a long day in Rapid City Tuesday getting one test after another--an echocardiogram first, then PET, then two MRIs, including one of my brain. (Did they find a brain there, or just an empty hollow? :):)

I hadn't seen or been told of any results of those tests yet, but we had been told two results had been released to the surgeon's office. So there we sat.

I reached for Jonathan's hand, and he took off his hat. I prayed for grace to receive whatever news the scan results would show, bracing for metastasis. Because why did those scans take so long? Hadn't they been carefully taking one picture after another of this spot and that suspicious white stuff, or whatever else? It had been a very long day and long waits lying inside that horrible, roaring MRI machine, leaving my emotions quivering this time.

The photo my sister Dorcas had taken only a couple days before of lilies of the valley at her place sat silently on my phone. 
Jesus, the Lily when we are in the valley. 

And then the pretty young surgeon came bustling into the room, laying a paper on the counter. 

"Have you seen the PET scan results?" she asked, and when we said no, she said, "It's showing NED," she said briskly. "No evidence of disease." She glanced at me. "The second MRI has not been released yet, but they did comment that it reflected the same as the other two scans. There was nothing there. Nothing."

Shock must have registered on my face, as I turned to Jonathan. Had I just heard right? Nothing at all?

No cancer? No white spots? No suspicious concerns? Nothing? 

After nearly three years, now that I have reached this milestone, major surgery is the next step, she let us know, and then radiation, she said, as if it was just another screw to add into the machine at the factory assembly line, as my uncles used to do at the Cooper Bessemer in Grove City, PA. One screw or bolt or whatever after another, all day long, for all their working years. 

I am just another screw in the machine of cancer treatment. With a few explanations of what is going to happen to me, a search for a lymph node clip that was not there after all, a fitting of a tight article of clothing for after the surgery, and a few other flourishes, and I was out the door, scheduled for surgery on May 13, which gives me barely enough time afterward to get well enough to travel to my son's wedding. 

Because when I asked if we could wait until after the wedding, the surgeon shook her head. 

No. Surgery has to happen as soon as possible.

Oh, and as I left, I was carrying the hospital's gift of a funny-shaped, soft pillow sprawling with teal, brown, green, striped and polka-dotted cats--for after the surgery, to put under my arm.

"Hope you like cats?" the nurse said a little apologetically. 

I don't mind cats. I just don't want surgery. I don't want to have to go through this. 

"Deliver me from this!" I begged Jonathan as I went into his arms last night as we stood by the woodstove. What I would give to not have to have part of my body cut off, leaving me with the huge possibility of lymphodema for the rest of my life, the surgeon said, as if it was just another screw in the machine, a screw with a scowl. 

She did at least turn up her nose, as if she understood lymphodema could be pretty major. Wearing a tight sleeve the rest of my life might be inconvenient and uncomfortable.

But who cares about a screw in the machine?

What should have been a time of rejoicing ended up feeling like the oversize load Danny took a picture of on the dirt road he was driving on to go to his job a couple days ago.

But the trees were blossoming. 

It was spring time. 

And the PET results had said NED.

For now, at least, I could swallow the dread and put it into God's hands.

I could praise Him that He has brought me thus far, and He is the Lily when I am in the valley.

He is my friend, and He won't let me have to walk alone through this next ordeal. 

Easter Weekend--Ready to Preach, Pray, Sing, Die, or Serve Communion!

It has been said that a Christian must be ready to "preach, pray, sing, or die," but Saturday of Easter weekend, we had to add "or serve communion" to the list! 

That morning a text from our pastor's wife reminded me that I had forgotten they were planning to take communion to White River Care Center for residents there who wished to participate. Crystal, Hannah and I rushed to dress and gather music. The girls had been practicing an Easter duet, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" which they played on a very old, twangy piano in the dining hall where about eight residents and two or three nurses had stayed for service. The song was still beautiful, however, and the people enjoyed it very much. 

In the end, Pastor Ambrose had a low blood pressure episode and had to sit down after just explaining the meaning behind communion, so he had to ask if Crystal and Hannah would serve the communion!

Easter morning Jonathan and the three children arose early to attend the community sunrise service at the rodeo grounds in White River.  With coats, hats, and blankets, a good group of people showed up despite the chill. Jonathan said it was cold but beautiful as they listened to robins and meadowlarks singing and cows mooing in far off fields while reading Scripture, singing Easter hymns, and listening to the testimony of the speaker.

Like my mom, this lady didn't know about real salvation until she was invited to a Baptist church, just like my mother who was raised in the Methodist church. The preacher there shared the gospel clearly, and how this lady's heart did pound when the invitation was given. When she went forward to the altar, she did not know what to do next until a dear grandma came and knelt beside her and asked, "What do you want?" 

"I want Jesus!" the little girl said. The grandma led her in the sinner's prayer, and Jesus came to live in that girl's heart "and He has never left," the lady said, who is now pastor of the local Nazarene church just up the hill from us. 

We had Easter service in Lakota Chapel with the girls once again playing their Easter duet. Our pastor has been so weak, that Jonathan had to be prepared to fill in, and I helped him prepare a message.

We had checked in at the nursing home to see about bringing a lady to church, but she was not able to come. However, we enjoyed the beautiful paintings on the front windows, done by an activity director and residents for Easter.

A "traveling revival" with Marc and Melodie Sankey had begun Wednesday at Martin Lakota Chapel where Jonathan attended. As SIM maintenance director, he first spent the afternoon fixing a leak in the church plumbing and checking to see what else needed to be done at that church, parsonage, and another building at Parmalee that is smeared with graffiti. 

The church at Mission hosted the Saturday evening service where as usual it was beautiful up front, decorated by ones who love the Lord instead of loving to destroy. The love of Christ makes such a difference in people's lives. 

Thursday evening service was hosted at St. Francis Holiness Chapel where our good mechanic friend Ron Patton led the service. His wife had invited a dear local grandmother to church who brought her grandson and granddaughter both. She stood up and testified how Jesus had drawn her heart to come to service that evening. A wonderful spirit pervaded as there were several native testimonies. 

Good Friday evening the revival was hosted at Montour Memorial Chapel in Winner, SD where Tonweya (Ned) and Judy Sherman pastor. I appreciated the leadership of Tonweya as he applied the truths from the Good Friday hymns before the message.

Sunday evening we took a couple folk from White River to church at Hope Family Chapel that ended up with a full house. After the message, several went forward to pray, including a girl who testified afterward, "The blood of Jesus is flowing through my heart!" I love when young people have original testimonies that reflect what they are personally experiencing in Christ!

Easter Disappointment--but God is Always on Time!

Jonathan's Easter Message at Lakota Chapel

Thirty-one years ago, in 1994, I (Jonathan) spent my first Easter Sunday in Ukraine. Anna and I had just gotten engaged. Orthodox Easter in Ukraine was celebrated later in the year than our American Easter, so it fell on the first of May, just a day before I had to leave my new sweetheart and fly back to America to get back to work.

But that Easter Sunday was a happy morning. Anna and I were going to go to a wonderful Easter service at ten o’clock at a large church in Kiev that always had beautiful music. There would be the usual greetings from the platform, “Xristos voskres!” meaning “Christ arose,” and the people would respond, “Vo istini voskres!” meaning, “He is risen indeed!” Those Easter greetings were so joyful and happy and victorious. We could hardly wait!

We rode the metro as usual since Anna didn’t have a car and always used the public transportation. On the way to the church, we stopped at a park that had the most beautiful tulip beds—almost every color you could imagine. Then we walked back down the street and down the steps to the metro station where we rode the metro to the right stop at the church.

When we arrived at the church, much to our consternation, all we could see was people coming OUT of the church and leaving, instead of arriving like we were! What was going on?

Anna asked a lady who was walking by us, and she said, “Service began at seven o’clock!” She had a big smile as she looked at us Americans. “Christ rose in the morning!” she told us.

Talk about being disappointed! Anna and I couldn’t do anything except look at each other in dismay. We had missed the wonderful Easter service! There would be no beautiful music, no Russian greetings of “Xristos voskres,” or “Vo istini voskres.” No pulsing life and joy as people gathered. It was all over!

Our disappointment was big, but it couldn’t have been as terrible as the disappointment the disciples of Jesus must have felt when He died on the cross and was carried to the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea and buried. They must have felt that everything was over, all their hopes, their dreams, their expectations. It was over.

Now they were disappointed and afraid. What was going to happen next?

But they didn’t know what God had up His sleeve. They were unaware of God’s purposes and plan, and how His plan was going to happen—right on time.

*Notice several elements of timing. First of all, we see in verse 7 of Luke 24, that the angel reminded the ladies how Jesus had specifically talked about a certain time for His resurrection, “on the third day rise again.” God had a plan for the third day to be the day on which Jesus would no longer be held by death.

Secondly, look at verse 1. “On the first day of the week.” That third day was also a first day—the 1^st day of the week. Ever since the time of the apostles, Christian believers have celebrated the first day of the week as the day Christ rose from the grave. It’s why we come to church and gather together on Sunday, the first day of the week. It’s the day Jesus rose! The Jewish people met on the Sabbath day, which was the seventh day of the week. But we Christian believers do it differently, meeting on Sunday, the first day of the week, which points to Christ.

Then let’s look at the next thing it says in verse 1. “Very early in the morning.” Notice that Jesus didn’t wait until nine or ten or eleven in the morning to wake up and do His Father’s business. No indeed! He rose early in the morning, before the sun had even risen. It was God’s time. Jesus was going to rise early, not late.

Psalm 46:5 has an interesting and beautiful verse. In the ESV it says,“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.” In the old King James version it says, “God will help her, and that right early.”

This promise came true on the morning of the resurrection when ladies to whom Jesus meant so much came to the tomb, expecting to embalm His body more properly before he was buried for good. Instead, they found the stone rolled away, and Jesus was gone! He had risen, “just as He said,” the angels said.

The resurrection had happened right on time! God always keeps His promises. He will not wait, or be late, or not come at all. He will always be on time to help us when we need it.

Let’s return to my story about our first Easter in Ukraine. After our initial disappointment and feeling just devastated, we tried to decide what to do. Should we just go home or what? Well, Anna knew of another mission in Kiev that she had visited sometimes. If we could find our way there, they would surely be having a service that morning. We would just be late.

We were late, but at least we got in on part of an Easter service. Anna says I fell asleep during that service, but I was tired! Anyway, afterward, an older couple named Glenn and Dorothy Pelfrey invited Anna and me to go along with them to their afternoon service, and to have a picnic with them on the way!

Glenn and Dorothy Pelfrey were a lot like Pastor Harold and Mathel. They were very disciplined and right on time, and Dorothy had enough food on hand to share with us extra guests! There was probably bread and kielbasa, cheese and maybe boiled eggs. There might have been carrot sticks or potato salad. I don’t remember. But where Dorothy and we spread a blanket to eat was by a river, and there were frogs that were very noisy!

We worshipped that afternoon at the Pelfrey’s church where a young man named Roman Organyuk and other young people were helping with the thriving children’s and youth ministry. Little did Anna and I know that two years later, she and I would be back in Ukraine, and I would be driving past our picnic spot every day on my way to my work of building missionary homes and putting in infrastructure for a Bible college campus.

We didn’t know that in just five years, I’d be involved in building a log church for this group we visited that Easter Sunday morning. Anna and I had arrived late for Easter service at the town church that Sunday in Kiev, Ukraine, but God had everything under control, and He wanted us to be out in the village with a little group meeting in the home of a man who was a florist. God was right on time. He knew exactly how to redeem our disappointment and mistake and turn it into something amazing.

That first Easter Sunday afternoon in the village of Kenyazachee, Ukraine, Anna and I went for a walk after the service while the young people were loading up the sound system and the props they had used for the little drama they had done. We walked under cherry blossoms and past little flower gardens. Nearly everyone in villages in Ukraine had gardens, both for vegetables and flowers. The people depended on their gardens to survive, for the economy was terrible both before and after Communism fell. Many people wanted to return to Communism, because the economy was even worse for a while. Even city people would travel to the country every weekend in the spring to plant and tend their gardens in little plots called dachas.

Anna and I enjoyed the little country homes, usually tidy and colorful, even if small. Tulips and daffodils were blooming. A hen and chicks were in a pen. I even took a picture of a pair of storks nesting high up on a tall roof. In Ukraine, the people believed that storks were a symbol of good luck. They were very happy if storks chose to nest on their roofs!

Of course, as Christians, we don’t subscribe to these superstitions, but we do still very much enjoy God’s creatures. That Easter was a happy day for Anna and me.

This Easter, thirty-one years later, the young man Roman who was mentored by Missionary Glenn Pelfrey, is still pastoring that same church in the village of Kenyazachee. Just a few days ago, he posted pictures on Facebook of himself with a group of chaplains who were on their way to a hospital to visit victims of the bombings and drone attacks in a Ukrainian city. Ukraine is not a happy place now, but rather a place at war. Many of the men are on the battle front, many have been killed or wounded. Tulips and daffodils are blooming only in certain places. Other places have been burned to a crisp. Many Ukrainians are now refugees. Others are too poor or too old to move.

It was a sad time for the disciples when Jesus died. Yet, God was waiting in the shadows. He knew what He was doing, and He was going to be right on time. Jesus was going to rise again!

Anna and I were bitterly disappointed that Easter in Kiev when we arrived late for service, but God had a plan. He was going to redeem our mistake and turn it into something we would never have imagined.

Maybe today someone is dealing with disappointment, with regrets, with bad news, with bereavement, with pain. You may wonder what God is doing and why He didn’t make it to be different.

But just like the resurrection happened right on time, God has something planned for you. Maybe you made mistakes in the past and think everything is over. Your sins are too great, your life is too far gone. But no, God is waiting for you. He is willing to forgive every sin and redeem your past. He wants you to simply come to Him, just as those ladies came to the grave and discovered the angels there. This Easter Sunday, you, too, can come to Christ. Bring all your care, your disappointments, your heartaches, your sins. God will meet you and He will be right on time for you!

Family Moments in Colorado

Here are a few snaps from the only-too-brief-but-much-valued time together we had as a whole family last weekend as we got together for Rose's baby shower and to meet Sam's fiance's family for the first time. 

Visiting on Rose's front porch where the boys are sitting on a cute log swing that Rose spent a week's free time refinishing. 

Catching Tim taking an online course/questionnaire about being a first-time home owner. He was able to be part of our weekend since his logging truck driving landed him in that area for a week or more. 

Friday evening it was a privilege to have dinner together at Sam's still-being-remodeled place with his fiance Caitlyn and her parents, Les and Brenda Kelly. What a joy to finally meet them, after corresponding with Brenda for a while. Brenda surprised me several months ago by beginning a relationship via snail mail with real letters typed on paper with even photos added in, and then sent to my mailbox to which I try to walk every day I can. How I have enjoyed her letters telling about their background, their testimonies, family news, her very sweet observations of our son Sam, and other wonderful things to which I can relate---from building our own homes on the prairie to enjoying sparrows and pussy willows! She was determined to keep her future son-in-law's mother in the loop about wedding plans, and I have been deeply appreciative of her reaching out in such a kind way. 

And of all things, didn't Les take the whole day off of work to make sure they could meet us, and he made the best green bean casserole we've ever eaten, plus a pumpkin pie and pecan pie! 

Definitely huge hits!

Sunday Danny and Hannah joined the Kellys at Sam and Caitlyn's church for the church's annual Palm Sunday walk, with several from the church carrying a cross from the church to the town courthouse and then to the local school where the whole church gathered in groups to pray for our nation, the church, the school and community, and other needs.

 That was a very unique experience for our two youngest children! I wished so badly I could have gone, but I ended up having to stay home as I was terribly exhausted and experiencing side effects from the infusion only a few days earlier. 

Tom's dog adores Rose! She will take a flying leap to get into Rose's arms as soon as Rose and Tom arrive home from church, and then lick and lick Rose's face!

 That dog even jumped up onto my bed where I was lying, feeling anything but spiritual while the others were at two different churches, and curled up by me--only to perk her ears most endearingly every time my poor innards gurgled beside her!

I had enjoyed waking up to a riot of birdsong outside the window, a chorus that kept up all morning. Sparrows, robins, doves. 

Maybe Rose just lives in a little mobile home with a tiny yard in a little town, but she has way more birds singing to her than I do! There is always something to enjoy and be blessed by!

It seemed that no sooner did we arrive than we were saying goodbye again!

Until next time!

Rose's Baby Shower--Prayed for and Already Loved

When the ladies at Rose's church got together for a ladies' time together, one of the projects was to decorate little onesies for Rose's coming baby,

and this is the onesie Rose did. 

Her baby has been surrounded by prayer since before conception--because we value life, love, and godliness, and Rose is surrounded by an incredibly supportive church and group of friends. 

"The Lord has been witness," the prophet Malachi wrote, "between you and the wife of your youth...she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? 

"And why one? He seeks godly offspring.

Malachi 2:15

How often do we hear this word from God, that He literally is seeking godly offspring?

That little nugget is right in the middle of God expressing His strong disgust and disapproval of anyone who deals treacherously with one's wife (or husband, as Jesus clarified it goes both ways), and divorces her or him.

God is seeking a godly offspring, and how beautiful it is to see a young couple seeking to raise up godly offspring for the Lord!

Rose herself made this watermelon baby carriage! 

The wheels were supposed to be orange slices, but since she didn't have an extra orange, she cut out melon rind wheels!

I made this baby rattle cheese ball/cracker platter, with an idea I'd seen. 

Rose's sister-in-law Shelby cut the Winnie the Pooh "sweet as honey" cake. 

A sweet young mother of four made this Pooh diaper cake! She asked for prayer as she plans to commence home schooling. 

Carrie was in charge of games at Rose's baby shower. 

She had collected various dolls from different people, together with a bunch of wee baby clothes.

Her helpers (Sam's girlfriend Caitlyn, Shelby, Hannah, and a couple young girls from church) handed out the dolls and baby clothes. 

The group of ladies was split up into teams of two, and groups of five teams had to compete with different "handicaps."

The first group of teams had to dress their dolls with a onesie, dress, hat, and socks, and then put a diaper on--all while blindfolded! Above is our old neighbor whom our children loved to call "Grandma," and her daughter, trying to dress the doll blindfolded. We will not say which team ended up with their baby doll on the floor!

Rose and I ended up in the group of teams who had to UNdress the dolls with our thumbs taped to our palms, and then diaper the baby. Rose and I won! 

"Experience!" I said. 

The last group of teams had to compete with the first team member instructing the other (in a baby voice) on each step in how to dress their dolls with a diaper and sleeper. Our Dutch friend who loves to make quilts won that round!

One of the first gifts Rose opened was a Clifford toy, and I believe there was a big thick book of a collection of Clifford the Red Dog stories!

The youngest child in attendance wanted to "help" Rose, so Rose set her on her lap, and that baby was just so happy to help pull out tissue paper and gifts from the many gift bags!

Carrie had sewed this apron and matching bib from Pioneer Woman fabric. Fern Lefever, who attended and sat by me a while, and I had a friendly discussion about that set. I thought it had to be bought, but Fern was convinced Carrie had sewed them. 

Fern was right!

The church ladies and friends were just so generous and kind. Rose received many blankets, articles of clothing, diapers, wipes, a high chair, a swing, stuffed animals, books, and even some nursing clothes and needs for herself.