Fresh Air

When I first became aware of the The Fresh Air Fund, I instantly thought “I want to do this!!”   Unfortunately, my state currently isn’t part of the program..but perhaps yours is!

What is The Fresh Air Fund?  Glad you asked!  The Fresh Air Fund gives children in disadvantaged communities in inner city New York the chance to spend two weeks in rural or suburban homes where they are blessed with the ability to run through the backyard and feel the grass beneath their toes, some for the first time!  What a wonderful opportunity to help a child in need and to open their eyes to a whole new world.   How exciting it must be to see a cow for the first time?   Ride a horse?  Or maybe something as simple as sitting around a campfire?

Think you might like to be a host?  You can find more information here.  They need about 1200 volunteers this summer.  I would love to hear from you if you are able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!

Wow, it’s been awhile….

I am battling my way through serious burn out :)   We just finished our yearly church tent revival, our home inspection came and went (and went fairly well….we are on our way to adoption!) and stress abounds!

The last thing I have wanted to do is pull out the dye pots but alas our next fiber show is fast approaching and it is nearly time to ship the final package for our last fiber club.  

I have just updated the sorely neglected Etsy shop with the following:

NASA, hand dyed fingering weight yarn

Time Traveler, hand dyed BFL wool

Alien World, hand dyed BFL

When someone you love is grieving….

 

As many of you know, we lost our oldest son, Todd to cancer in 2005.   This coming Saturday (June 11th) it will have been six years.  Six years is a long time….

I am working on a quilt this evening, which reminded me of a friend and a conversation we had after Todd died.

I ran into her while shopping for fabric and she was a bit uncomfortable to see me.   It was a couple months after Todd’s death and I had thought it was strange that I hadn’t heard from her during that time but wasn’t going to mention it.  I was simply glad to see her now.

“I am sorry I didn’t come when Todd died.  I didn’t know what to say…”

I reassured her that I understood, that there were no hard feelings…and there weren’t but…

I wish she would have been there.

It is difficult to know what to do when a friend is hurting, but being there means everything.    Death, like birth, is messy and much of it must be endured alone; but a held hand, a silent presence means so much.   When you don’t know what to say, listen or just be.   Don’t be afraid of the tears and don’t avoid the conversation.   Cry with them if necessary.  Grief is hard to witness, I know, but you will never regret the time spent despite the pain.

Wonderful things…

A lovely swap package from a Ravelry friend…

A lace shawl, almost finished, knitting from my handspun, using wool from our farm…

A braided rug made using wool from our Icelandic and Jacob sheep :)