The weekend

Well, my "me" time turned out a little bit differently than I planned last Friday. My husband ended up taking the afternoon off as well, so he was home when I got home. I did go to Safeway to get a few things and they have a Starbucks there, so I got a pumpkin spice latte, but I didn't end up reading my book until the evening. Saturday I went to a seminar at church on leadership. I am heading up a small group at church for knitting and crocheting, and we are starting back up on Oct 6th. Last year I helped with the group and hosted it several times. There were about five or six of us on a regular basis and we made baby hats and donated them. The woman who was the leader stepped down for this fall session so they asked if I would do it. It's pretty easy, we just all meet up at a coffee place or my house and knit and crochet for a few hours. I am thinking maybe we will do scarves and hats this fall and then donate to a homeless shelter. One of the ladies who came last year is helping me out so that's great too. Right now, we are just supplying our own yarn, but maybe sometime we can do a fundraiser to buy yarn, or get some donated....a woman was mentioning at church her mom passed away recently and left a big stash of yarn and she said she'd give it to us. I really love to knit baby things, scarves, etc. and give them away to bless people, I feel it is a ministry of sorts that God has called me to do. I just pray my hands hold out! Sometimes when I knit too much, my fingers get achey, so I need to watch that. But knitting for me is very soothing and comforting, and I really enjoy blessing new moms, etc. with baby hats, blankets, etc. Right now I am working on a shawl, and a baby hat.
I went to the funeral for my friend Tami's mom yesterday also. I was thinking a lot this week about Mrs. Gunter and how good she and Tami's dad were to me growing up. I spent a lot of time at their house from age 9 or 10 till about 14. Mrs. Gunter was a homemaker deluxe and she took great care of Tami and her dad. Their house was always meticulous and she always cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tami's dad was a tv repairman, and he would come home for lunch. I would spend the night on the weekends and I can remember falling asleep in Tami's room in her double bed, listening to her parents' police scanner in their bedroom on low. It was soothing to me. Mrs. Gunter sewed, and made Tami clothes as well as the most wonderful Barbie clothes. She truly was a woman of strength and dignity, a keeper of the home. My mom worked full-time when I was growing up and she kept a nice home too, but I look back now and realize it was harder for her in a way to do a lot of the things Tami's mom was able to do at home. One thing Tami told me recently though was that her mom never had any close girl friends of her own. She had sisters and a sister-in-law who lived nearby, and she had 'couple' friends from church where they were friends as couples, but she didn't drive and didn't have any close girlfriends of her own. Tami has two daughters who are in their twenties now, so her mom and dad took care of them when they were young and Tami worked. Tami's dad is 85 and he didn't recognize me right away at the funeral yesterday, but then when I said my name, he knew me. Mrs. Gunter was laid to rest in a beautiful white casket with a spray of pink roses on top during the service. It was at a Lutheran church, and the minister preached the gospel, John 14, where Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life." There were many beautiful floral arrangements there, and one heart-shaped one of pink and red roses that said "Beloved mommy". They had the casket opened in the front right at the end for people to file by and pay their last respects. It was hard to walk by but I did, I remember Mrs. Gunter how she was 40 years ago, and not how she was at death when leukemia finally won. I looked at Tami next to her dad on the front row, and mouthed "I love you" to her....with tears in my eyes. I am grateful for our friendship as young girls, for her mother who was kind and wonderful to me and taught me many things that I might not have realized then, but as a grown woman, I now hold close to my heart.