Giving Thanks Card

On Sunday our pastor challenged us to thank someone for making a difference in our lives, so I will. Three months after we moved to Georgia I joined a Bible study and made my first friends in my new neighborhood. Each week we met at the same house, and Janet's knack for hospitality genuinely transformed my "new mom on the block" emotions to "this is where I belong" confidence. Thirteen years later we are still meeting weekly. We rotate houses now, and the group morphs depending on children and jobs, though three of us haven't missed a year. I am so very thankful for the women who have invited me into their homes and lives all these years. I hope your Thanksgiving holiday will either remind you of or allow you time with the people who define where you belong. 

Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours. 

Card Details: House, leaf stamps, and paper by Stampin' Up; Leaf punch by Fiskars

A Card for Paris

After I watch more than enough of the constant news coverage, read too many posts on social media, and mull over the daily headlines, I still want to wrestle with the unanswerable questions of "Why?" and "What's next?" God is not insulted by my questions, nor do my questions imply a lack of faith, rather my questions become part of my prayers, and my prayers are focused when my hands are busy. I'm not sure if I will mail this card to anyone, but while making it I prayed for our world. 

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

Card Details: Image by Hero Arts; Sentiment by Stampabilities

A Card for Kind Strangers

About a year ago my car died while I was waiting to pick up my daughter from practice. It was a Tuesday night and it was cold. I assumed it was a dead battery, because I had been listening to the radio without the engine running. I had a set of jumper cables which attach to the battery of the dead car then hook up to the power outlet in the running vehicle (aka jumper cables for dummies). I asked two men parked near me if they would start their car and plug in the cable. They wanted to know as much as I did if these "user friendly" cables actually worked. When they didn't start my car, we assumed they were faulty, and one man, who lives close by, called his wife to bring his jumper cables.

After she delivered the seemingly more powerful cables it didn't take us long to figure out I did not have a dead battery, but I needed a tow truck instead. This realization made her simple benevolence have a much larger impact on me. I thought about this woman for months, and I am just certain the scenario went something like this: She is home alone on the one night of the week her husband is out with his friends. She is either going to watch her favorite show or read a good book. She snuggles up on the sofa, and then, her husband calls. He asks her to help a stranded woman and her daughter, so she hops in the car with jumper cables. Yes, she lives only a couple of miles from the park, but the way I see it, coming out on a cold night when she thought she had the house to herself for a few hours — that is a superb act of kindness.  

I emphasized this card was for the wife, because she was the one who went out of her way to help a stranger. 

Several months passed before I delivered this thank you note with gift card to a local coffee shop. (I have lots of lame excuses for why I didn't do it sooner.) I showed up at the parking lot on a Tuesday night hoping I would recognize the two guys right away. I did not, so I started asking every man with a kayak on the roof of his car, "Did you help me with my car last fall?" Turns out a bunch of guys all row together on Tuesday nights and each one knew the guy who lives just up the hill, but he was not there. As I explained the story they each said they expected no less from one in their bunch. I emphasized, however, this card was for the wife, because she was the one who truly went out of her way to help a stranger. One man promised it would be delivered.  

Card Details:  Cherry Blossoms stamp by Penny Black; Grate Effect embossing die by Spellbinders