PSM Update

Good day after Thanksgiving to all of you!  I am so grateful to have you as a member of this ministry.  I thank God each day for the success of this ministry and for His blessing upon its future. 

I hope you have all relaxed and enjoyed friends, family, food, and fun times. That is what this weekend is about for us! I have been going through shawl patterns and making progress on getting items collected for our scrapbook.  We also have to update our web page so if you have any suggestions, please let me know.  I want to take a more recent group photo to put on the web site.  Can you be at the meeting this Wednesday eve?  I will try for that and if it is not to be, we will reschedule for next week.

This Sunday is Communion Sunday where we put our shawls out for blessing and for use by all.  We are taking a bit of a risk by putting everything we have out for the 3 services, but God has always been faithful to provide for us, and so we trust Him in this decision.  If you find yourself free before or after any service, please lend Beverly and Mary Anne a hand as they place all items out and talk to the recipients.  We want to get their names to pray over if possible, but again we trust that God knows them all.  I will be with the children in the Studio teaching them the meaning of our ministry.  I hope to convey the purpose of our ministry as well as the need to pray for and with others.  It is a job that will bring in many blessings and will be well worth the effort.  Anyone free to come help out?  Those kids are fabulous!

As the donations for yarn start this week, I pray that you will be filled with baskets of great color and promise.  If you need delivery of yarn for at home work, please don’t hesitate to ask and you will receive it.  We love our at home members and their spirit of dedication.  Thanks to those members who have been purchasing their own yarn during this time when the pickings were getting slimmer.  We are going to be so ready for the new year!  Speaking of that, we will meet on Dec 1, 8, and 15.  We will then be off for the rest of the year.  We will resume our time together in January with the first Wednesday being January 5^th.  In the interim, if you have shawls that are completed, please send me an email or call me as we will probably need them during that time.  We will call a small group together as needed to pray over these items.  Thanks in advance for all the work that you do and will do for the ministry!

I will make a point of sharing the many thank you notes with you next session.  Some are so very touching.  I have become aware of the need to keep some of these private, so I will not share them by email.  Just know that you are well appreciated by so many people. 

May God bless you during this holiday season leading up to Christmas.  Keep Christ first in all you do, and in all the decisions you make this season.  Remember those less fortunate and give glory to God for all He has done.  I love you all so very much.

In Christ,

Dana

Prayer Shawl Ministry Update

Welcome to cooler weather! It is time to snuggle up with a warm blanket, handmade of course, and keep on making more! Don’t turn up the heat on the house, just pile up some yarn on your lap and put a pot of coffee or tea beside you.  Think of all the money you will save in utility bills! 

We had a wonderful week with several new items donated, more yarn for us to use, and God sent us a special gift… a new member!  Welcome Lenore to the “Chicks with Sticks”.  You are going to love our crazy group and we all are going to welcome you with open arms, and crochet hooks.  I am attaching the new member list. I am missing a few birthdays and other info, so please review the list and send the info to be added. 

Nancy has put together the packages for the soldiers.  We are all good for the year on items.  Our budget only allows for 10 boxes to be shipped to military personnel per year.  I would like to spread the word that if anyone has a specific request for a soldier, or wants to make a donation to the cause, it is $10.70 per donation box.  I am not asking our members to contribute unless you feel so lead, but please spread the word so that more boxes can be sent to a soldier overseas.  We rely on contributions for our ministry and God has blessed us with yarn and patterns.  I will be making an appeal for additional donations of yarn during the holiday season.  Instead of giving someone a small gift at an exchange, why not consider donating a skein or two of yarn in their honor?  That will be my focus during this time.  Hope you will join me on that one.  I appreciate all those who have brought us materials, whether full skeins or balls of smaller amounts.  They all are useful and appreciated.

Communion Sunday is the Sunday following Thanksgiving.  We will again put out our prayer shawls and some baskets of prayer cloths for members to take.  If you would like to help with organizing, please let me know.  It takes maybe 15 minutes prior to and at the end of the services to do that. 

Volunteer opportunities seem to be all around us these days.  Are you good at scrapbooking? OK, how about just plain organization?  I would love someone to take on the task of organizing our thank you cards in a way that we can keep them together and display them.  Got ideas? Please be thinking on this one as I am running low on time to take on this important task.

Remember to put our meeting on your calendars and bring a friend.  Like Jello, there is always room for more!! (I am dating myself with that ad campaign)

More stories later, but got to run for now.

In Christ,

Dana

PSM update 11-12-10

Hello Chicks with Sticks.  Have I told you lately that you are my Prayer Shawl Superheroes!!  Do they make a pattern for a cape that has PSM on the back that we can make? Then our super cool delivery team can wear it and fly through the air to their next destination! Truly, I do appreciate every minute you put into this ministry from crochet to knitting, from finishing unfinished projects to creating new combos of colors, from buying yarn and sneaking it into the closet so no one knows to finding new recipients in need, from attending each week to simply praying for the requests sent out by email….you are the best team of God’s prayer warriors I could ask for. Know that you are loved and prayed for, and that you are truly His hands and feet on earth. 

We are in the process of putting together a simple holiday gathering which will include sharing a snack together and taking a field trip upstairs to the Upper Room Prayer Sanctuary.  Nothing formal, nothing to dress up with and fuss over (Hey – this is ME organizing it and I don’t do formal!!!).  I am hoping those who are on this email list and have not had a chance to join us for a while will feel free to join us for this gathering.  I will send details when I get more.  What day would work best for any of you?  Would it be better to do a Sunday after church or Wednesday eve or another day in an afternoon?  I would love as much input as possible.  This is a day that we can all sit back and relax, bring a friend or two, and just enjoy one another’s company.  I won’t complain if anyone brings a skein or two of yarn as their date.  Any social butterflies interested in helping plan this gathering?  No experience necessary!

Please consider asking for donations of yarn in lieu of gifts at your Christmas holiday cookie/ornament/white elephant gift exchanges.  What a great legacy we can leave by making others’ needs more important than our own.  If you do get inquiries on what yarn to donate I suggest you tell them Red Heart Super Saver as this is the most economical and easiest to find.  We also love the Caron one pound skeins, JoAnn’s Sensations yarns and Homespun yarns.  I have been accused of not having a holiday spirit because I don’t want to get gifts or buy extravagant ones for my family and friends, but I tell you the truth…this is more in the spirit of the Lord to want to give to others than to store up my own treasures on earth.  I never grew up with Christmas as I was raised Jewish, but I saw what all the other kids were getting.  I grew up believing that the whole purpose of Christmas was to get all new toys and clothes, and to get rid of the old stuff you did not use anymore to make room for all the new stuff.  Now I know that Christmas is the celebration of our Savior who came to earth to show us how to live and how to give of ourselves.  Jesus did not even have a place to lay his head down at night during his ministry years, yet he had more riches than all the other people in the world.  At his crucifixion he watched while others played dice for his clothing, yet he had enough grace to ask his heavenly Father to forgive the people who have sinned.  History is only as useful as we can apply it to our futures.  Take the lesson of Christ’s unconditional love and share that with people this holiday season, and you will truly be blessed by that.

Thanks to the ladies who joined us on Wednesday this past week.  We accomplished much and saw some new projects in the making.  Robin’s gorgeous blue shawl found a new home in record time.  It was a beautiful item and will be loved for many years.  Susan is still working her magic on the two tone shawl.  It is fabulous.  Dorothy is working on an item to go to a children’s charity fundraiser.  Beverly is still working on soft boucle items which I would love to wrap myself up in.  Nancy is loving the Simply Soft yarns and we have a whole bin of them to use, so I am sure you can share that joy with her.  Zena continues to amaze me with her beautiful bounty of shawls each week. Jeremy is mastering the double crochet technique.  We missed you Lenore and hope to see you back soon.  We miss all the home bound folks and hope you all are doing well.  We also would love to send our best to our South Carolina member, Carolyn.  I would love to see more of all of you.  Please let me know if you are in need of yarn delivered to you for projects at home.  Several members are unable to attend on Wednesday eves due to childcare issues and we are happy to set you up with materials to take home.  Your wish is my priority! A special shout of thanks to Beverly and Helon for delivering our prayer shawls.  You two are awesome for sharing God’s blessings with others. 

Have a great weekend, and be well my friends.  Remember to shout out about a social time together.

In Christ,

Dana

PSM update 11-12-10

Hello Chicks with Sticks.  Have I told you lately that you are my Prayer Shawl Superheroes!!  Do they make a pattern for a cape that has PSM on the back that we can make? Then our super cool delivery team can wear it and fly through the air to their next destination! Truly, I do appreciate every minute you put into this ministry from crochet to knitting, from finishing unfinished projects to creating new combos of colors, from buying yarn and sneaking it into the closet so no one knows to finding new recipients in need, from attending each week to simply praying for the requests sent out by email….you are the best team of God’s prayer warriors I could ask for. Know that you are loved and prayed for, and that you are truly His hands and feet on earth. 

We are in the process of putting together a simple holiday gathering which will include sharing a snack together and taking a field trip upstairs to the Upper Room Prayer Sanctuary.  Nothing formal, nothing to dress up with and fuss over (Hey – this is ME organizing it and I don’t do formal!!!).  I am hoping those who are on this email list and have not had a chance to join us for a while will feel free to join us for this gathering.  I will send details when I get more.  What day would work best for any of you?  Would it be better to do a Sunday after church or Wednesday eve or another day in an afternoon?  I would love as much input as possible.  This is a day that we can all sit back and relax, bring a friend or two, and just enjoy one another’s company.  I won’t complain if anyone brings a skein or two of yarn as their date.  Any social butterflies interested in helping plan this gathering?  No experience necessary!

Please consider asking for donations of yarn in lieu of gifts at your Christmas holiday cookie/ornament/white elephant gift exchanges.  What a great legacy we can leave by making others’ needs more important than our own.  If you do get inquiries on what yarn to donate I suggest you tell them Red Heart Super Saver as this is the most economical and easiest to find.  We also love the Caron one pound skeins, JoAnn’s Sensations yarns and Homespun yarns.  I have been accused of not having a holiday spirit because I don’t want to get gifts or buy extravagant ones for my family and friends, but I tell you the truth…this is more in the spirit of the Lord to want to give to others than to store up my own treasures on earth.  I never grew up with Christmas as I was raised Jewish, but I saw what all the other kids were getting.  I grew up believing that the whole purpose of Christmas was to get all new toys and clothes, and to get rid of the old stuff you did not use anymore to make room for all the new stuff.  Now I know that Christmas is the celebration of our Savior who came to earth to show us how to live and how to give of ourselves.  Jesus did not even have a place to lay his head down at night during his ministry years, yet he had more riches than all the other people in the world.  At his crucifixion he watched while others played dice for his clothing, yet he had enough grace to ask his heavenly Father to forgive the people who have sinned.  History is only as useful as we can apply it to our futures.  Take the lesson of Christ’s unconditional love and share that with people this holiday season, and you will truly be blessed by that.

Thanks to the ladies who joined us on Wednesday this past week.  We accomplished much and saw some new projects in the making.  Robin’s gorgeous blue shawl found a new home in record time.  It was a beautiful item and will be loved for many years.  Susan is still working her magic on the two tone shawl.  It is fabulous.  Dorothy is working on an item to go to a children’s charity fundraiser.  Beverly is still working on soft boucle items which I would love to wrap myself up in.  Nancy is loving the Simply Soft yarns and we have a whole bin of them to use, so I am sure you can share that joy with her.  Zena continues to amaze me with her beautiful bounty of shawls each week. Jeremy is mastering the double crochet technique.  We missed you Lenore and hope to see you back soon.  We miss all the home bound folks and hope you all are doing well.  We also would love to send our best to our South Carolina member, Carolyn.  I would love to see more of all of you.  Please let me know if you are in need of yarn delivered to you for projects at home.  Several members are unable to attend on Wednesday eves due to childcare issues and we are happy to set you up with materials to take home.  Your wish is my priority! A special shout of thanks to Beverly and Helon for delivering our prayer shawls.  You two are awesome for sharing God’s blessings with others. 

Have a great weekend, and be well my friends.  Remember to shout out about a social time together.

In Christ,

Dana

It’s done…finally

   

After what seemed like forever this project is finished.

I hate to leave things unfinished for so long and after finally throwing in the towel on the very difficult pattern and making a few modification this project was finally turned in.

Needless to sat I will be giving the next knitting project pattern a very close once over before I committing myself to it again.

For all my whining and complaining I was thankful to see it turned in and even more thankful that it did not linger in the closet for very long.

God is good and He works His purpose in all things, even Prayer Swear Shawls that turn into a not so fun experience.

 

Blessings

R