Heavy Heart

As I read about the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Connecticut, my heart hurt and tears came quickly. I felt completely dumbfounded as to why this would happen. Any time I hear of shootings, attacks, or natural disasters where lives are lost, it makes me sad. But the thought of these sweet, innocent, angels being taken from this life so soon and so viciously makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. Having children of my own only compounds the feeling. A friend of mine posted these lyrics from I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day after hearing about the shooting:

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

I thought how poignant and true it felt. Such a tragedy. And to happen right before Christmas. Then I began to think about it some more. Yes - there is SO much evil in this world. Yes - HATE is strong. But...there IS good. And all the lyrics apply.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day,
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.


And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

I can only pray that the victims, their families, friends and loved ones can find peace in the depths of this sorrow. Which brings me to a project I worked on, in hopes of bringing some piece of happiness to their lives.
A friend of mine posted on Facebook that her sister-in-law was doing a project to gather (I think) 600 quilts for the children who were in attendance and would be returning to school after the holidays. She stated that quilts always gave her comfort and made her feel safe and warm. She wanted to impart some of those feelings to these poor children who had lost siblings, friends, classmates, and teachers. I decided I wanted to participate and asked Margaret if she wanted to be involved and work with me on it while we were in AZ for Christmas. She said yes and we committed to doing six.

Unfortunately, illnesses, needy children, and a busy holiday schedule kept us busy and we didn't start until just a few days before Miles and I were scheduled to leave. With a lot of hard work and sore fingers, we were able to tie them all.

I liked the crazy zig-zag pattern going on. Also, this was my first time tying quilts, so Margaret taught me a lot about it and how to be "most efficient" while doing it well. I learned from a self-proclaimed "quilting snob."

Even Mark jumped in and helped us out. It was greatly appreciated!

And this was frequently where Elsie could be found while we worked away at our project.

Miles and I left AZ with a huge extra suitcase filled with the six tied, unbound, quilts. We got home late on Monday night and Tuesday I called my mom to ask her some tips on finishing (binding) the quilts. At this point I had two days to reach my deadline. When I told my mom, she immediately told me that there was no way I would get them done alone and I needed to ask for help. After a lot of tears and swallowing my pride, I called numerous people in search of some last minute, desperately needed, helping hands. Sadly, even with all my calls, I was left empty-handed (and discouraged by some negative remarks from a church leader who scolded me for waiting and "putting the burden on other people").

Just when I got off the phone after another dead end, a voicemail came through. A woman said she had received a call from my mom and heard I needed help and wanted to help me out. I called her back and she said that she is friends with my mom's friend, Syd Crockett, and would be happy to take my quilts to finish. I asked her how many she wanted and she said, "I'll do them all." WHAT?! This angel of a woman said, "My children are teenagers and my husband is in the bishopric, so they're gone a lot. It will give me something to do." Yeah...I'm so sure she has nothing going on in her day. She also said she would come pick them up from me (she lives in Orem) so I wouldn't have to pack up the kids to bring them to her. AMAZING.

I immediately called my mom and thanked her profusely for SAVING me all the way from CA. This angel (her name is Kathy Russell) not only finished them all, but did it a whole day sooner than we needed (we found out we actually had an extra day or two to work on them). She did a beautiful job of finishing them (FAR better than I would have done). I could not thank her enough. I know she'll receive blessings from heaven for helping me in my time of need, as well as helping to do this service for these sweet children.

Here are the finished products: 

I'm anxious to hear how they were received. I hope that they do bring at least one small piece of warmth, love, and comfort to their precious souls.