Another guest posting
I’ve shared a post on Marjorie’s “Grandparents & Grandchildren” blog again: http://twosnydergirls.blogspot.ca/2014/01/a-bit-of-grace.html
Ladybugs!
I have a special affection for ladybugs. Started back when Volker wrote me letters decorated with the little critters.
My granddaughter knows that I like them. She informed soon after arriving at my house before Christmas that her ladybug slippers don’t fit anymore. Naturally I promised to make her new ones. (The previous ones had been store bought.)
I looked for patterns online, but didn’t find anything that quite fit. So I decided to wing it. I am not good at writing down the patterns I make up. I like to custom fit things like sweaters, hats or slippers. Mina was at Nana & Poppa’s house when I started the slippers so I guessed (pretty accurately) at the size of her foot. I didn’t buy anything, just used balls of yarn from my stash.
For the sole I wanted a very heavy yarn — the only one I had was navy blue — with dense crocheting, so I used a 3mm hook. I started with a chain 15 stitches long and using a single crochet worked both sides of the chain, putting 3 sc in each end ch to turn. On the second row I put 2 sc in the first 2 stitches (turning stitches), then sc in the next seven, switched to dc, putting 2 dc in each of the turning stitches below; continue in a similar manner down the other of the sole. The third row was essentially a repeat of the second, using dc at the toe end of the sole, and sc for the rest.
I didn’t have heavy yarn in black or red — and the slippers had to be black & red! So I used double strands of both colours. Because I wanted red with black spots I carried one colour along all the time. To learn how to do this visit http://www.crochettoday.com/how-to/how-work-tapestry-crochet. The upper is made of 6 rows. The first two rows are a sc in each stitch around, changing colours as appropriate (my ladybugs are not identical twins). On row three, four and five I used a decrease dc for the head to create the toe shape. The sixth row is a single crochet all around.
For the eyes I just used off-white yarn with a black centre. The antennae are made with a chain 4, dc, sc on side of dc and slip stitches down the chain.
Tomorrow I must go to the post office to send some “Mina Mail”!
Mina has also requested a Ladybug toy, so that will likely be my next project.
P.S. Before mailing the slippers I used some (very old) fabric paint to put dots on the bottom of the sole; when Mina was here and wearing only one slipper she was able to “skate” on my hardwood floor. I hope this will prevent the slippers from sliding quite so nicely.
Christmas Eve Dedication
In the Mennonite Church babies are not baptized, adults are. However, we do have a Parent/Child Dedication service. As part of the Christmas Eve service at Bloomingdale Mennonite Church (after the ice storm put an end to Sunday’s service) my little grandson, Volker William Burkard Gehiere was dedicated with his parents and the whole congregation.
Text written by Trina, read by Gary:
“I think when we name our children the names we chose are often really wishes we would like to bestow upon them. There is something that speaks to us in the name that we want to pass to our child, it may be frivolous or psychological but there is something.
In the case of our little boy it is more so the latter. The wishes are many and varied but most if not all go back to the name and the man he was named for, his grandfather, Volker Willi Walter Burkard. We wish him to be kind and compassionate with a great sense of humour, a maker, someone with a wonderful spiritual life, a beautiful loving person.
Today I hope we are helping him in some small way fulfill those wishes.”
Barb Smith-Morrison’s blessing as she carried Volker through the congregation:
Volker, God loves you. May you grow to love God and to serve humanity. May the gracious Spirit of Christ and the fellowship of God’s people bless your life this day and all days.
The congregation’s commitment:
Gary and Trina, we support your calling as parents and accept our calling to love, support and encourage you. We offer the gift of ourselves, our lives and example to nurture your family as you grow.
Volker and Mina, we pledge you our care and love. We promise to encourage you as you grow into all that God has created you to be. We welcome you.
The ‘true’ story of Christmas
There is a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. Maya Angelou
Does it really matter if the Christmas story is factual? If a pregnant Mary really rode on a donkey and gave birth in a stable? If shepherds did, in fact, see choirs of angels? If a star actually guided Wise Men to the infant?
The truth, for Christians, is that God truly experienced human life, not as a king or a mighty warrior, but as a vulnerable baby born to a teenage mom, a refugee, one of the undeserving poor.
Growing up in a farming family of ten kids Christmas was not the commercial venture it is now. We rarely had a Christmas tree, though we did have a few decorations and lights. We also had a creche (which did not survive ten children). A Christmas Eve tradition was listening to a dramatized Christmas story on a LP record. My mother, who had two babies at the beginning of January did not enjoy thinking of riding a donkey in her state! We may each have received a gift (before we reached our teen years), and we all received a plate of candy, nuts, an orange and grapes — a wonderful treat! — on Christmas morning.
My in-laws had quite different customs. I learned there about Advent and Advent candles. When Volker was young it was the Christ Child who came on Christmas Eve while the family was at church and left behind a beautiful tree and gifts. His family too had a creche, but it was not touched by children.
When Simon was born I decided I wanted a creche that children could play with. When he was two years old I found a pattern in a magazine and over the next several years I made the pieces.
I have since lost the pattern, but these little bean-bag dolls have been played with by many children over the years. (A dear friend from the Middle East refers to the shepherds and Wise Men as the Mullahs and Ayatollahs.) I am so thrilled that now my grandchildren will also have that opportunity.