A couple of Saturdays ago, my mom and I were sitting out on my deck reading and relaxing. Mom showed me a picture from a magazine of a wreath similar to the one above and we thought it was cute. I had the idea that we should have a mother-daughter craft day and get together with Jeanette to each make a wreath. We knew Jeanette would not mind being left out of the shopping part of the project, so Mom and I got into the car that afternoon and went to buy the supplies needed at Joann.
You see, Jeanette doesn't get as excited about crafting as my mom and I do. But she loves spending time with her mom and sis, and since this wreath is fairly quick and easy, we figured she'd be into it. And she was. We made our wreaths today and had a fun time talking and catching up on the week's events. I am continually thankful to have my sister and my mom so close by. And I don't take it for granted (usually) because we haven't always lived in such close proximity.
In fact, the reason why I spelled "craft" with an "h" in the middle comes from when my sister was living in Germany for three years. She was a member of an international church in Dusseldorf and had friends from many different places, including England.
The group of women from the church got together regularly to have "Crahft" (say it with a British accent). I don't think they added "night" to the event title. It was just "Crahft." Since Jeanette was living at the church (which also housed a preschool where she worked), she would go sit with her friends during Crahft and would sometimes even do some creating of her own.
One time in particular, soon after I had been diagnosed with a malignant thyroid tumor, Jeanette made me the card pictured below.
Inside she wrote some sweet notes of encouragement, along with some scripture verses. Her friends cheered her on as she did this labor of love to send back across the ocean to me. She wrote, "The Lord has used various means of comforting me today. I'm using you as my Craft tonight. I hope this is as much of an encouragement as doing it has been for me." It was a cherished gift and I still have it saved in a box with other memorable cards and notes.
Several years have gone by since Jeanette made me that card. I am cancer-free and don't have any ill-effects from that health crisis. Looking back, the time that Jeanette was away in Germany was a time of great growth in our relationship. We had been friends before, but being forced to communicate via email (phone calls were more expensive back then and there wasn't any such thing as Skype) made us really value our friendship and work hard at staying close across the miles.
I'm glad that we had our mother/daughter/sister craft time today. It was fun to see how each of us made our wreath our own (sorry, I only have the picture of mine). Hopefully we can expand these craft days to include Erica and Mary Lane in the near future!
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