Hi, everyone! By the way, I don't think I posted since our new granddaughter was named! Her name is Sophia Truth. Sophia means "wisdom," so she is wisdom and truth! We love the name and we love her! I hope to put more pictures on soon. She was the first baby born in the county this year! As well as the first baby of the year, she's the first baby of the decade! How cool! We praise God for her!
Chapter 7--THE RUBY SLIPPER INCIDENT
In the last posting on the Ruby Slipper Incident, I told you how I had begun to get really homesick while in Africa. I had even clicked my heels together in imitation of Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz and remarked that I wanted a "pair of those ruby slippers," to get me home!
Sometime during the week, we were at the church. I do not remember if it was a weekday or on a Sunday. I think it was a weekday. We were there more than once for various ministry activities.The church was in a large building in the center of the town where we stayed. They have since moved to the new location, but at that time that was our purpose for being there--helping them get started on the building at the new location. Anyway, when we walked out onto the street, several people were always around us. That is not unusual in a country with a very dense population. People are everywhwere--another factor that was something for this rural girl to get used to! The particular town we were in had a geographic area about the size of a small rural American town, the kind you can easily ride your bike across from end to end on a summer evening. But the population of the town was about 30,000 people compared to our American towns covering that same size ground having 1500 people living in them! So to feel crowded or surrounded by crowds is not all that unusual.
On that particular day, a lady came up to me as we stood outside the church and began talking to me. She presented me with a box wrapped in brown paper. It had a card on top and she told me she wanted to give it to me as a gift. I think I had met her before sometime during the week and had learned her name. She was very nice and trying to befriend me. I saw her a few times while we were there and she expressed an interest in learning to tat. That was one of the reasons I had gone along in the first place. I had intended to teach tatting to as many women as possible to give them a little source of income from the sale of needlework. I thanked her for the gift, though I didn't open it right there on the street.
Though I had taken tatting shuttles, thread, and patterns, I was disappointed to not get much time to work with the ladies on tatting. I did get a few hours one afternoon and one lady learned. I am still hoping she was able to teach others and the craft may have caught on since I never got a chance to personally work with the lady who gave me the gift. In fact, I never saw her again.
Clint and I went back to our hotel room and I sat the brown paper-wrapped box on the table. I began to open the card. It said something about this gift being her "best seed gift" for the needs of her family and home. Here I was longing for my home and family and someone gave me a gift as a seed for their own family and home needs! That alone was very interesting, indeed. But then, I opened the lid on the box......
More on that on the next post! Blessings, LORI
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