Archive for August, 2009
I Am So Blessed With GREAT Family And Friends!!!!
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Over the past two months of being home in the states, I have realized over and over again that I am blessed with wonderful family and friends. I was already a pretty relational girl before I moved to Ethiopia and now that I’ve been influenced by a more community-oriented culture, I am even more so that way. My whole goal this summer has been to see and or talk to people who I know and love and who love and support me. I can’t say what a huge blessing it’s been to connect with so many people and really feel and see their support of me in such tangible ways. Everytime someone is just a bit interested in hearing about Ethiopia or thanks me for sending emails or posting on my blogs, I am reminded that I am not in this all by myself and I’m so grateful. Thank you to all family and friends, whether I’ve seen you or not. Your love is definitely being felt!!
My Quilt at an Art Show
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
My quilt and I @ the art show
This summer, as some of you know, I have been in the process of making a quilt for my grandparents. I finally finished it about two weeks ago and got to show it at an art show. Unfortunately, the artist statement I wrote, as well as the title, was not printed in the way I would have liked. So, without further ado, here is my artist statement….
The Cross Makes All The Difference
“I know that the cross of Christ has made a huge difference in my life,
But when I think about the difference the cross has made in my family, it scares me to think of where we would be without it.”
-my mom
I guess I will start by saying that this quilt was originally not intended to be in this art show. It is intended to be a gift for my grandparents (my mom’s parents) which I will give them at the end of this month. I also never intended for this quilt to have so many crosses, but sometimes in the creative process things happen that the artist wasn’t expecting.
The pictures were taken in front of my grandparents’ home when all of their grandchildren were kids. My family and I usually celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom’s parents who always have lots of leaves to rake from their gingko tree at that time of year. It is a tradition for all of my cousins and I to go outside and rake the leaves and play in them, which is where the pictures come from.
My mom and her brother and sister grew up in a very dysfunctional home. Their father, my grandfather, grew up in a home of nine children whose own father was an abusive alcoholic. My grandfather, to this day, has never dealt with the issues surrounding his painful childhood. Since he didn’t deal with these issues on his own, he took them out on his own wife and children.
I grew up with a mother who was processing this rather difficult childhood. She sought lots of counseling, prayer, and anything to help her heal and make the pain go away. I was always so thankful that she got help for her issues and sought God, unlike my grandfather. This made all the difference in our family.
I have learned from my mother that the cross of Christ can make a huge difference in a family and that cross is the only reason that anyone can heal. She has taught me that whenever you have issues, you should always go to God. Without Him our family would probably not be intact and several of us would not be speaking to each other. Actually, it probably would have come to a point when we would vow to never spend Thanksgiving with each other and not take these beautiful pictures of us being together.
So, it seems rather appropriate that the cross of Christ and these hearts (I originally intended to make them leaves) made their way into this quilt. Because of God’s great love through the cross of Christ, most of my cousins and I have been able to have much happier childhoods than our parents. Because of the cross of Christ we have been able to forgive each other and love and accept each other for who we are. Because of the cross of Christ in the midst of our pain, we have come to know God better in a way that we wouldn’t know Him otherwise.
My grandfather now has Parkinson’s disease and miraculously has accepted Christ. Thanks to the Holy Spirit and good medication, I have seen a lot more compassion and kindness in his heart in my last visit with him.