Christmas Outfits, Customer Creation and New Years Wish for you

The last day of 2011.  Seems like this year went by so fast.  For me this has been the "Year of the Babies".  Starting in January with the birth of my first granddaughter and then later the birth of my twin grandbabies (a boy and a girl) in April.  Babies bring such joy in a family and we are so blessed with these three little ones.  I did manage to do  some sewing and hope to work on a couple of new patterns in 2012. 

I wish you all a very blessed and prosperous 2012.  I know there may be some who have had a rough year.  I pray that you will trust in God and know he is there for you in any circumstance.

These are five outfits I made for my grandchildren and two others that are like family.  They are made from Fabric Finder's corduoroy.  The girl's dresses are an adaption of one of my patterns and the boy's made using The Children's Corner Johnny pattern.

This is a Tana Tutu Dress made by a customer.  This little girl is so precious and the dress is so adorable on her.  I always love getting pictures from customers.

Baton Rouge Help for Haiti

This is a copy of the article from the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate about a local doctor helping to get medical help to Haiti. My neice will be part of one of the teams that will be going to Haiti for a week. All prayers and help are appreciated.

If you would like to follow this team or get more information, go to these links:
Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=254693002429&ref=mf

Twitter:
twitter.com/thegreeneteamfacebook.com/thegreeneteam

Website to give:
www.br2haiti.org

Baton Rouge Residents Work to Assist Haitians

Baton Rouge orthopedic surgeon Dr. Craig Greene said the sea of victims in Haiti who need surgery was “just overwhelming” when he arrived in the earthquake-ravaged country.
“You just needed to take it all in,” said Greene, who returned from Haiti earlier this week. “It was trying to figure out what we needed to do next while at the same time we were trying to get folks taken care of.”
Greene is trying to put together volunteer medical teams — generally six-member teams of doctors, nurses and physical and occupational therapists — to go to Haiti, work for a week, and then be replaced by another team.
His efforts are among the many Haiti relief plans being coordinated by Baton Rouge area volunteers.
Greene said his effort, nicknamed the Greene Team, is just now beginning to find a rhythm.
“But there are still gaps to fill,” he said.
One of the primary focuses of the team is to not only perform surgery on the victims — many of whom had bone-crushing wounds — but to also offer follow-up care, he said.
“We don’t want to just operate on them and then leave,” he said. “There is a lot of follow-up care these people need in order to get their lives back.
Greene is headed back to Haiti on Sunday to fine-tune his efforts, which have turned into a family and local community affair.
His mother, Cathy Greene, who is fluent in French, is also headed to Haiti this week.
She is spearheading the BR2Haiti project, which is trying to recruit medical team volunteers and get them desperately needed medical supplies.
Stacie Greene, Cathy Greene’s sister-in-law, is serving as the medical supply coordinator.
“I’m trying to procure the supplies, get them packaged and just get them to Haiti,” she said. “We’ve heard of horror stories of this stuff just sitting on the tarmac with no one getting them.”
Stacie Greene said she is trying to work on clearing barriers, particularly bureaucratic barriers.
One of the problems the group is encountering is that U.S. Customs agents will allow them to ship only $2,500 worth of medications per airplane.
“We’re working hard to get them to lift that limit,” Stacie Greene said. “$2,500 worth of medicine is not very much, especially for a patient who has had surgery.”
The group is trying to send one plane a week to Haiti loaded with medical supplies.
Warner Anderson, assistant dean of international education and a Spanish professor at Southern University, and Kristan Gordon, coordinator for service learning at Southern, initiated a project to raise supplies for Haitians just days after the earthquake.
“We focused mainly on the needs of the children,” Anderson said. “They are always the most vulnerable in a disaster.”
Anderson and Gordon collected more than 400 boxes of baby formula, food, lotion, wipes and disposable diapers, feminine hygiene products, hand sanitizer, insect repellent, clothes and shoes.
“We had an enormous response from churches, organizations on campus and individuals,” he said.
But then it came time to start figuring out how to get the boxes shipped to Haiti.
“And that’s when I found Stacie Greene,” he said.
He learned from Greene that U.S. Customs requires all of the supplies to be packaged in clear plastic bags, sealed with gray duct tape, labeled by content and then weighed.
The job of repacking 400 large boxes was enormous, but volunteers stepped forward from the university and Victory Baptist Church in Plaquemine to help.
“It was a daunting task, but we’re committed to doing this,” Anderson said.
The bags will be delivered to BR2Haiti, and Stacie Greene will have them loaded onto one of the project’s donated airplanes and shipped to Haiti.
Julie Baxter, an attorney with Rhorer Law Firm, is president of the new 25-member Capital City Rotary Club.
“We raised $1,000 to buy a Shelter Box,” Baxter said.
But then her club asked the other two Rotary Clubs in Baton Rouge to raise money as a citywide Rotary effort.
Between the Capital Area, Baton Rouge and Sunrise Rotary clubs, they’ve raised $14,550, which will pay for nearly 15 Shelter Boxes — which include tents, stoves, cooking pots, plates and utensils and food to shelter and feed 10 people for 30 days.
Virgin Airlines has agreed to fly the Shelter Boxes to Haiti.
“Shelter Boxes are basically the best relief you can send to a disaster stricken area,” Baxter said. “It provides 10 people with shelter and with the stove and the food it comes with, you can prepare meals.”
She said Baton Rouge residents were generous when the group asked for donations.
“Baton Rouge never balks at giving immediately when something happens,” she said. “I think it’s the time when you feel the proudest of this city.”

A Different Christmas Poem

I found this on the All Brands Sew Forum and thought it was worth posting about. So many soldiers will be away from their families this Christmas to fight for our freedom. Please keep them in your prayers and remember them by sending cards and packages.



A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM


The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,"
Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.
"My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son.

"Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Christmas Prayer

May all of you have a

JOYOUS CHRISTMAS

and a

BLESSED 2008

A Christmas Prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson

Loving Father, Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men.
Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.