I cant think of a title

I found this photo on my son in laws blog and posted it because it made me smile. We have had a sad few days. My Mother gradually deteriorated last week and so on Thursday I drove the 4 hours down to Devon praying that angels would cover my registration plate as I sped through the countryside. 

I arrived at my mothers care home, my daughter, brother and most of his family were gathered around her bed while she slept, she had been asleep since the day before. We spent the afternoon quietly chatting, praying and crying. We older ones remarked afterwards just how precious our time had been with our children and our Mother. They amazed us with how they handled their grief and also cared for us, their parents. Even our children who weren't able to be with us were messaging us throughout the day checking we were OK.

The young parents gradually left as they went to collect their children from school, each one whispering goodbye to Grandma and telling her they loved her. My brother and his wife left a few hours later leaving me alone with my Mum. I held her hand, telling her I loved her, reminding her that she was the best Mum ever, reading scripture to her and praying until Jesus took her hand and gently led her to be with her beloved husband and heavenly Father. We have so much to thank God for, He completely undertook in every way. I cant go into all the details but His timing in all that happened was a blessing to us all. 

hats

We may be heading towards warmer weather (I repeat may)but over in South Africa where our daughter and her family live, they are heading for their winter season. I know it rarely gets really cold in SA but where our family live, on the farm in the more rural area of Kwa Zulu Natal, it does get a little chilly at times. So knitted hats were requested and my daughter put this link on pinterest (such a clever site) for me to download and make for our grandsons and Angel.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/slouchy-beanies

I went through my yarn stash and chose lovely bright colours. The pattern is really easy to understand but I found that when I got to decreasing stitches to shape the top all went well until the number of stitches I had on the needle that was suggested (40cm long) were so stretched that I couldn't knit them. So at that point I cut the yarn and threaded it through the remaining stitches, pulled tight and secured. I also found when I wanted to make the smaller size that again the needle was too long to knit the stitches comfortably and so I made the larger size and finished it sooner than requested.

But all in all, with a bit of fiddling around I managed 3 different sized hats, one for Joe, one for Jesse and one for Angel who comes to stay regularly. Hopefully I will get a photo to show you when they arrive in SA.

sweet children

Gilby's jumper is a perfect fit even though the measurements were for 3-4 year old. Here he is after a busy day :)

Here is Angel, the little girl that my daughter and son in law have to stay on occasion, they have just had her visit for the past week. She is HIV+ and when Vashti took her for her tests this week her CD4 count was so low that the virus was barely detectable...we are praying for complete healing.