A Day to Celebrate and Be Blessed

Today was a day to celebrate!  And so we did!  First of all, today, July 15, 2017, would be my father in law William G. Steiner's 100th birthday.  Here's just a smattering of pictures from throughout his life:

 He has been celebrating in heaven since 1995...but today we paused to remember him and the wonderful father, father in law and "Granddaddy" that he was to our family.  To commemorate this day, my hubby planted a Drake Elm tree in our back yard...not far from the one we planted a few months ago to remember my father on the 6th anniversary of his passing into heaven.

May this tree grow tall and strong and provide shade and beauty to our home for many, many years! And may we never forget the sacrifices my father-in-law made for our country and our family throughout his life.  He loved his family and would have given the shirt off his back to be sure they were taken care of.

Then, today was also a day to celebrate my mother-in-law's 94th birthday! Her actual birthday isn't until July 23rd, but due to family schedule conflicts, we had her party today at the nursing home where she currently resides.  Here are a few pictures of the friends and family that attended that celebration: (I won't identify everyone, but you get the idea...grandkids, kids, niece, friends, and people who love and care about her!)

She obviously had a great time, and was so pleasantly surprised!!!  What a blessing she is to us.

And then, after this celebration, the rest of us headed over to Cody's Roadhouse for lunch and to celebrate my husband's cousin Janice's birthday:

The pillow Janice is holding has a special story.  This is the gift that I made for her.  The cute embroidered young lady with a poodle is a vintage table scarf from the treasures I found in my mother in law's home...and I believe it was actually embroidered by my MIL's mother, "Nanny Martin", who would also be Janice's grandmother.  When I saw this table scarf, I immediately thought of Janice because she had always had poodles as a little girl as well as an adult.

The only problem with this table scarf was, in its original form, there were two ends, each having this same design.  But the other end was badly stained, and I could not remove the stain:

So, after much thought I came up with the pillow idea.  To create the pillow case itself, I used three cloth table napkins from my own table linens:

This is the back side of the pillow, where two of the napkins overlap to make the pocket where you slip the pillow inside...

And here is the front side, where I sewed the modified table scarf to the third napkin, and then sewed this to the other two napkins.

Janice was very surprised and pleased to receive this specially made gift with this link to her own grandmother.  And I thank the Lord for giving me the idea. I am not usually that creative or thoughtful...I'm being honest here!  I normally don't do that much sewing or crafts, but I truly believe the Lord gave me this idea, because He knew it would bless Janice...and in turn, it also was a blessing to me to be able to do this for her.

**This was a wonderful lesson for me....to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit to show love to someone else who needed that extra blessing. You see, Janice is a recent widow, following the death of her husband from cancer...and she also lost her only son to a sudden illness a few years ago. Her sweet little poodle, "Rocky", also passed away not long after that.  My husband and his brother and their mother are her closest family here...and they share this common family history.  To be able to share this bit of her own grandmother's treasures with her brought a few tears to her eyes and a smile on her face...and it didn't cost me a dime, but its value is priceless!

This reminded me of a favorite old hymn:

"Make Me A Blessing"

"Out in the highways and byways of life,

Many are weary and sad;

Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,

Making the sorrowing glad.

Refrain:

Make me a blessing,

Make me a blessing,

Out of my life may Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing,

O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing

to someone today.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love,

Tell of His pow'r to forgive;

Others will trust Him if only you prove

True, every moment you live.

Refrain

Give as 'twas given to you in your need,

Love as the Master loved you;

Be to the helpless a helper indeed,

Unto your mission be true.

Refrain:

Make me a blessing,

Make me a blessing,

Out of my life may Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing,

O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing

to someone today."

Thank You, Lord, for being at the center of our celebrations today...for blessing our family with dear parents, and for helping us to be an encouragement and "blessing" to one who is in need of such comfort.  I give You praise for providing the means and the ideas that became the blessing. In giving, I am also blessed.  Thank You, Lord, for teaching me this lesson today.  Amen.

**UPDATE: I now have this pillow back in my keeping. Very sadly, about one year later our cousin Janice passed away very suddenly following some serious heart surgery. It was a very sad time for all of us.  When her estate was being settled I was blessed to receive this pillow back in memory of Janice.