A Day Spent With Special Friends

Do you have any special friends...you know the kind...the friends that have been friends what seems like forever?  They've been in your life in one way or another through good times and bad, happy and sad?  Fun times and deep times of spiritual growth and service...

Uniquely gifted, uplifting and giving...

Special Friends.

They don't happen to come along very often in life.

If you are fortunate enough to find such friends, hang on to them with all you've got! 

They are a rare treasure, not to be taken for granted.

We have been blessed with such friends...true gems in the rough stones of life...

And here is one such couple.

We went to visit them at their unique "RV" retirement home, and also at the log home of their son and his family...

Below is our friend's woodworking shop, where he has created many unique and wonderful things throughout the years, in addition to helping his son and daughter in law build their log home.

And this is his wife's "workshop", where she creates many lovely things, in addition to playing beautiful music in between her sewing, quilting, crafts, and recycled jewelry creations

The quilt my dear friend is holding below is another of her wonderful gifts to me.  I already showed you one quilt that she repaired for me a couple of months ago HERE.  At that time I showed her this old quilt that had been lovingly created by my husband's grandmother many years ago. (I forgot to take a BEFORE picture!)  It was a wedding gift to us from his grandmother. (48 years ago!) "Nanny Martin" had made a quilt for each of her grandchildren to be given as wedding gifts.  The only problem was the fabric that she used was very old...possibly scraps of material dating back to when her own four daughters were very young.  As a young bride I did not know how to properly care for a quilt...and after I used it quite frequently and perhaps a little carelessly, I tossed it into the washing machine...only to discover to my horror that the fabric was literally falling apart in many places. Even the batting was lumped up and coming out of the quilt...and I was so ashamed and heartbroken.  I had to hide the quilt away so that my mother in law would never see what an awful mess I had made of that lovely old quilt...especially after I tried to piece it back together by sewing new cloth onto old...and you know what that does...

"No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment;

for the patch pulls away from the garment, 

and the tear is made worse."

Matthew 9:16

Too bad I had apparently never read that verse as a young bride...

So anyway, back to the present...my dear friend told me after examining the poor old quilt that she thought she could rescue the remaining good parts of it and create something that would still be useful and beautiful...and here is the AFTER picture of her restored creation:

 She was able to use many of the unspoiled squares, making a few repairs to them, and placing them on a totally new backing and border. It is now more of a twin or double bed size coverlet, as opposed to its previous queen size.  But it is amazing that she was able to restore and use that much of that poor old quilt!!!

And here is a tearful me with my hubby trying to hold this quilt up in between my cries of joy so she could take our picture...

And then she gave me another unique creation, which is actually still a work in progress...This is an old picture frame with an antique photograph of someone neither of us know, so my job is to replace that with an old picture of my husband's grandmother...and the picture is surrounded by some of the quilt scraps from this quilt, and interesting old pieces of jewelry, buttons and lace, making a marvelous collage of ancient treasures.  I am going to finish it with a picture of "Nanny Martin", and perhaps a few of her old buttons and pieces of jewelry.  I'll post a picture of that when it is complete.

 So you can understand why I feel so blessed and thankful to the Lord for such friends as these!

After recovering from my shock over the miraculous restoration of our quilt, we turned to other interesting things in my friend's "workshop".  Below are some extravagantly decorated Emu egg shells!  The family used to raise emus there on the property, but no longer.  These are a few of her amazing creations!   Then notice the white feathery headdress beneath that...it was one of her granddaughter's wedding headdresses that my friend created!!

Of course I had to try it on for size!  Isn't it lovely?  Don't you think I should wear this to my son's wedding in November?  Well, maybe not. They are trying to "keep it simple"...and this is anything but "simple"

Next my friend modeled her "Minnie Pearl" hat...yes, back in the day our friends actually used to have a weekly "hoedown", and my friend portrayed "Minnie Pearl" to a "T".  Somehow the price tag has disappeared from this hat...but when she used to do her "act" it definitely had a price tag attached! Such fun people!!!!!

My friend also repurposes, recreates, designs jewelry, using vintage jewelry collected from family and friends and thrift shops.  Her creations are highly sought after by ladies wherever they see her work!

Our friends haven't always been playing and creating in their workshops.  When they were a little bit younger, in between their real jobs of being a building contractor (him)  and being a mayor of a small town somewhere in NC (her), they also took many groups of young people (teens) on summer mission trips to locations all over the world!  Here's some of their souvenirs from such trips...

 As you can tell...God has blessed our friends with the gift of giving of themselves to many, many people throughout the years...and sharing Jesus wherever they go!!!

After spending time inside we ventured outside to tour around the family property.  No, this isn't what you think it is...it is just an "ordinary" (not) tool shed!  So clever...

Their son, (with Dad's expert carpentry help) is restoring/creating this old "woody" vehicle...

And then we enjoyed visiting inside our friend's "retirement home"...their RV...and I thought this sign over her kitchen window was so appropriate and cute:

After which we enjoyed spending some time sitting in the gazebo, relaxing to the sound of water falling over the lovely fountain, watching the hummingbirds come and go, and listening to the woodpeckers in the trees behind us

Following this we toured the inside of their son's log home, but I won't show you too much more...except these interesting critters:

I just can't begin to tell you how blessed we feel to count these dear people as friends.  These verses sum it up pretty well...a perfect description of our friends and the kind of friendship we have had over the past almost 40 years...

"But above all these things put on love, 

which is the bond of perfection.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, 

to which also you were called in one body; 

and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,

teaching and admonishing one another in 

psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

And whatever you do in word or deed,

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
Colossians 3:14-17

Enough Said!

Praise the Lord for such Special Friends!

Amen!