I wanted to thank once more the people who kept my friend and me in prayer as she was nearing the end of her battle with ovarian cancer. Let me share what I've recently been a part of.

Several years ago Beth and I were part of a small group helping a mutual friend, Jackie, set up an art show. Jackie is an amazing artist. She was working on an art series entitled Bread of Life. Each piece had bread of some kind and at least one butterfly. As we were having our first real organizational meeting, Jackie started talking about the pieces she was working on. She told us that she knew one of the pieces had stamping on it. She didn't know why. She didn't know anything about stamping and wasn't sure she could find stamps for a slice of bread and the butterfly she was picturing.

Beth, who was very into crafts of all kinds, said, "You can have custom stamps made."

Beth not only helped to have the stamps made; she helped Jackie pick out ink colors and even did the stamping herself. She was so nervous about possibly messing up Jackie's work. Jackie insisted that Beth sign the piece, since it was as much hers as Jackie's. It took a lot of coaxing, but she finally did it.

The piece is about 18 x 24 and looks like a quilt. Each square of the quilt has a slice of bread with a butterfly in the center. There are seven rows of 10 (a total of 70), with 7 of the butterflies over-lined with blue. We noticed that the butterflies are almost exactly the same color pink used by The American Cancer Society. The piece is entitled Forgiven. The narrative that accompanies the picture references the Scriptures when a man asked how many times he should forgive--as many as 7 times? Jesus tells him 70 times 7.

That was 7 or 8 years ago. Two weeks ago Jackie called me and asked for my help. She wanted to have prints made of the piece to give to Beth's family and closest friends, including me. We delivered them today along with notes about the origin of the picture. Jackie invited me to join her for the deliveries, which was a tremendous blessing.

Jackie also ran an idea past Beth's family. The family approved. We will be having blank note cards made with the print on the front and the narrative on the back. They will be packaged and sold, with the proceeds donated in her memory to the ministry Beth went through to serve orphans in Romania. For however long we offer the cards for sale, the proceeds will be given in Beth's memory.

My heart is filled to overflowing.

 

Wow, I really wasn't trolling for sales. I was simply excited about doing something to honor a friend's memory. I will let you know when we have them ready, though.

 

Thanks, Becky. I was just a little overwhelmed by the response.

 

It will be a couple of weeks before we have them available. I'll PM everyone who's asked when they're ready.

 

So, I was going through a mountain of old paperwork, sorting things out. I came across the survey my buddy filled out at the last PC show she attended. I'm sitting here laughing and crying at the same time. Here are her answers:

Best time to reach you? Any time you call

Would you like to be informed aobut specials through my newsletter? Absolutely! Especially on Single Men

Did you enjoy today's show? Well--I'm not sure

Please give me any suggestion you might have: You should never wear those shoes again!!! [The word "those" is underlined 4 times. She hated my cool black and white sneakers that got me compliments wherever I went.]

I miss her so much. Thanks for letting me vent a little.

 

Thanks, guys. I can go days being just fine, then I suddenly miss her so much it physically hurts.

 

Thanks so much. And, Jodi, thank you for the kind words. Yes, the cards are available. Just contact me with your email and mailing address. I'll send you a PayPal invoice. The cards are $10 per pack, plus $2 shipping. Of that, $5 goes to Heart2Heart Ministries in Beth's memory.