I'm going to do a little bragging here. I have a great mother-in-law. I call her mom, and since my mama's death fifteen years ago, she has in many ways helped fill that void for me. She's kind and gentle and loves in a maternal way. Around here, most people (and not just family) call her mom or grandma, and she wears those titles proudly. She loves children, so it's really no surprise that she has spent the last year making 150 dresses for little girls all over the world. But what an accomplishment!
The idea to make dresses came to her as she visited with a friend who had served a mission with Hope International Ministries. This friend told her about the children, living in poverty, who would line up to receive supplies and gifts. The wheels started turning in her mind and she began searching for ideas on the internet. When she came across "dressagirlaroundtheworld.com" she knew she had found what she had been looking for. This site had patterns and directions for making the dresses and she took from them ideas and made her own designs. Not overly impressed with the pillowcase dresses shown on the site, she wanted to make something that would be beautiful as well as functional. She said, " I wanted to give to other little girls something that I would be happy for my own grandchildren to wear and I would think about that as I made each dress."
This picture shows how she sewed the skirt onto the shirt. What an easy sewing project, one that even I can do. Just a few straight seams and it's finished. Sometimes she adds embellishments, like this little pocket, onto the dress. In fact, she says it often takes longer to come up with the design, than to actually sew the dress. But matching shirts and fabric, adding a little pocket or buttons, that's the fun part! It's surprising what you can do with a simple, plain t-shirt. She has even taken baby Onesies and cut the bottoms off to make dresses for the smallest girls. She admits the littlest dresses are her favorites.
When each dress is completed, she holds it up and gives it a hug. "I want my love to go with that dress to the little girl who will wear it. I want her to know that someone in the world loves her", she says.
There are so many things about this ministry that impress me. But one thing I keep thinking about, is how motivated she was to begin and complete this on her own. After some serious health challenges in the past few years, she is feeling much better and wakes up every day thanking Heavenly Father for the gift of a new day. She says, "I have been so blessed and I want to spend my time giving back."
I find it's easy to get caught up in a service project with a group of people, but to see a need and then act upon it, by yourself, is something all together different. How many times have you thought, "well there must be something I can do that will make a difference," and then quickly dismissed the idea, because it seemed too hard, too inconvenient, too big to do by yourself? I know I have done this more than once. Mom has reminded me that one person can do so much good, one little dress at a time. Personal ministries, we all can have one (or more), and wouldn't the world be a better place if we did? Maybe we won't be sewing dresses for little girls, like mom has done, but surely there is something we feel led to do that would make a difference. I'm already beginning to think of some things that might work for me. One thing I'm definitely going to be doing is shopping for shirts and fabric, at yard sales and thrift shops, because Mom has plans to make more dresses by her next birthday. It wouldn't be fair for me to reveal her goal, but I will say it's lofty! Thank you mom, for inspiring me, to seek out new ways to serve. I once heard someone say, "a need seen, is an assignment given." As disciples of Christ, our eyes should be open to the needs around us, and with prayerful questioning, I believe the assignments, as well as the means to accomplish them will be made evident in our lives.
