It's been over a month since my last post. My dear Father-in-Love passed away April 28th, 2017. I kept thinking I'd post a tribute, but haven't been able to. This year has been one awful disaster after another. I was tempted to ask, "Lord, what else could possibly go wrong?" A dear friend of mine stopped me. Her husband was recently diagnosed with heart failure. Here I am with my wonderful husband and our healthy children. Papa Fogleman had been in the nursing home for 9 years, after us caring for him at home for 9 years. Eighteen years of dementia. We are so glad his Mansion was finally finished and ready for him! ...but are still so sad to not have his hand to hold or smiling cheek to kiss anymore... Bittersweet.
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Families are like quilts,
lives pieced together,
stitched with smiles and tears,
colored with memory,
and bound by love.
~ Author Unknown
I've been taken back in time over and over again. How did my Great-grandparents make it through the Dust Bowl? It was only a year or so ago that Papa was crying because in his mind a baby had just died from dust pneumonia. He was just a child at the time when it happened. I look at my boys and see how the devastation has affected them. Trying to be brave, yet hurting inside just as much as any of us.
On top of all this, the part of the family I came from unraveled from it's torn and tattered seams. Abuse cropped up again. Every day I'm more and more thankful for the family God has given me in my adult life. Papa Fogleman, Paul's dear mother, and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins have shown me what real family is supposed to be.
Our precious Savior was even cut, torn, ripped, and pierced. Then God took the pieces and stitched together a beautiful blanket of love. Each family is like a quilt block. Some are haphazardly hanging in, some pieces have sadly jumped into the garbage. Some are waiting in the scrap pile. I've learned in my quilting, especially paper piecing, that nearly every little scrap can find a use. What would a puppy or kitty block look like without that little black scrap for a nose? EVERYONE has a place in God's Kingdom. Don't wait too long to join. The Divine Quilter is waiting to stitch you into the perfect spot.
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