Leah Becomes "Little Leah"

When I made this doll, I had no idea that one day soon I would meet a wonderful lady named Leah and I would give her my doll to take home to India with her.

Leah and her friend Dolly (I just now noticed the “coincidence” as I was writing this.) went to India when they were both in their early 20s to spend at least three years doing missionary work. They planned to come home after three years, but God had different plans for them. They founded the Kulpahar Kids' Home and have raised hundreds of children. They also built a school and a hospital. Leah is almost 90 years old now and is still in charge. Dolly is buried in their little cemetery by their church which is also on their compound. When we (my husband and I) were there in 1999, Leah showed us the spot next to Dolly where she will be buried.

I first met Leah when she came home shortly after we came to Phoenix in 1989. At that time the church we came to had been her Living Link sponsorer for almost 50 years. After that, we got to see Leah every three years when she came back to the U.S.A. for a visit. The last time she was here was over two years ago. Each time she came home, we would think “This will probably be her last time to come back.” I don’t know if she will be back again but I wouldn’t be surprised. When she celebrated her 80th birthday, she asked God for 10 more years.

When I gave Leah to Leah, she said, “I’ll call her ‘Little Leah’”. She sent this picture to me of her and Little Leah right after she got back to India. “Little Leah” has been in India a long time now. When I saw her there in 1999, she looked right at home.

Here is the website for the Kulpahar Kids' Home:
http://kulpaharkidshome-school.wmww.org/index.html
This is another “miracle”. They didn’t even have electricity when they first went there.

This is Leah

This is Leah - the doll with the sailor dress on. After I took this picture, I thought she still needed something. Yes, that's it. She needs glasses. So I bought her some glasses. There, isn't that better? I also bought Joy a pair of glasses.




Leah lived in my doll room for a few years but has lived in Kulpahar, India, for about the last 17 years. Tune in tomorrow for the "rest of the story".

Best Friends

Today I want to introduce you to my two oldest and “bestest” friends. Of course my first oldest and bestest friend is my husband. We first met in 1948 when I was 11 and he was 13.

Irene has been my friend since I was in the 6th grade. She was a little over a year older than I was. I first met Dorothy when I moved to Oklahoma in the 9th grade, and we became good friends. She was a year younger than I was. I have kept in touch with both of these friends all of these years. Irene was my friend in California, but now lives in Oregon. She spent most of the years in between in Brazil where she and her husband were missionaries. Dorothy left Oklahoma and lived in Arizona for several years, but now lives in Tennessee.

This picture was taken in 1954 in Oklahoma when my California friend (Irene) rode the bus to see me and attend my high school graduation. I’m so happy to have a picture of me with both of these friends.

We are all in our 70s now. I may or may not ever see these two friends again in this lifetime, but I sure expect to reunite with them and be best friends throughout eternity.

P.S. How about those hats (we also wore gloves). Can you imagine teenagers dressing like this today?

Meet Opal Flutterglimmer

Who is Opal Flutterglimmer? She's a fairy I created at http://www.disneyfairies.com/pixiehollow/12371FlutterbyForest
It's easy to do, and I think it's a lot of fun. This is a Disney thing (and it's free of course). This probably was created for kids, but like Disneyland, I think adults appreciate it more. Like blogging and video games, it can be somewhat addictive so beware. If you decide to make your own fairy, you won't make just one.

A Rainy Sunday Afternoon

What does one do on a rare rainy Sunday afternoon in Arizona? Why blog, of course. My dear husband is watching the Suns play the Bulls. I'll go join him in a while. I like basketball and I especially like the Suns. He wrote his blog this morning before we went to church. He has been blogging for a couple of years now and enjoys it almost as much as I do.

We had a guest preacher at church this morning - Darrell Bock who is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. He has written a lot of books including Breaking the Da Vinci Code. He had an interesting message, but I missed Jamie. Jamie will be back next Sunday.

Better go watch the game now and think about what I'll write about tomorrow. I tend to get hooked on whatever projects I'm doing. Before blogging, it was making DVDs. Wonder what will be next? I think this blogging may last awhile. I'm having so much fun.
Have a great day and a great week!

TAGGED

After being tagged by Ginger, I tagged Nannykim, but Nannykim had just recently already been tagged. So, I looked at other blogs, and it seems like just about everyone has recently been tagged. Since I couldn't decide on anyone else to tag, if you're reading this, and you haven't been tagged in a while, consider this as your tag. You're the lucky one.

I'VE BEEN TAGGED

Ginger at http://enchantingcottage.blogspot.com/ has tagged me to tell 15 reasons it's good to be me. Here are the first 15 that came to mind.

1. I’m a child of God
2. I have a wonderful husband
3. I have two precious children who are both faithful Christians
4. I had parents who gave me unconditional love
5. I’m pretty healthy for 71
6. I have a nice home
7. My husband vacuums and mops our house
8. I have a nice car to drive
9. I have many wonderful Christian friends
10. I have had the opportunity to travel to many other countries.
11. I’m an American citizen and live in the best country in the world.
12. I get to see my kids often as they live close by
13. My husband is a “bookaholic” and I have plenty of good books to read
14. I had the opportunity to learn quite a bit about computers while I was a church secretary.
15. I still have one knee that doesn’t hurt and I can still get around (slowly)

I think I'll tag Nannykim. I chose her because she was the first one to comment on my blog and has been one of the most consistent to visit. How about it, Nannykim? http://nannykim-nannykim.blogspot.com/

Show & Tell

Today I want to share these pictures of a dress my mother crocheted for me when I was in the fourth grade. There was a girl in my class that wore crocheted dresses to school. I thought they were so pretty. I was especially impressed because this girl, Sharon was her name, and I were both vying for the attention of a cute boy in the class. His name was Charles. My mother, bless her heart, told me she would make me a crocheted dress, and she did. I thought mine was prettier than any of Sharon's. The dress has been hanging on the wall in my doll room for the past 18 years. After I outgrew the dress my mother sent it to my aunt in Oklahoma for her girls to wear. After they outgrew it, they sent it back and I ended up with it. I'm so glad I still have it.

Serendipity

I had a "serendipity moment" last week when my husband and I drove out to Cave Creek looking for a new kitchen store called Epicurean Palette. We finally found it, but before we found that store, we ran across another one in Carefree which runs right into Cave Creek. This store was called English Rose Tea Room. I was glad I had my camera with me to take pictures. I bought a coffee pot night light at this darling little shop. The Epicurean Palette was a nice store, but I like Sur la Table, which is similar, much better.

ANOTHER DAY

Well, the knee injection went much better than I had anticipated. (I decided to call it an injection. That doesn't sound as bad as "shot".) Now I have four more injections to go, one a week for four weeks. The doctor said I might not get any pain relief until I have gotten all four of them. He said it helps 80% of the time. Sure hope and pray I'm not one of the 20%. I am thankful for all of you that are praying for me.

Today I want to talk a little about making doll clothes and shoes.

I searched around in my doll room closet and came up with a shoebox size plastic box that I had stored extra doll shoes in. I bought patterns for the shoes and bought remnants of leather from a store that sold leather. The remnants were not very expensive. Making shoes was not hard, but it was a little tedious, especially the smaller ones.

Making clothes was really fun. Here is a picture of some of the patterns. Collecting lace, small buttons and buckles, etc. was fun too. A lot of the stuff I bought at doll shows. They had some wonderful doll shows in California where they sold all kinds of stuff for making dolls and, of course, they sold dolls too. There were also some stores that stocked a limited supply of doll making stuff.

A Shot in the Knee

A shot in the knee - that's what I have to look forward to today. I'm scheduled to get the first of five shots in my right knee that hopefully will make the pain better. When I had arthroscopy surgery on it in November I thought that would solve the problem. It didn't. Now the shots will start. If that doesn't work, knee replacement is the next option. Ouch. I don't want that. What happened to my knee you may wonder. It was fine until I slipped on the top step getting into our pool and twisted it really bad way back in July. Don't ever try to enter a pool with flip flops on. It's extremely dangerous. I'll never do it again - but once is all it takes. Prayers would be greatly appreciated.

One bright spot for the day. My sweet hubby is fixing dinner and our daughter is stopping by to eat with us. Tomorrow is another day. I promise my blog will be more interesting.

My Dad's Birthday

Today is Martin Luther King Day. For me it is my Dad's birthday. He would be 95 years old today if he was still alive. He passed away over nine years ago. Today I want to remember him by posting this picture of him and me taken when I was about eight years old. I have tons of pictures but very few of the two of us together. This one is my favorite. In my baby book my mother wrote that some of my first words were "Daddy's Palsy Walsy", "Friends to the end" and "Friends togetter"(together). She said these were said by me to my daddy. I miss him today.

This picture must have been taken on a day I went to tap dancing class because I have my tap shoes on. I loved those shoes. Come to think of it, I love shoes - period.