Something Old, Something New, Something Baked, Something Blue

Something Old:
Over a year ago I was shopping and found fabric with a snowflake pattern, in Africa, so I bought some with the intention of making a wrap skirt. Finally, I have gotten around to actually doing it. Red and yellow are kinda strange colors for a snowflake theme, but then again, this is Congo.

Something New:
When I asked my oldest if there was anything special he wanted for Christmas, I told him to keep in mind that I can't just run to Walmart or the mall to buy things. He asked for "a sock monkey with a rasta hat." Ok. Sure. I happened to have the socks leftover from one of Emily's school projects. I begged yarn off my friends and went to work to make a monkey with dreadlocks. The rasta hat is made from a black sock and I stitched it with yarn to make the stripes. I hope I never have to make a sock doll with hair ever again, but I don't think this one turned out too bad. Hopefully Josh will like it. Don't tell him I posted this on my blog. He's been instructed not to look until after Christmas.

Something Baked:
I baked cookies this past week to contribute to gift bags for our national staff and decided to take the rest to the commercial center in my neighborhood, along with some tracts, and give them out. I invited my friend Myndii to come along and she made up a plate of cookies for the police station. (The police station is really a metal shipping container about the size of a short train boxcar, used as headquarters and office for a small group of police officers.) We took our wares down on Thursday and were greeted warmly by the police officer and his friends, who gave up their chairs and invited us to join them in conversation for a few minutes. We made sure to give treats to Papa Joseph, Mama Lily, Papa Kabuya, Titi and TonTon - people we conduct business with regularly, then passed out goodies to everyone we could until it was gone. Sadly, there were more people who wanted one of my gifts than I could have prepared for. Pray that the gospel tracts and the gestures of Christian love are well-received and that the seeds grow.

Something Blue:
I purchased some curtains from friends of ours who were leaving Kinshasa. David really liked the blue in the fabric, so after adding a strip to the bottom of one set to make them long enough, they were hung in our bedroom. I had a bunch of the matching fabric left over so for a Christmas gift I made a "toothbrush rug" for David. Don't tell him you saw this until after Christmas either. Now my kids want me to make rugs for them. It's so easy I think I might let them make their own. If you are interested in making your own, I learned how to do it using instructions from this website: toothbrush rugs.