83 Dresses Are Going to Africa: NOT KAREN!

45 pounds of dresses (83 individual, Karen cut-and-sewn dresses) are headed to South Africa!

While this morning's snapshot of Karen looks like she's going on a trip, she's not. However, the stuffed duffel bag is going all the way to South Africa. 

This story goes back twenty-three years from when Holger & Maria came through apprenticeship at MMS Aviation. They've served in South Africa ever since and are now focused on youth outreach in a in town and in nearby remote villages. Maria is a gifted potter and Holger, besides being a top-rated missionary aircraft mechanic, is also a very skilled artist in wood. Along with their musical skills, Holger and Maria use their artistic abilities and their love of Jesus to create transformational opportunities for youth in need. And one of the needs for the young ladies are quality sewn dresses. That's where Karen comes in. 

Holger and Maria

We've posted about Karen's sewing ministry before but this is the largest shipment of dresses yet. When Karen talked with Maria earlier in the year Maria was so excited and shared what a blessing new dresses would be for the girls. The challenge is how to get dresses from Graham, NC to Holger and Maria in South Africa when there isn't any reliable mail service between here and there. When there's no mail, missionaries usually rely on visitors coming over to personally deliver the goods in person, quite often as luggage. Hmm...who do we know with connections in South Africa?

The next part of the story goes back ten years when we arrived in North Carolina. I leased an office downtown and my "neighbor" in the office next door turned out to be a young man, Jensen, dating a young woman from South Africa, Mtende. Fast forward, Jensen and Mtende are now married and, even though we no longer share office space, we've remained in touch as friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Every couple of years Jensen and Mtende return to South Africa for Christmas. 

Jensen and Mtende

We had a duffle bag full of dresses that needed to get carried to South Africa and weren't sure how to get it there when God connected relational Kingdom dots (from 2013 and 1997 to today) as we connected Jensen and Mtende with Holger and Maria. Ta Da! The dresses are on their way to South Africa. 

What a crazy story. You can't make this stuff up. We'll post photos of the girls with the dresses after they've been distributed. THANK YOU you for being part of this story and we praise God for how He connects his people to accomplish his purposes in ways only He can do.

With me a surfer from Southern California and Karen a nurse from Pennsylvania. Go figure!

Packard Museum Dayton, OH--Part 2

 Here are the final shots to wrap up our visit to the Packard Museum.

Packard Museum: Dayton, OH--PART 1

One of our two stops in Dayton, Ohio was to visit the Packard Museum. The other was Carillion Park to see the Wright Brothers replica bicycle shop. It seems Henry Ford moved their real shop up to Michigan. Go figure. But...before we share Carillion Park, here's PART ONE of snapshots of classic Packard Automobiles.

PART TWO to follow!

Karen Walks With, Talks With, and Feeds the Animals

We made several stops along our road trip to California. One of which was Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. It's a small but well laid-out, up-close and personal zoo, wedged into the mountain side. Here are some photos of Karen enjoying the zoo!

Karen feeds a giraffe.

Karen feeds a "Budgie"

Karen feeds the goats.

Karen makes friends with and brushes the goats.

Karen feeds an elephant.

Karen has a meaningful conversation with a female gorilla. 

This gorilla selected Karen from the crowd, came over to sit next to her at the window, and then engaged Karen in eye-to-eye, hand-to-hand communication for about five minutes. 

All in all, it was a cool day at the "zoo with a view".

A look back at the giraffe enclosure.

Unfortunately, tickets to hand-feed and pet the alligators, lions, and bears weren't available while we were there.

Stay tuned for more Meandering Missionary Mystery Tour blogs and photos!

Salsa and Minor League Baseball Report: 2023

2023 was a big year for salsa production!

It was a big year for BIG tomatoes, too!

Our two new raised beds on the side of the house produced quite a crop this season, but then EVERYONE'S tomatoes in our part of Alamance County did very, very well. There were so many tomatoes throughout our neighborhood you couldn't give them away because everyone was giving them away. 

Every week for four weeks we enjoyed a Salsa Saturday.

The crop was so bountiful that my sister came out from AZ to help us process the last batches.

We often had more than one pot simmering at the same time.

Third and Fourth batch

Sixth and Seventh batch

All in all we cooked and canned 77 pints of salsa. And, if we hadn't had to leave in September on a road trip, we probably could have canned another 30 or 40 pints. We ended up pulling POUNDS of ripening tomatoes out of the ground because we were leaving town. 

But Wait, There's More!

Not only was it a fantastic salsa season but, Xavier, our baseball "son" had a career season in the Minor Leagues setting personal bests in nearly every batting stat category: games played, at bats, hits, runs scored, total bases, doubles, RBIs, and home runs!

Xavier's season started with the Birmingham Barons: AA (Chicago White Sox)

And finished with the Charlotte Knights: AAA (Chicago White Sox)

And that would be Charlotte, NORTH CAROLINA!

Thank you for being part of our lives, our marriage, and ministry.

Fabric to Dresses to Diapers, Oh My!

It has been such a joy for me to sew for missions when I have the opportunity. It's been more than a few years ago now that I sent a box of dresses to our missionary friends in South Africa. After those dresses were sent, a friend from church had some fabric and wanted to know if it might be good for dresses. It was indeed and I used it to make some very pretty dresses. However, with Covid and all it brought, there has been no way to get dresses to South Africa. So, I made those and had to set them aside thinking.... 'one day'. 

Well, 'one day' must have arrived because a couple of months ago I had a message from a local friend who was cleaning out a room in their church and found some fabric. She asked if I was interested in looking through them. Sure! Who knows what treasures there might be! It was a treasure alright.....three big boxes full! I was a bit overwhelmed and asked a sewing friend of mine to go through them with me and decide what was good for dresses and how others might be used. 

So I got to work figuring it must be time to send dresses again! Trusting God will work out the when and how to get them to South Africa where they are needed, I cut, made pockets, matched colors and sewed and trimmed with many fun fabrics, colors and prints. I am REALLY glad that God provided so many different fabrics to work with!!! Making so many dresses with the same fabric would be soooo NOT fun! But, as God provided, I enjoyed matching colors and prints of many different kinds such that very rarely are two dresses exactly alike. Since all of these dresses are going to the same community, it's nice that each girl will receive one that is unique, just as she is. I enjoy remembering as I sew that God already knows who will be wearing each individual dress that I'm working on and I can pray for that little girl.

Matching pockets to dresses.

Some finished dresses.

My sewing room exploding in color!

These colorful straps will be tied in bows over the shoulders of the girls who
God already knows will wear them.

My machine and I have been getting a good workout!

78 dresses are made and ready to go along with the diapers mentioned in a previous post. Please pray with me as we look for how God will provide to get them where they need to be. I have several leads I am following up on. It's exciting to see how God has brought numerous possibilities to mind that might work. It's a puzzle sometimes! Right now I'm working on a path of NC to PA to Germany to South Africa!!!! 

So, if you know of anyone flying to South Africa, I have an extra suitcase to send with them full of blessings God has for some little girls there!

Thank you for your part in allowing me to use the gifts God has given to me to serve others!

As for Keith.........

"You knew I was a material girl when you married me.😄"

 

Keith & Karen's Summer Newsletter

 

Fine Art?

 Well, I'm not sure if it's "fine art" but the following hangar shots are more "industrial" than people-ish.

   Engine Case Shavings

Drill Press

Nuts and Bolts and Stuff

Engine Case Detail

   New Wing Flap Skin

Cleco Kit

Ratchet

Control Holes and Wires