About Time!

I thought it was about time that I found the time to write again. TIME; a commodity which we all seem so short of these days, don't you agree?  My Dad used to say that we all find time to do the things we want to do and you know, he was right!

In my busy life of working, looking after grandchildren, elderly Mum, housework (now there's something to waste time on.................who cares if there is a little dust around??!!), I can still find the time to work on my love of crafts.  After all, that great man, Martin Luther King Jr did say that "We must use time creatively!" Perhaps he didn't exactly mean that I must use my time knitting, crocheting etc but I do strive to use my time creatively in one way or another.

I spend time thinking up creative ways of raising money to look after our children in Romania; at present my creative juices are flowing by producing things to sell at our "Coffee, Cakes & Crafts" morning to be held on Saturday 12 April.  In a previous post I told you all about the chickens I and my friends are producing for sale - at this present time we have produced 150 and demand would appear to be great this year so we are still using up every spare minute knitting more; here are a few of them (I promised you a picture of them!): 

Today I met up with two supporters, Ann & Elsie from Consett, Co Durham who filled my van with lovingly knitted items for the children in Romania; a great deal of time had been spent on the blankets, jumpers, cardigans, hats, toys etc by a number of ladies who had lovingly given up their time to help clothe needy children in another country.  Nelson Mandela said "We must use time wisely  and forever realise that the time is always ripe to do right" - I reckon that the ladies of Consett had used their time wisely and found the time ripe to do right.  Thank you ladies!

Incidentally, whilst my husband Pete drove the van today I used the time travelling to knit six flower brooches and three chickens; all for sale on 12 April!

Time is precious, don't waste it!

Jane x

Friendship

A few nights ago, a friend who I hadn't seen for almost three years (we had kept in touch via email mainly during this time) phoned me to ask if I would be in the next day as she would like to call and see me.  I was and she did and we had a great time catching up on our respective news.

This set me thinking about friendships in general.  What makes a good friendship?  There are different kinds of friendship; the friends you don't actually see very often but when you do see them it is just like you saw them the day before (like my recent visitor), there are childhood friends who you met perhaps at primary school / secondary school / college and have remained friends throughout all the different changes to your lives since then, there are new friends who you may have met through your work / church / at the pub / evening class or some such environment, there are friends who will stick by you through the good times and the bad,  then of course there are  the "fair weather" friends who are there for you when everything is going swimmingly but are nowhere to be seen in times of difficulty.

I think our friends are made up of a mixture of all of these different kinds of friends.  I know that I have friends from all of these quarters.

It is much the same with our charity; we have supporters (friends) who have been with us from the start and have stuck by us, supporting us through thick and thin, we have made new friends as the charity has grown who we have met whilst giving talks at different organisations, friends who have joined us when donating a shoebox to our 'Love in a Box' appeal or friends who have heard about our work and befriended us.  Sadly, we also have some "fair weather friends" too!

The children in our care need lots of friends, friends who will take the time to send them a card just to say hello or a card on their birthdays and at Christmas, friends who will help to raise the funds to look after them  They have, in their short lives, already met up with too many "fair weather friends" - they need the kind that will stick with them through thick and thin.  Why not introduce your friends to our children so that they can make new friends?