Good Gracious, where do I begin? I have been thinking alot about another swap, and since being smitten with mittens of late, my thoughts were about doing a mitten swap this winter. In my mind, I've created the blog entry, the rules, the blog button. A mitten swap, because we all love mittens, right?
Then, at the end of last week, I had the opportunity to speak to an incredible man, who leads a church in Buffalo. His name is Pastor Angel Gauthier, and he has such a heart for the children in one of the worst areas of the city. These are children without parents, and if they have parents, most are crack addicts or prostitutes, or are in jail. Many of the children are being raised by other family members. Just last week, a teenaged boy from Pastor Angel's youth program was shot on the street. Pastor Angel calls his neighborhood the "shooting gallery." As I talked to him about the impact his ministry had in the community, with great delight he told me about the love for these kids, and how their ministry feeds them and loves on them, teaches them and provides for so many of their needs...How they bring their parents and the parents lives are changed because of the outreach of this church. He also expressed how the needs were so great. When I asked him what we could do , he told me how they needed another 15 seat van, clothing for the children, food, finances. And he said, "we simply need mittens for the children for Christmas."
"Mittens???? Pastor", I said, "I will get you mittens."
All of Thursday, my mind was spinning and my heart was full. As I shared my thoughts with a few other people with whom I work, the excitement grew. Tim, our graphics designer, has worked with me for the past few days to create a flyer. When I thought of the mittens that would be made or purchased, I imagined that it would be so neat to include a hang tag on each pair. Contemplating the expense of said hang tags,and realizing the expense would be beyond my budget, within minutes, Mark Aahrens, from Aahren's Graphics came into my office. I told him what I needed, and he said, "Whatever you need, it's yours."
So, today, I am launching a Mitten Collection. Not a Mitten Swap. Because there are 300 children whose hands are cold, and whose hearts need warming. And I am asking you to help.
If you can make mittens or buy a pair of mittens and would care to donate them to this amazing project, I promise you, these children, and Pastor Angel who leads them, will be blessed by having one of their smaller needs met. I urge you to share in this wonderful project. Grab a blog button, and link it to this page, so we can all share the love!
and then begin a "Heart to Hands" project of your own for next Christmas. You may email me for an address to which to mail your mittens and for any additional information.
I NEED MITTENS BY DECEMBER 10TH!
And you thought I was going to announce that we sold our house, didn't you?
And, we can still do a mitten swap, too.
and boxes of glass beads and balls, ropes of antique silver tinsel garland. I treasure each one of them, and it's not until they are all in place, a jumble of generations and eras, that they whisper Christmas. Each shiny bauble and 
tell a story of Christmas past, and I long to have been there to see with my own eyes the magnificent trees draped in special treasures. I have some ornaments from my own childhood...some from my mother's old collection, some from JR's grandmother ...and of course, the ornaments of my own children's school-aged creations. 
