Sewing and Reaping

One of my callings at church is to be in charge of Activity Days for girls ages 8 to 11. My favorite thing about that is two of my daughters are in that age which means I get to orchestrate an activity twice a month that will involve and benefit them. Recently we have been working on sewing aprons for the girls and so far this has been my favorite project.

We started the activity by gathering at the table and talking about people they like or admire. I had them list the qualities they like in that person. Then we talked about how we could pattern our lives after the people we admire, especially after the Lord. We talked about patterns and how we use them to create a similar model of the original but how even though some things are the same we can still be unique and original. Then I had the girls cut out a pattern of an apron onto newspaper, including a pocket. Case in point on the originality theory: Melody insisted her pocket be a triangle instead of a rectangle like everyone else's. My niece, Mykaela, joined us. She is my go-to-girl for all things crafty.I never know how the activity will affect the girls. And I never know how many girls I will have come to each one. We have about ten girls in our group but for the past few months it has been my girls and one or two others. For awhile I was feeling disappointed that more weren't showing up for the activities. Afterall, I was putting a lot of thought and preparation into all of them and just having my own two daughters there seemed like somewhat of a letdown. In fact, on the day we began the aprons when it was just my girls and their cousin who were there I thought for a moment that I would just cancel the activity. But the excited look on my girls' faces compelled me to follow through. And what a mistake it would have been not to go forward. The girls loved it but I think I reaped the most from our activity that day.

Melody, my moody and emotional child, was all smiles and adoration as she was cutting out her apron. "I'm so lucky to have a mom like you!" She exclaimed several times. "I'm so glad to have a mom that loves me!" She was purely giddy the entire time.

And was she proud! She was so thankful and happy with her finished apron. There was no complaining that night when it was time for her to wash the dishes. She was kind and helpful as she helped me in the kitchen. In fact, for the rest of the night she went out of her way to hug me and showered me with a thousand "I love you"s. So we may not have had many girls show up to the activity that day, but it didn't matter to me anymore. Because the ones who mattered the most to me were there. Who would have thought that the simple activity of sewing an apron would reap such a happy little girl and a very grateful mom?