i expected that it would not be nice once the cast came off and i was right. i have very slim and weak wrists to begin with and he thought at first that i had muscular atrophy from the cast but in comparing it with my other wrist he saw that they were the same:) but lots of dead skin and alot of bruising still after 7 weeks in the cast. i can't lift my wrist at all even with help because of the stiffness and swelling. i take some anti-inflamatories and put a hot pack on before i start my exercises but it hurts really bad, bad. i'm a big baby too. thomas said it was horrific when he tore his ACL and did the therapy. his attitude is "no pain . . . no gain." he heard the doctor tell me that if i didn't work hard i would not regain the motion in the wrist so it is basically up to me:( uuuuggggg.
so . . . looking at a few weeks of pain and i know it will be months until i am back to my old self in terms of useage. here are a few pics:)
once we have our A-21 project running smoothly we will work on the 45 quilts for the orphanage children in plagiari. they will be a bit bigger than a baby size. our good friend marissa, from mexico, has sent some lovely colors to use as bindings for our baby quilts . . . yummy:) and we will need to complete about 50 lap sized quilts for the nursing home. those we will just keep working on each week. we already have several lap quilts cut and sewn together though.
the women's world day of prayer in athens, thessaloniki, and voldos will be displaying some of our quilts on march 3 and 4. these will help those who are making donations to our ministry understand what we are doing. i will post some pictures of that when we get them.
lastly, we have two other exciting projects underway. the first is with the benjamin house orphan society in katarini. the orphanage in katarini was so excited about our donations at christmas that we have had some other discussions about how quilting might help the widows there to use quilting to generate an income that would help them support their orphaned children. we will be cutting 3 kits as pilots and one of our quilters in the area will teach the women how to sew them together. we will add the batting and quilt the tops in our studio and once returned they will begin to market them in katarini by putting them in shops for sale. if this works and there is an interest, the women there may try to raise the money to buy a machine and frame to quilt their own work. it will be very exciting to see how the Lord blesses this effort. i see alot of potential for this idea. the benjamin house orphan society has earned alot of respect in the area for their support of orphans and perhaps if the community realizes that their purchases will actually support the widows there it will be a great way to generate the necessary funds for these families to make ends meet. the second project is with the salvation army here in thessaloniki. they are almost done with their rennovations of a building that will be used as a facility for prostitutes who want off the streets to gain skills that will qualify them for other job markets. part of their idea includes a quilting studio that will be used for making quilts to sell in a charity shop that the salvation army will develop. i will be helping them design the quilt studio which will include the machines and frame to do the quilting the same as in our own studio. these girls will learn computer skills including the use of quilt design software as well as marketing and business skills through the internet sales and charity shop management. we are hoping that this business will generate an income like that for the widows in katarini so that these girls can find a new life outside of prostitution.
soooo exciting . . . . all of it!! the theme for the women's world day of prayer this year is . . . how many loaves do you have??? think about it ladies, there is so much we can do with a needle and thread:) find out how you can love people and give them hope with your needle. join our team today!!