Tiny Blessings Woodlands Event

Back in the fall, Karlin and Jennifer made contact with a woman who lived in The Woodlands when they hosted a class at our church's women's retreat. She was impressed with our little ministry and invited us to an event at her church this past week to showcase, with other's, our ministry and the work we try to accomplish with Tiny Blessings. It was a great event and we were able to meet and make contact with several women who want to be a part of the work God has charged us with. Before the event started, we prayed for God to be glorified, for Him to use us to minister to the hearts of women there, and we prayed for a potential contact to be made with someone who may be able to start an extension of Tiny Blessings in The Woodlands. As we met several women, it was humbling to see their eagerness in finding out more about what we are doing. Many were interested in helping us and working with us in some capacity. I think we were all nervous, but enjoyed the time together. 

Arranging and sorting items the night before 

After dinner, the speaker of the evening, Teri Ussery, of Texas WMU, fueled our souls for continuing on and pressing forth in our ministry. She spoke about finding the cross section between your passion and your giftedness, and in that spot, you will find your calling. Jennifer, Karlin, and I (along with other's in Tiny Blessings) feel honored to have found that cross section combining crochet with ministering to families in our community. Apparently, our passion is clear, we were specifically spoken about as showing excitement and love for what we do. As we sat there fighting back tears, it did feel wonderful to know that our love is clear when we speak about crocheting (and sewing and knitting) to bless our families. 

 Some of our items that are ready to go

I believe we have over 150 hats, a handful of blankets, and several gowns

 Our set up

We randomly got assigned to sit at the Baylor decorated table.

I suspect there was a little money exchanged between Jennifer and the organizers.

However, Jennifer's college roomie was also assigned, randomly, to sit at our table too!

I think it is amazing to see our ministry work. I don't think that we thought, with our first drop off, that we would be able to fill the needs of our own hospital, much less watch our ministry grow and expand, much less be actively seeking people to start their own branches. I never would have been so bold as to ask God to find a person for us to make contact with a year ago and now it just feels right to be engaging and searching for ways to help Tiny Blessings touch more lives. We are also searching for ways to expand our own branch, in addition to being on the lookout for new friends to partner with us in prayer and in making items for our hospital, we are starting to look into possibly growing enough to begin fulfilling the needs of another hospital as well. We just had a conversation last week about how we name our Facebook page "tiny blessings Cypress" because "Tiny Blessings" was already taken. We never would have guessed that the distinction would become important as we rapidly began having other Tiny Blessings Ministries popping out in different parts of the state! We are starting to talk about goals with defined timelines, working on inventory, and setting up a potential meeting for anyone interested in the areas we are looking to expand into. It all seems so official and we can't help but marvel in God's hand in our projects. We started out as a group of mommies with a serious addiction to yarn that were looking for fellowship, plus a small desire to minister to the needs of others without compromising a ton of time to our families. Now there are needs pressed on us, calls to act that we try to answer, and a growing excitement to do more for these families we serve. 

I think we all hope for a few things- that we always answer God's calls for our ministry, that we grow in His name and for His glory, and that we remain grateful for our part in His work. Over and over again last week, people exclaimed how wonderful it was that we do this ministry. We tried to assure them that we are the ones who see wonder, we are the ones who are grateful to be called, and that we are blessed by our little ministry. 

We are so appreciative of everyone's support so far. Our hospital has some very real needs right now and we are working to fulfill those needs and to finish up our first round of hats to honor our Veterans and those currently serving for Memorial Day. Please pray for the families served by our ministry, they have had a rough go the past few months at the hospital, the nurses are hurting alongside the families and they are seeking many items from us. We will be sure to keep everyone updated in the coming months as many things come together.

A huge thank you, once again, to The Woodlands First Baptist for having us last week. You were a blessing to us.