Warm feet, warm hearts

Yesterday I mentioned that Rina and I were busy with a project the whole of last week. 

We'd decided to knit slippers for the oldies in the retirement center. 

The knitting team

Rina demonstrates how to stitch the slippers together

The slippers; we crochet a length and thread it through the ankle and you have laces

It was a great time of camaraderie while we knitted the slippers: we had ten pairs to knit. Rina knitted five pairs while I knitted four (OK OK, so I knit very tightly and use thinner needles)  For the last pair, we only had one ball of wool left. So we decided to knit the pair together. With me on 4 mm needles (instead of 3.5 mm) and Rina on 3.25 mm instead of her 4 mm needles we ended with two almost identical slippers. 

Rina and I knitted the last pair from one ball of wool; I drew from the center and she from the start on the outside of the ball

We stuffed the slippers with cotton wool and placed them in individual packets

Once we'd tied the packets with gift ribbon, we added a Scripture pertaining to feet

There are five Afrikaans ladies and two English ladies in the oldies' center

We duly finished the slippers on Sunday evening. On Monday I phoned the center and asked permission for me and Rina to come and treat the oldies as they gather for lunch in the dining room. We arrived with our basket of slippers, took three pairs to the frail care center. The sister on duty said she'd fit them onto the old ladies who are bedridden. 

Before we handed out the "surprise", I explained (paraphrasing the Psalm above) that the Lord keeps our footsteps firmly placed on a wide step and that with Him holding us, 

our feet won't stumble 

I explained this in Afrikaans and then in English

Rina handed out the gift slippers

Such a small gift but such appreciation from these dear sweet ladies

Hannie, a dear lady who came to Marquard in the early 60's as a young farmer's wife; moved away twenty years ago when she was widowed and has returned and retired in the MGO. She is MIL Pam's next-door-neighbor

We walked back to MIL's room with her where Rina tried on her slippers for her

Then she did a little jig to show how pleased she was with her slippers

Two of the ladies (one being Pienkie) didn't go to the dining room today, so we delivered their gifts to them personally. A great surprise for these two dear oldies as well.

I'm linking my post to Our World Tuesday here