ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
My special thanks to…
• Justin McMinn, for your marketing wisdom and internet expertise which has made the promotion of this book a joy and blessing for our family.
• Zane McMinn, for your artistic talents that produced the cover design, and your helpful critique during the final editing phase.
• Annie Sechrist, for your professional editing talents in preparing my manuscript for publisher review.
• Gabriella Stanton, for your skillful knitting of the cover design textile.
• Kevin Swanson, for your friendship, inspiration, pastoral care, and efforts in helping me achieve my goal of publishing this book. Moreover, my heartfelt thanks for your decade long friendship with my husband, exhorting him to become the man he indeed became.
DEDICATIONS:
To my beloved husband Cary. The good and gracious Lord picked us up out of the pit of sin and gave us a 28-year ride that was over-the-top, with no regrets. I know you are waiting for me on Heaven’s beach. Thank you for the legacy we shared of serving the Lord together – with all our heart, mind, and soul. Our family is eternally grateful that you showed us by example to do everything, or do nothing at all.
To my precious children. Without you this book would not be possible, nor my life so enriched as to have a story worth telling. You make me, and made Dad, so very pleased, both in how you use your God-given talents to make the lives of others better, and in your ability to work hard while getting joy out of life. I pray daily that you will keep serving and seeking the one true Lord God all your days, for I know that this one thing more than any other will bring you blessing beyond measure. I long to see you soar on wings of eagles as you embark on the individual journeys that our Lord, the Creator of the Universe who numbers each of our days, has in store for every one of you.
To my wonderful parents. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for not only giving me life, but teaching me how to live it. I thank you also for correcting and forgiving me when I was a brat, and a rebel, and for never giving up on me. You trained me up in the way I should go, and though I wandered far, I did not depart from it. You have blessed and inspired me through the years, showing me by your own incredible example how to work hard, never give up, and take the ups with the downs. Dad, your love of fishing, and Mom, your skills and enjoyment in cooking, gardening, and sewing were passed on to me and are the great hobbies of my life. I am forever indebted to you for teaching me to work hard at what I love, spend as much time with my family as I can, and follow Christ through it all. Finally, thank you for being with me during the lives and the deaths of those I held closest.
PREFACE:
…Highly regarded thinkers have described human lives as a tapestry, each of us with an assortment of flaws, colors, and patterns woven into the eventually finished piece. I like to think of my extended family and our life journey together as a creative work of knit. Our Master’s hands stretch us beyond our own ability, and often beyond belief, but we are never rent beyond usefulness. Our lives knit together are better, stronger, and more colorful than we ever imagined ourselves as an individual, small segment. As He continues to knit our unified design into something larger than ourselves, ever adding a greater variety of stitch types, colors, and fibers, we become a one-of-a-kind creation. Knit together, we are an enduring legacy which only He can envision – the perfect work of His hands. During the process we are stretched, yet unbroken….