every girl needs a pretty dress...

Grace's second grade teacher last year, Ms. Walstra, is a wonderful soul with a heart for children everywhere - her classes in MN, and also those in a orphanage in Liberia.  She taught at this orphanage for a couple years, and now goes back every summer with groups to check up on all the kids, give them a lot of love, and also do some training for the teachers.  We had a ladies' night last year where she came to talk about her trips to Liberia and the work that God is doing there.  It was an inspiring night.  And of course we asked about how we could help.  She takes a lot of things over each summer for the kids, and takes donations to help buy soccer balls and supplies for that, but she also wanted to take some things over to help her kids do a service project.  She has been working on teaching them to have a servant's heart, not just to accept hand outs.  So a group of them were going to travel to another village and orphanage and run a VBS program for them and bring them something.  That night Ms. Walstra held up an adorable "pillowcase dress" and said she was hoping to get enough of these type of dresses to take over to give to the girls in this other village.  So she asked if we knew how to sew or anyone else she would love to have these made and donated.

I thought that was a great idea, but it was getting towards the end of the year and I didn't want to bother as we were pretty busy.  I know how to sew (thank you Mom and Grandma!!!!), but don't have enough time to really enjoy it yet - it is a means to a project end for me right now.  So I bought some beautiful bracelets that she was selling as a fundraiser, donated money for a soccer ball, promised to lift her up in prayer, and went home filled with inspiration from her.

Later that week, I found a cute dress at a thrift store for Grace and picked it up.  I washed it and went to hang it in her closet and realized I didn't have any more hangers - she had a closet full of dresses already!  That is when I was struck with some conviction...my daughter did not need any more dresses, but there were some girls out there who did.

So I found a simple pattern online, bought supplies, and dug in.  Grace helped me with a lot of steps that she could, and was a prayer warrior for Ms. Walstra and the kids in Liberia.  It took a lot of prayer...to get me through, and also for the girls that they would go to.  I wanted to make as many as I could, so I did them assembly line style and this actually worked very well.

 

 

 

I finished just in time for Grace to bring them to Ms. Walstra on her last day of school, along with a card Grace made saying how Ms. Walstra was the BEST TEACHER EVER and how much she was going to miss her over the summer.  Total second grade girl cuteness.

Ms. Walstra later posted on her blog how they were hoping to get 50 dresses to take with, and they were blessed with that and more!  Please read her post as she talks so much more eloquently about her work in Liberia!

I was hesitant on this project, then convicted, and then overwhelmingly blessed and inspired by all of Ms. Walstra's and God's work in Liberia.  I also have to tell you about my mother-in-law.  Steve's mom loves to sew (I will get there someday Mom and Grandma!), and contacted Ms. Walstra to see if these dresses were something that she was looking to bring over each year.  It certainly was, so she started making dresses out of different scraps of fabric she had, some she bought, some even out of the curtain samples that hang at Target that they throw away after the curtains have all sold.  She took any fabric she could and made dresses.  She didn't just try to finish them like I did though, she made sure that each dress was individualized with different pockets or borders or ric rac on them so that each one was a bit different.  And every time she has come to visit over the past year she has another bag or box for Ms. Walstra.  Ms. Walstra was able to take a bonus trip in January and loved sharing the dresses with her girls this time too.  Look at these beautiful faces!!!

So very thankful for all the work that God is doing in Liberia through Ms. Walstra and many others!