Service

A couple of months ago I was asked to serve on a group with seven other women in our church. Due to health issues, another lady was unable to fulfill her term until the end of the year.

This group of ladies ministers to the homebound and widows, and is responsible for the church baby showers, bridal showers, and funeral dinner coordination. We are responsible for two or three of the homebound or widows on a three-month rotating basis, and we send a card, call, or visit, or any combination of those during that period of time.

Each spring we also have a luncheon for these ladies. Today was the day. We had an "apron" theme based on a kit that one of our members found at the library. We sang a song, had a couple of skits, and asked all the ladies to bring and wear one of their aprons. Almost every one of the 17 ladies did! We also asked them to share an apron story or memory, so some of them talked about the one they chose to wear. The laughter and fellowship that we shared was such a blessing.

This was the front of the room.

One of the ladies made "recipe bundles" for everyone to take home. It has five or six recipes that came from different ladies that were there from an older church cookbook.

A couple of us made aprons to give away as door prizes.

We told the lady who made the food for us that we were thinking about chicken salad on croissants and some fruit salad. She said she'd come up with some other things. It was all decorative and creative!

Fruit on skewers, but in watermelon halves (the bottoms were cut where they were flat and would sit without rolling).

Vegetable strip bundles. There were little pieces of plastic wrap so the pipe cleaner didn't touch the vegetables. The picture is not the best because the plastic cover is still on everything.

Potato salad boats. The little bread rolls were scooped out and the potato salad stuffed in. Who would have thought?

These were little lemon cakes that I think were store bought, but they were so yummy. I love lemon.

I kept popping these pecan tarts, which I've always called pecan tassies, into my mouth. Really, I think it was only three.

This is one of our ladies.

I told her a few months ago at church that she reminds me of my Grandma Wheeler, so if I ever call her that she'll know why. The kids and I are always saying, "There's Grandma Wheeler," or, "Grandma Wheeler just drove up," and stuff like that. She walks like my grandma used to, she's small like her, her smile is similar...everything. She's about 15 years younger, but here is the most recent picture I had handy, which means I could copy it off another post.

If nothing else, I'm curious to hear what my mom says the next time I talk to her.

Even though I was simply exhausted from yesterday, I had a wonderful day with these ladies. I loved to see them interact in a casual setting. I enjoyed watching which ones were the mother hens with the others. One lady had such a good time, I've never seen her smile so much and look so truly happy, and she was one of the ladies we didn't expect to be able to come because she's just been overcoming an illness.

By the way, the weather was beautiful outside today so they all enjoyed being able to get out (mid-60s for all of you in the hot South).

I'm going to leave you with this apron story I originally saw posted by my friend, Betsy.

The Apron
I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
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From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.
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Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
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In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
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It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.
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