{On the way to Joplin}

On May 22, 2011 an F5 tornado hit Joplin Missouri. A friend who lives in Joplin,  the pastor at Forest Park Baptist Church, spent time in a crawlspace under his house as the tornado passed through. After it was all over, more that 160 people had lost their lives and many others lost their homes and all their possessions.


After almost a year, there are still people who are trying to rebuild. Pastor John and the members of his church collect and distribute food, clothing, furniture and any other items necessary to help out those people in the community that have nowhere else to go. So many had no insurance and no means to replace the items lost.


Last Thursday, Pastor John posted a story on Facebook about a young family who was expecting a new baby on Easter Sunday. He put out a call to members of his church for a car seat since they had lost everything in the tornado and no means to purchase the necessary item. Many responded on Facebook that they either had one to donate or would take them shopping for one. The generosity of  the folks at Forest Park Baptist Church is truly inspiring. When you live 1000 miles away it's very hard to do something to help. Monetary donations can be sent and would be well used,  but I wanted to do something special for this family getting ready to welcome a little one. I contacted Pastor John and he let me know that they welcomed a baby girl into their family on April 6th, Good Friday. In today's mail is a box bound for Joplin, Missouri. Inside is a quilt for baby Ranezamae Lynn and one for her 8 year old sister Madison.

I'm hoping Madison and her baby sister can feel my arms around them when they are wrapped in these quilts.