“God Gave Me a Job to Do…Make Blankets…”
Clara Hills has a new lease on her life that most thought was almost over. She credits her renewed vigor and determination to The Luke Commission.
Clara crochets afghans as fast as her minutes allow. Clara spends her days in a wheelchair, because she does not have enough lung capacity to walk and to take breaths at the same time. She lives in one room in a small health care facility in Sandpoint, Idaho.
That room closes in somewhat when Clara’s one closet overflows with handmade blankets for babies and mothers in Swaziland. Friends transport the blankets to TLC shop and storage building in Sagle, and then Clara picks up her crocheting pace and packs her closet again.
“I thought my life was almost over a year ago. My doctor had prepared me,” she said. “But then God gave me a job to do – make blankets for The Luke Commission – and I’m still here.”
Clara jokes that as long as she has a pile of yarn in the corner of her room, God will let her live to use up the yarn. So what happens? Her friends and friends-of friends keep taking her more yarn.
She prefers “baby yarn” but will incorporate other yarns. More than 100 blankets have been given out in Swaziland, and many more remain to be transported.
A prized, framed photo in her room is of the VanderWal family. “Whenever I finish another blanket, I hold it up and say to the picture ‘Here’s another one for you, my dears,’” said Clara.
And another one for the precious Swazi babies, just waiting to be swaddled…
(by Janet Tuinstra)
P.S. Early in the morning Jan. 5, 2010, Clara Hills died. In late October, Clara asked God to give her enough time to crochet 100 blankets for the Swazi babies. "I think I can have the blankets done by the end of the year," she told a friend. Clara was well on her way toward her goal, when Jesus decided He had even a better plan: "Come up yonder, dear one."
“God Gave Me a Job to Do…Make Blankets…”
Clara Hills has a new lease on her life that most thought was almost over. She credits her renewed vigor and determination to The Luke Commission.
Clara crochets afghans as fast as her minutes allow. Clara spends her days in a wheelchair, because she does not have enough lung capacity to walk and to take breaths at the same time. She lives in one room in a small health care facility in Sandpoint, Idaho.
That room closes in somewhat when Clara’s one closet overflows with handmade blankets for babies and mothers in Swaziland. Friends transport the blankets to TLC shop and storage building in Sagle, and then Clara picks up her crocheting pace and packs her closet again.
“I thought my life was almost over a year ago. My doctor had prepared me,” she said. “But then God gave me a job to do – make blankets for The Luke Commission – and I’m still here.”
Clara jokes that as long as she has a pile of yarn in the corner of her room, God will let her live to use up the yarn. So what happens? Her friends and friends-of friends keep taking her more yarn.
She prefers “baby yarn” but will incorporate other yarns. More than 100 blankets have been given out in Swaziland, and many more remain to be transported.
A prized, framed photo in her room is of the VanderWal family. “Whenever I finish another blanket, I hold it up and say to the picture ‘Here’s another one for you, my dears,’” said Clara.
And another one for the precious Swazi babies, just waiting to be swaddled…
(by Janet Tuinstra)
P.S. Early in the morning Jan. 5, 2010, Clara Hills died. In late October, Clara asked God to give her enough time to crochet 100 blankets for the Swazi babies. "I think I can have the blankets done by the end of the year," she told a friend. Clara was well on her way toward her goal, when Jesus decided He had even a better plan: "Come up yonder, dear one."