Palm Sunday

Happy Palm Sunday everyone! In my pastor’s prolog to the pre-recorded service this morning, he included a video of his 2-year-old twins playing with palm branches — running around with them, dragging them on the ground, standing on them. It was adorable!

I wanted to tell you a little about what’s going on here. For one thing, spring has sprung! The desert is in bloom. I thought those of you in cooler climes might appreciate seeing this:

Cactus roses in our desert yard

I have been needing a haircut, but you can’t stay six feet away from your hairdresser usually, so I talked Mark into cutting my hair. I think he did a great job considering his lack of experience!

Me in front of the eucalyptus tree on Saturday

Saturday afternoon, Mark took me to Walmart to try to get the fabric to make masks for us. There were a number of women ahead of me and only one clerk at the cutting table, so it took the better part of an hour to get my fabric cut. In the meantime, several of us women were comparing notes and looking at what we were each getting. We would ask, “How are you going to make your mask?” “What are you using for the earpiece?” I like that fabric. Can I have that bolt when you’re finished getting your piece cut?” Several of us were sporting masks already. The woman behind me asked, “Did you make that mask?” and I told her that it was one Mark had bought for me, but that I planned to make some masks. The time standing there waiting was pleasant for all the camaraderie amongst us sewers.

Today after church, I began making masks. Here are some of the results:

Mark had bought some 4X T-shirts and cut them up and asked me to make kerchief masks for him. He looks like a ninja here!
These masks have filters in them. I used ponytail bands for my earpieces and shoelaces for his. I am using double-sided body tape to keep my glasses from fogging up when I breathe.

I know we are supposed to make them to donate to hospitals, but I wanted to try them first to learn from my mistakes. I first tried to sew the ponytail holders onto the ends of my mask by machine, but my machine couldn’t handle it so I had to rip everything out and do it by hand. For Marks, I folded the end of the mask over and sewed it down and then strung the shoestrings through. It ties at the back of his head. That was an idea I got from one of the women in line at Walmart.

If you can sew and want to try this, Mark got the pattern here: https://www.unitypoint.org/waterloo/article.aspx?id=95e9ad80-b02d-4379-bb09-3bee259be0b4.

The contrast between social distancing and Good Friday when Christ bridged the distance between us and God is what has been going through my mind today. It feels so odd to me to keep a distance between myself and others, and it just makes me aware of how wonderful it is that there is no distance between God and those who follow Jesus. Mull this over this Passion Week.

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