Handmade Hearts 4 Hope

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know how I feel about my wife. She is a saint, my rock, my best friend, and one of the greatest moms ever to walk this planet. She is incredibly caring and compassionate, and always looks for ways to help others or just make them feel better. She also knits.

My wife's knitting is the centerpiece of much of her goodwill. Among the organizations she regularly donates knitted items to are afghans for Afghans and Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation, both of which have received countless blankets, hats, scarves, and mittens from my wife over the years. In addition, many babies and chemotherapy patients have been the beneficiaries of hats made by my wife, each one made with loads of kindness and love.

For the last few years, she has also been knitting hearts. They are small, colorful hearts, filled with soft stuffing. They fit in your hand and feel nice and comforting. My wife knits these hearts for people who are going through difficult times. People who are sick, have a child who is struggling, or are just experiencing a bumpy period in their life; they've all been recipients of my wife's hearts.

Most of the hearts my wife has given away have gone to people she knows. But today she decided to expand the "program" by creating a Facebook page called Handmade Hearts 4 Hope. The idea behind this page is to give away at least one hand-knit heart per week to someone who's having a tough go of it.

My wife is still working out the details, but she's thinking she'll post a photo of a heart on the page, then have people comment on the photo if they are interested in receiving that particular heart. The "winner" will then be chosen in a random drawing.

The kindness and compassion that my wife exudes is contagious. I know that being around her for as long as I have has changed me for the better. I also know that her good qualities have rubbed off on our children, too. Now maybe the rest of the world will get a chance to experience her big heart as well. In miniature form.

"One love, one heart, one destiny." --Bob Marley

Some samples of my wife's Handmade Hearts 4 Hope.