My Grandma

 

 My Grandma at about the age of 18 with a part of her

quilt in the background

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." Psalms 116:15

 On the 15th of June, my Grandma went from labor to reward, five years ago. On the way to son's baseball game, my daughter and I passed a small yard with a garden in the back of the house. My mind instantly thought about the summers I spent with my grandparents. My parents worked so, my Grandma would watch me. I can remember my Grandpa telling me or my cousin to go out and pick some red tomatoes from their backyard garden- this was big to us because we lived in the city. He would wash them off and go sit on the screened in front porch, with a salt shaker and eat them or my Grandma would pick some cucumbers and soak them in vinegar for later on in the day. Sometimes we would sit on the porch with a brown paper bag and Grandma would show me how to pick greens or get peas out of a pod. My favorite thing to do was to run through my Grandma's freshly washed sheets that she would hang out to dry. I loved how they smelled. Today, I was washing my face and the scent of the wash cloth transported me back to those days. It smelled so much like those sheets! My Grandma would see me running through them and attempt to tell me to get out of them and then she would laugh. I have heard my entire life that I look like my Grandma. I never saw it. My mom found the picture above of her at a relatives house after Grandma was gone to be with the Lord. When I saw it for the first time, I thought I was looking in the mirror! It is now my FAVORITE picture of her. So when I really miss her, I just go look in the mirror and smile and realize she still lives on.

I miss my Grandma and it is so hard to type this and not cry. Then I thought about the blessed hope we have in Jesus.  She's not dead- but asleep!

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 

I Thessalonians 4:14-18

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

Romans 8:11

For the month of February I decided we should cover Black History. I went to the library and borrowed some books as usual. I was looking for a particular book called "Sweet Sarah and the Freedom Quilt". In this story Clara has a quilt that is really a map of the Underground Railroad. Each patch represents a part of the escape route. I thought that would be pretty neat to cover since we have two quilts in the house that my 85 year old great aunt had made. I noticed next to that book was another one and I basically grabbed it because it looked like it would go along with the lesson. It stayed on my shelf for about two weeks until I took it down to read it to the children. The name of this book was "The Patchwork Quilt" as I read the book it became very interesting. I found out later it was the children's version of the book "Hidden In Plain View". The adult version talked of the secret slave codes that were hidden in quilts during slavery.

The quilts were to look as if they were airing out, but it was a message to the other slaves. As I looked at the patterns, one looked strangely familiar.

As I began to look further into the two books, I was very surprised to discover that pattern in the book was the pattern on one of the quilts my great aunt had made!  It is called the Dresden Wheel- it was used to alert other slaves that the one who hung it out to "air" were about to make a journey on the Underground Railroad and their help would be needed to gather extra food and supplies and a cover for them to make this journey.

The Dresden Wheel was from a pattern for china made in Germany. And it also represented Dresden, Ohio- a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The beautiful part of my story is that my Grandmother passed away 3 years ago on a hot day on June 15th. She had her front door and back door opened as if she were hot, but she had that Dresden Quilt over her. We believe she was letting us know that she was about to take her journey from earth to glory and she was ready to go.

 

The Underground Railroad Quilt Code Patterns
	Monkey Wrench Prepare the tools you’ll need for the long journey, including the mental and spiritual tools. Or (as a Ship’s Wheel), the pilot is prepared to begin the transport.
	Wagon WheelLoad the wagon or prepare to board the wagon to begin the escape.
	Bear’s Paw Take a mountain trail, out of view. Follow the path made by bear tracks; they can lead you to water and food.
	Crossroads Refers to Cleveland, Ohio, a destination offering several routes to freedom. It also signifies reaching a point where a person’s life will change, so one must be willing to go on.
	Log Cabin A secret symbol that could be drawn on the ground indicating that a person is safe to talk to. It also advises seeking shelter
	Shoofly Possibly identifies a friendly guide who is nearby and can help.
	BowtieDress in a disguise, or put on a change of clothes.
	Flying Geese Points to a direction to follow, such as where geese would fly during spring migration.
	Drunkard’s Path Create a zig-zag path, do not walk in a straight line, to avoid pursuers in this area.
	Star Follow the North Star. Worked in conjunction with the popular song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” a reference to the Big Dipper constellation.

 

The above was taken from & includes instructions of how to make

your own Freedom Quilt:

 

Here are some websites I used for info and they have many different links:

http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/Socialstd/grade5/Sweet_Clara.html