Doll Quilts

I don't usually post a lot of photo's just because I don't have time to deal with that but I copied this from another blog.  I just love this photo.  It is a doll quilt.  This blogger lives somewhere near us well in the same state that we do and I hope to meet her some day.  The reason that I am posting this is she said something that got me to thinking.  This is a doll quilt.  She used many tiny pieces of fabric that she just couldn't part with.  And, we have lots of small pieces of fabric so I thought yes we can make doll quilts. But what I really got to thinking about is that most of the girls that we work with never got to have a doll quilt.  You might hear about the work that we do.  You might hear that we work with girls that are in "jail".  They actually are not in jail they are in prison.  You might think why do you do this?  I remember telling someone almost a year ago about our plans to work with these kids.  This person was shocked.  I was shocked by the reaction.  This reaction came from a person that teaches Sunday School.  If you were to walk in one Friday morning (and I wish you would) you would never know that these girls are in prison.  Yes they are all dressed alike but schools have uniforms.  They dress in gray sweat pants and shirts.  You would never know that these girls are in prison.  They are incarcerated.  They currently live in a halfway house because they are nearing the end of their sentence.  They are soon to be released.  Some sooner than others. Many are released into homes that won't help them or support them.  Help them stay out of trouble.  Most of them are on parole when they are released.  Parole is not a "walk in the park".  Parole means checking in weekly with a parole officer.  In some cases the girls that go into independent living parole means the P.O. (parole officer) come by every night at 8:00 to make sure you are in your apartment.  Life in the outside when you are on parole is not normal life.  Parole means you cannot have friends in the neighborhood when you are in independent living.  Independent living is allowed for girls that are 18.  But if your not 18 you have to be released to an approved home.  Some kids don't have approved homes.  Maybe your reading this and your wondering about what approved means.  I really don't know what it means.  Because in my mind I cannot comprehend the fact that a home would not be approved.  Because in my mind home is centered around God.  Home is a place of "safe" and "security" but for these kids.  "Safe an Secure" is on the "inside".  The "inside" is locked up.  In prison.  This becomes safe.  I hope when you read this you see how sad it is.  How sad it is that girls feel safer locked up than they do in the "free world".  This is the reality of what we face.  We see everyday when we work with these kids.  This is the reality that the person that was shocked that we would work with this kids.  I feel sorry for anyone that has that attitude.  As much as I feel sorry for the kids.  I think I would have to feel more sorry for this person. Anyone that would not see the need to be a comfort to these kids that are so in need.  You might read this and wonder what does a doll quilt have to do with all this?  I would venture to guess that most of these girls never had a doll quilt.  Today one of the girls that is almost 18 years old checked out of our library a Barbie coloring book.  You see they are teenagers and young adults. But really they are just children.  At heart many of them are just like children.  Jesus said "Let the children come to me".  I pray today that because of the work of Mission Makeover and Auto Mission that the children will come to Him.