Sunday, September 13, 2009

Our 5th and final drop of the day

Tim's last request was very special. He wanted to take a prayer flag to a man in our neighborhood who is dying of cancer. He did not want me to take a photo this time, so I am leaving you with this special photo of Tim and his brother, John, taken the day he arrived home from Iraq.

4th Prayer Flag Drop

St. Francis Cemetery is one of our favorite places to go and skate, ride our bikes and visit. Tim and I have seen a coyote that "lives" there, and Tim found the skeleton to a cat it had for dinner! Aside from visiting those we don't know, we also have friends buried there. So of course Tim wanted to leave a prayer flag there. He wanted to leave it for Bear Coover (a friend of Johns) but we decided to leave it at the front doors of the mausoleum.

Third Prayer Flag Drop

Tim took Tori over to the greenbelt near Thomas and 48th Street for his next drop. There, he found a bench and decided to leave it for the next person to happen by.

Second Prayer Flag Drop

Tims second stop was at 24th Street and Campbell. He found a bench next to a very nice fountain. We didn't hide to see if anyone would pick it up because he was already thinking about his next drop.

Tim Makes His First Prayer Flag Drop!

Tim picked a bus stop at 16th Street and Highland because we were getting drinks at the QT. It wasn't an especially busy stop, but he was hopeful someone going to work or school in the morning would find it.

Prayer Flags Ready for Delivery

Tim put together five prayer flags. We decided to put them into a gallon ziplock bag. Each one contained one prayer flag with 4 panels, and a note from Tim that reads: "Hi, my name is Tim. This is a Thinking of You (t.o.y.) prayer flag! I picked this project because I think people who find them will be very happy and joyful!
Congratulations! You have found a special prayer flag made just for you. Hang it up and let the wind take your prayers to heaven. God Bless You!" We took what he wrote on his first blog post and shortened it, and added how to use the prayer flag. Tim did not want to mention his school or anything else, in case a "bad" person found it. I told him we would not put anything on the note, except for his first name. He's adorable.

Stringing a Prayer Flag

All we needed to help Tim string his flags was a big safety pin. It worked brilliantly- just tie the yarn to the end and work the pin through the top of each flag. It was important to make sure each flag had excess string at both ends so it could be hung up.

Sewing Buttons

I have to hand it to Tim, he really wanted to do his best to sew on the buttons. After he sewed several on, his sister, Tori, and I decided we would help, too. Here's his first prayer flag getting ready to be strung- with all their buttons on!

Prayer Flag Preparation Continues...

Tim has been anticipating his first "drop." However, he still needed to do some more prints. Saturday was spent making five completed prayer flags. We were suppose to go out and make the drops, but his brother was home and he wanted to spend it with him.