image from art.com

On Thursday this week I wrote a post about the Hedin family—you can read the original post by clicking right here.  It will take you to the post in a new window and then you can come right back if you missed it.  In a nutshell, Tom, husband and father was in a horrible snowmobiling accident.   He was taken by medical helicopter 50 miles to the Hennepin Community Hospital in Minneapolis where he remains in ICU as I write this.  The details are up on his CaringBridge page  as to the extent of his injuries which are many.

The most wonderful thing has happened in our little blogging community.  A bunch of us knew Nina, Tom’s wife, from her blog The Adventures of Artsy Nina. The word is being spread near and far and people are responding.  Several of us posted similar stories and although we all have different writing styles the word is getting out and people are rallying behind the Hedin family with prayers and monetary donations through the Give Forward website.  It is the ripple effect.   From our posts other people are reposting or putting our posts on Facebook and Twitter.  The more attention we can bring to this family the better.

Friday morning I got an email from Audrey at Minnesota Prairie Roots with the great news that her blog post was picked up as the number 4 story on Minnesota Public Radio Online News written by Bob Collins!!!!!   How wonderful is that?  More attention given to the Hedins!   If you click here it will take you to the page and you can scroll down to read the article number 4.

When I found out about Tom I was overwhelmed and even though I have never met Nina in person I felt like I just needed to do something.  Our church has a prayer shawl ministry where a bunch of dedicated ladies crochet or knit (not really sure which!)  prayer shawls that we can take and give to people we believe could use a little extra hug and prayers.  On Monday I went and picked one up and it was quite a decision which one to get to send to Nina and Tom because they are all so beautiful.  I packed it up and sent it along with a note to Nina’s mom’s address as that is where it was suggested mail be sent as the kids are there and Nina is spending time there when she is not at the hospital.  I sent it with prayers and love and hoped that somehow it would let Nina and Tom know that people that did not even know them were thinking about them and praying for them.  I was surprised when I got an email from Nina after she received it.  I don’t think she will mind that I share her words with you.

Thank you so much for all that you have done. I opened your care package when I got home from the hospital tonight.  The shawl is beautiful.  And I recognize the yarn; it’s Lyon Brand Homespun in a color that I really love. I actually bought six skeins of it a few years ago with the intent to knit an afghan!!  But I never finished it and passed along the project to another knitter.  So funny how it seems to have found it’s way back to me.

Now I don’t know about you but that gave me goosebumps!!!!  It was as if my hands were guided to pick out the very color that Nina loves and if she had had her choice this would have been the exact one she would have chosen.  That, my friends, is what is called serendipity or dare I say it—-God’s Hand?  I believe the latter is very true.  That is the only explanation I have for it.

Today Tom’s Caring Bridge report is that he is still in ICU but they hope to move him out soon.  He has started physical therapy by having his fingers bent and his feet flexed as those are the only parts of him that can be attended to that way since the rest of him is in a cast or brace of some kind.  His memory is a little shaky but from all reports this man is a fighter and he is strong and that will work for him.

The ripple effect is so evident.  As I was writing this post I was going back and forth from blog to blog to put in links and it hit me how we are all interconnected.  When one part of us hurts the rest of us hurt right along with that part.   We are indeed experiencing the ripple effect and what a glorious thing that is.  Please continue to keep Tom and Nina and their little ones, Jack and June, in your prayers and if you feel led to donate hop over to their Give Forward page and click on that GIVE button.  Thank you.