Grati-Tuesday 1 October 19

Greetings all,
Grab a cuppa and have a read of these awesome messages!
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This very happy recipient sent back these photos of her quilt that Ellen made 

and her laindry bag that Kaye G made. 

Thanks for the photos!
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Dear Gail,

I would like to thank you personally for sending me the beautiful handmade quilted laundry bag recently as a part of the Aussie Hero Quilts. I received the bag as I returned from leave and it was such a wonderful surprise! Like your granddaughter, I love horse-riding and I was so happy to find this bag had been personalized to me with my initials and the horse print. It's absolutely gorgeous!

I am two months away from finishing a tour to the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve mission. I am a lawyer and I work in a US / AUS / NZ team here. I have learnt a great deal professionally and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with not only those nations in my team but also the many nations that make up the coalition here. It's been a great experience and one that I will look back on very fondly when I get home.

Thank you once again for taking the time to think of me and make me such a beautiful gift. I really appreciate it!

Kind regards,

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Hello Jo.

I have just received your fantastic quilt, awesome!

I am married, and have two young children. I was born in New Zealand and served in their Army prior to transferring to the Australian Army over 18 years ago. 

We are now half way through our deployment, and should be back home in time for Christmas.

Thank you again for all of your work in making this quilt. Just in time for the Rugby World Cup too.

I have sent a photo to my family, my wife loves it too.

Thank you again, this is really a fantastic quilt.

Regards.

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Dear Kate

Thankyou so much for the beautiful laundry bag and other goodies which I received today, 03 August 19. I am so grateful to have something so unique and hand made to use and take home at the end of my deployment. I'm glad that you enjoyed making it and I'm also glad the colours worked so well. I wanted something eye catching and "girly" in a subtle way and I think you achieved that perfectly!

Your parcel made it to me where it is currently pushing 50C most days; a stark contrast to the winter days you're having in Gippsland! I am particularly grateful that you took time out of your busy days renovating to make the laundry bag. It sounds like a very big job but I am sure it will all be worth it in the end. 

I have been here for two months now. The majority of our Task Group are from Brisbane based units with just a few from all the other capitol cities around Australia. I work in the Task Group headquarters as a Logistics Officer. I am very fortunate that I get to work with a lot of other nations to plan and execute logistic support to our trainers who are mentoring the Iraq soldiers. Its been a steep learning curve so far and we are keeping busy, which is good as it makes the days go quickly.

We have four more months to go which means we should be home for Christmas. In two months I'll be taking a respite break where I will be meeting my partner for two weeks. I am counting down the days until that!

Thank you for your letter and for making me something very special. I will use the laundry bag for all my deployments from now on. The Aussie Hero Quilts foundation is an excellent initiative and we are lucky to have such caring and creative people like you participating. It really does bring so much joy to our day to receive something personal like a laundry bag or quilt.

Thank you again, and good luck with the move north.

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Hi Sandy,

Thank you so much for the thoughtfully crafted quilt that you and the team created for me. I particularly like the Aussie flora and fauna - there isn’t much in the way of wildlife or trees here. One of the things I enjoy about calling home is hearing the sound of the Kookaburras in the background.

The time and effort you’ve put into making this for me is greatly appreciated. It’s great to know that people back home care about the people that make up the Australian Defence Force, and it’s truely an honour to know that you’ve devoted a chunk of your time to making this quilt for me!

Thanks also for the Tim Tams! The team here will love to share those.

Please pass my thanks along to the rest of the team.

Thankfully,
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Hi Lel,

Thank you so much for the thoughtfully crafted laundry bag and other goodies which you so kindly sent to me. It looks great! I particularly like how you’ve personalised it with the KC30 and my initials. The time and effort you’ve put into this is truely appreciated. It’s extremely heartening to know that there are people at home thinking of us. Thank you also on behalf of every other person you have reached out to in this generous way!

It’s great that you’ve been able to experience a couple of flights on the KC30 during family days. I should be home in time for the next one where I’ll be bringing my wife and kids along for a ride - at this stage I’m programmed to fly the aircraft too which will be excellent. My wife and I have two children: 4 and 2 plus a third on the way in March. I think they’ll be pretty impressed with seeing some air to air refuelling up close.

I’m sorry to hear about the effect the drought has had on your family business. Hopefully some of that rain the southern states have had recently will find its way to you soon, and good luck with the retirement plans and moving closer to the kids. 

Thank you again, and all the best,

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To Ruth,

Thank you so much for the well-crafted laundry bag, as a NZ born Australian the personalisation of the bag was amazing, from the awesome kiwi to the star wars theme on the reverse it was fantastic.

It is already taking pride of place in my room.

Thanks for YOUR service to us :)

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To Sue,

Kia Ora Sue,

Tēnā rawa atu koe for the quilt!!

Wow, what can I say, the quilt is fantastic. The care, time and effort you have put into it is obvious and for that I am extremely humbled and appreciative. For it to also be made by a fellow Kiwi/Aussie is also a very special thing. (For it also to be Star Wars themed was the icing on the cake!!)

Thank you also for the treats (Especially the Kiwi ones), my US counterparts were also very impressed and somewhat jealous. The quilt has already been put to great use and I am sure when the temperature drops here soon it will be a very welcome addition. On my return the quilt I am sure will become a

taonga in my whare for many years to come. (Go the All Blacks in the world cup!!)

Thank YOU so much for your service!

Kia Kaha

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Hi Beverly and family,

A few weeks ago I received a lovely Aussie Hero Quilt and laundry bag that you had designed and made, and I just wanted to say thank you very much, I really appreciate the time and thought that went into them both.  The dancing figures on the quilt are particularly charming, Ally must have passed on to you that dancing is my main hobby, and one of the things that helps keep my resilience bank topped up while I'm here deployed in the Middle East.  The main kind of dancing I do at home is swing dancing, and it was one of my goals for this deployment to teach some swing dancing classes.  It hasn't really taken off because it's quite a challenging style that no one has ever heard of, they're more interested in the salsa and bachata classes.  Once I arrived I discovered they needed a female to help the male salsa teacher to run the classes, so I jumped into that too, having done a little salsa a few years ago.  I'd never heard of bachata before though, and now I've discovered I really like it!  

I'm one of the doctors in the clinic here, looking after both Australians and New Zealanders, as well as small numbers of soldiers from other countries.  We do both primary health care (GP stuff) and emergency resuscitation, which thankfully isn't required too often.  Other things that I do with my spare time include running a knitting group, and a women's support network, and going along to the camp karaoke nights.  I'm also studying aeromedical transport via distance learning - moving patients by air when they need higher care.  I am really enjoying my time on this deployment, though I am looking forward to returning home and seeing green grass and trees again.

Thanks again for your thoughts, I will treasure my quilt and laundry bag.

Kind regards,

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Good morning Beverley,

I have just returned from our Chaplaincy Initial Course with the Army and on the second last day of the course I was gifted the amazing laundry bag you crafted.  Wow!  I wanted to take the time as soon as possible to say thank you.  We had the privilege of meeting Jan-Maree Ball at the course.  What extraordinary work you all do - so valuable and worthwhile.

A bit about my background.  My wife and I have six children from 22-10. My oldest is in the ARes Infantry as a Rifleman.  I am the Senior Leader of a church in Melbourne and have been in full time ministry for 11 years now.  I have only recently joined the Army (June in fact) so this is all very new to me.  I have been in training for seven of the last eight weeks, so it was great to see my family again last night. I was showing my family the laundry bag this morning as I was unpacking my bags from last night, and we all loved it! 

A personal story to encourage you in your work.  Our youngest son was in a critical condition when he was a baby and we were told several times that he would likely not live.  Our other children were attending the local Christian School, who quilted a blanket for him.  Our son pulled through after many long trials, but to this day still uses the blanket he was given ten years ago.  Never underestimate the power of what you do.  It meant the world to us to receive that gift at the time when we were going through trauma and I know that for the many thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen who have received gifts from Aussie Hero Quilts, it will mean a lot to them as well.

Thank you again so much and many blessings to you and your family over this next season. 

God bless

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Hi Sue,

I was thrilled to receive a package today. I quickly realised it was for A.H.Q. and was very excited to check out your craftsmanship. It is perfect!!

The beach Aussie flora & fauna, really a great reminder of home.

Serving in the Army is a privilege and an honour, and l, nor my colleagues, seek no reward. It is however such a nice feeling to receive such a personal and thoughtful gift. A big thank you!

l work with a lot of American servicemen and women, and they were amazed to see the laundry bag you made. Hearing that you are from the Southern Highlands makes me want to visit there soon. My family live in Albury at the moment, but we enjoy our time camping in the NSW Highlands, and the beaches and your bag is a pleasant reminder of all that natural beauty. Not to mention lots of happy memories from Xmas holidays.

Well, thank you again Sue. l want youth know you really hit the mark with this laundry bag. l am chuffed.

l will stay safe, Thanks again

P.S. Oh and thanks for the lollies & Tim Tams! my colleague has already tried to steal them!

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Dear Jan-Maree,

Please accept my thanks for the beautiful work that you and your amazing volunteers do. It is such a special thing that you all do, and knowing that there are such thoughtful people back home who create these beautiful items for total strangers, it is so touching and makes me proud to be Australian.

Please pass on my thanks to Helen W who you advised made it for me and also for the goodies that arrived with it, they were well appreciated by me and my team.

My husband had organised this laundry bag and a quilt for me, he knows that orange is my favourite colour, and that I love flowers. I absolutely love it and I also just received my quilt as well. It was made by Cath Hpr (who I am also writing to). I know many of my friends and colleagues who have bags and quilts too and they all love them.

I am on my third deployment, second to this location. I am an Army Reserve Finance Officer with 16½ years’ service. I am married to a veteran of 20 years regular Army Service and almost 20 years Reserve service who was deployed six times to different locations over that 40 years. My son is an Infantry Soldier who has just over 10 years’ service and who has also deployed to Afghanistan. Our family is proud to have given service.

The hardest thing about deploying this time was leaving behind my gorgeous 2½ year old granddaughter (my daughter is an Occupational Therapist). I have a large photo on the wall at home, in my uniform, and she will point at it and tell you that “Nanny is away in the Army”. Thank goodness for skype which allows me to keep in contact.

I live in Townsville and am grateful to have both my children living there too. I have spent most of my life there, despite 10 years moving around with my husband’s Army postings.

Thank you again for the joy you bring to so many.

Kind regards

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Dear Georgina,

Thank you for my amazing quilt. It is exactly what I was thinking when I put the request in. A big thankyou to all your family as they also helped with the layout.

Every time I look at the quilt on my bed it reminds me of all the hard work that went into it. So again, thank you so much. It fills me with so much happiness knowing this was made specifically for me with all the love put into it.

Again, thank you,

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Hi Pennie,

I just wanted to let you know that I received the laundry bag you sent me, it is amazing, thank you so much for making it, I am the envy of everyone that has seen it. I have sent you a photo of myself holding it.

My partner and kids were very impressed, thank you so much for adding the life guard and little dog nippers J

It was great to read on the achievements of your kids and that they continue to swim.

My three kids will be doing nippers again this season. I will have a daughter in her last year U14, my son in U11 which I am the age manager for and my youngest daughter in U8 who my partner age manages.

We have also attended many carnivals as my oldest is very competitive and I usually do water safety. They are such long days and by the end of it, both my kids and the missus are over it ;).

I am currently an Air Force reservist. I have only been in the RAAF for just under two years but I spent over 15 years in Infantry.

I also work for the Air Force as a civilian, I am APS, studied Engineering at Uni.

In my free time I play soccer and don’t mind hitting the gym. My favourite past time though is taking the kids out to the beach and for bush walks, bike rides, anything outdoors.

Thank you so much again for making such an amazing laundry bag. I will keep it and use it until it dies on me.

I wish you all the best

Regards,

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Dear Cath,

Thank you so much for the letter and the beautiful laundry bag.

I was very surprised to receive one as I am so new to the military, so I’ll give you some background.

I have been married for 36 years and we have 3 boys, all married and have 5 grandchildren with the last one born last Sunday. They range in age from 1 week to 6 years old. 

I have been a chaplain in the secular world in both primary and high schools for the last 8 years, so when I read you were a teacher I felt an affinity with you. I fondly remember my teachers in the schools I worked in and saw how hard teachers have to work and how much more difficult it is in comparison to many years ago. I used to organise retreats for some of our staff at the end of big terms and these were well loved.

It was this role and the love of working with families that led me to begin looking for an out let to do chaplaincy with adults. This led to the Navy, if you had told me 5 years ago I would have joined the Navy at 55 I would have laughed at you.

As I enjoy bush walking and just generally getting out and looking at the beautiful creation, when I saw all the flowers on the bag I knew it was the right one for me. God never ceases to amaze me at how he moves upon a person’s heart and puts thoughts in their mind that are meant to bless another person. Thank you for making it for me. It will forever be a reminder that I am not alone, that people I have never met care.

I grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Qld but I moved to Nowra to take up the Chaplaincy positon at HMAS Albatross 2 months ago.  At this stage my Hubby is not with me, he is currently in the USA with my youngest son who has just had the baby and is enjoying some grandad time. While there, he has renovated their house as he is a builder. I do miss him, and I am sad not to have been there for this grandbabies birth but this is the sacrifice we sometime make to be in service to our country.

However I can’t think of a greater honour than to finish my working life, my last job, caring for the men and women who protect our country. I have so many hopes and dreams for the future of this ministry and if you’re a praying person I would appreciate your prayers. I loved the scripture verses they were perfect for me and a reminder that I have been called for this purpose at this time.  

To you and all the people that sew these beautiful creations that bless us with love and care, I say thank you.

Bless you as you continue on this journey of loving others that you have never met.

Love heaps
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What a great bunch of messages. 
Till next time... keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree xx