Pantyhose to the Rescue

Written by Kristen’s Mom

“Mom… do you think you could find some clothes for Annie* and some winter coats for kids and adults?” Kristen pleaded during our phone call just days before we were to leave for Chinle the week before Christmas.

“How old and what size is Annie?” I inquired.  Kristen wasn’t sure but texted me a picture of the cutest girl with a huge grin snuggled up close to Tessa both enjoying petting a purring tabby cat.  From the picture I could see that Annie was just a little taller than Tessa’s knees and that she was almost as wide as she was tall.  The sweatshirt she was wearing was cuffed at the sleeves and was long enough to cover her bum.  It’s very cold at this time of year in Chinle and Annie’s legs were bare.  Kristen explained Annie’s parents had died and she was being raised by a foster mom.  Her foster family was obviously having a hard time finding pants to fit sweet Annie.

We arrived in Chinle less than a week later with a bag of clothes for Annie and more than 125 winter coats and jackets squeezed into every empty free space in our van.  Our community of friends responded generously with more coats than we were able to transport.  

I had found three pairs of fleece pants that I guessed would fit Annie around the waste but they were miles too long.  Kristen and I decided it would be best to shorten the pants but we weren’t sure what length we needed.  We came up with the idea that if we added elastic at the ankles the pants wouldn’t drag on the ground if they were still a little too long.  But where to find elastic that would work?  Kristen went on a mission to find elastic and with the help of Mrs. Wolcott they came up with just barely enough to fix one pair of pants.  Now what do we do?  Where could we find more elastic? 

 I stopped in at the church fellowship hall where some donated clothes were laid out for members in need.  I sifted through a few stacks of clothes not sure what I was really looking for but thinking maybe I would find a worn out item I could recycle the elastic from.  And there at the bottom of one of the boxes was a pair of pantyhose.  Ya know -- the kind of pantyhose that is supposed to make you look skinnier 😄.  Oh perfect… I thought!  I don’t think this is a highly sought after piece of clothing for the locals but God knew I could make use of it.  So I cut slices off each of the legs with just enough stretch to be perfect for using as elastic for the hem of the pants for one little girl in need of shortened warm fleece pants.

There are so many Navajo families in need of the basics that we take for granted -- food, water, heat, and warm clothes.  But more importantly they need our prayers.  As we were departing a family we were visiting, the mom said to us with tears in her eyes “Thank you so much, but especially thank you for your prayers.  Our family needs so many prayers.”

If you would like to adopt a specific Navajo family to pray for this year, please reach out to Kristen or Tessa for the names of the family members you can add to your prayer list.

*name changed