Inspired Stitches - Ramblings of a Blackworker

Well, as you probably guessed, we did get back in one piece from vacation. Well, at least most of my body did… Last day we were in Memphis, I decided it had been too long since I turned my ankle, so I stepped off the curb, and proceeded to twist the heck out of my foot. Boy, it hurt! Anyways, a week later, I’m still wearing an ankle brace, and am still dealing with the pain. Having had weak ankles since my middle school days, it’s not too unusual for me, but just isn’t very much fun.

Therefore, this week between that and the “gremlins” working on the web server, I haven’t been in the mood to blog. Sorry about that!

I finally have been able to get the camera hooked up to share a couple of quick pictures with you from vacation. Almost as soon as we got to our in-laws house, my father-in-law pulled out his Model A, and took our friends for a ride. Here’s the proof:

How cool is that little car! He hadn’t had it running for many months, so as the smile on his face tells you, he’s having a good time also!

Then, the “Graceland trip“. Now, I do like Elvis, and his music, but… A trip to Graceland is definitely like a trip to Mecca for TRUE Elvis fans. Everything Elvis - all the time… This was my 3rd trip to that hallowed ground, and boy - what can I say. Heading out, I told Joan that my fun in the trip (since I’ve only seen the place 3 times now) was making sure that we had a picture of her in EVERY SINGLE ROOM of Graceland, so that she can prove she’d been there. It actually was quite entertaining to me, as I wasn’t looking at each room, I was scoping for the next shot. We did it. I have an SD card FULL of her tour, and look forward to getting them all printed out for her. Need proof?????? Here she is taking interior design notes in the Jungle Room, so that she can go home and shag carpet the floors, walls, and ceilings of her own house…

Good news for me is that they’ve actually added a new room since I was last there, so I got to ogle the lovely couch / bed / white-long shaggy-with some sort of a canopy thing from his dressing room, and got to see the duds he and Priscilla wore when they got married. At least I saw something new! Thank ya - Thank-ya-very-much…..

Well, I’d better run along. More updates tomorrow…

Well, my web host is in the process of upgrading the server my website resides in, so gremlins are at work. They say the upgrade should be complete some time today, so things will probably continue to be a little strange until then. Yesterday neither the Blog or the Stitchin’board were working, and today they are, but my e-mail is downloading the 4th copy of all my vacation e-mails - yippee!!

I thank you for your patience through all of this.

I did want to take a few minutes to share with you the important reason why we’re in Memphis. Yes, we’re going to have fun, but our main reason for being here is the meeting of our church’s General Assembly.

Once a year Ruling and Teaching Elders from all over the country gather together to worship together, and meet together. As this is Jim’s and my first time, we had no idea what to expect. We just returned from the first evening worship service, and let me just say how awesome it was. Here we were in a room with hundreds of our brothers and sisters in Christ, all worshiping and learning together. What incredible things our Father does for us, and to be part of such an inspiring worship service is definitely an honor. As we all took Communion together, I couldn’t help but get a tear in my eye, realizing once again what our Father has done for us, by giving His OWN Son that we may live.

While the “boys” attended meetings and such, Joan and I spent today taking tours of some incredible things happening in the Memphis area. As Jim and I lived in Memphis for several years, I was familiar with some of them, as our former church supports these missions. What fantastic progress they have made.

• We started our morning at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. If you’re not familiar with the work that this hospital, stop by their website to find out. This organization, started by Danny Thomas, helps thousands of children every year. They come through their doors, having been diagnosed with the most terrifying medical conditions, and are met with loving doctors and nurses, fighting for their lives. Not a single patient of St. Jude’s ever has to pay a cent - for either their treatment, or for their housing. Our tour guide noted that when St. Jude first opened it’s doors, there was only a 4% survival rate for one of the medical conditions (I think it was leukemia). Today, if a child walks through the door with that same condition, they have a 94% chance of surviving. Please, stop by their website to learn more. I do suggest having a box of kleenex near by, as these children will grab at your hearts.
• From there we headed to the Church Health Center of Memphis to find out how churches across the Memphis area have joined together to support the health and welfare of those in need.
• Finally we went to Streets Ministries, which is one organization I had been familiar with when we lived here. This ministry serves one of the poorest areas in the United States. Their ministries reach thousands of children every year, and provide them with the opportunities to be successful in their own lives.

Tonight, as I look back at all we saw, how blessed we were by having the opportunity to learn about them. Please say a prayer for these ministries, as well as those across the world, who daily fight the fight against Satan, and who give of themselves, so that those in need may be given the opportunities we ourselves have been given.

Well, hello from the Blues City - Memphis, TN! Sitting here high above the downtown trolley lines, resting my feet after a long day, and enjoying a nice bowl of ice cream. MMMMMM, nothing better.

We came in town with friends for our church’s national yearly General Assembly. It just so happens that Jim and I spent about 5 years living in Memphis, so it feels as if we’ve come home. What a wonderful vacation it’s been!

We started by taking our friends to stay at the in-law’s lovely home in the country, and treating them to 24 hours of wonderful country living. We ate too much, trotted around the tiny town in my father-in-law’s old Model A, sat around and chatted, and just plain relaxed. I think they enjoyed themselves, which means that we may never leave Richmond for La Grange again without having 2 stowaways in our trunk. Rodney not only got to play around with the Model A (with a rumble seat by the way), but also played around with lots of big farm equipment and tractors. You just can’t beat that!!!!

Darn-it! Just realized that I forgot the cord to get pics from my camera… Sorry, no Model A pics until I return.

Tomorrow Joan and I are going searching for Elvis at Graceland. They say he still lives, so we’ll let you know!

Just found this blog entry this evening, showing an idea for finishing your Needlework Building Blocks needlework stitch. Beautiful work and great idea!

Boy, it’s been that typical week before vacation… Work has had me jumping, and somehow I actually still have my brain after it was spent entirely on my customer. Of course, in the middle of this type of week, that’s when I get hit with the fierce creative juices, which then make me work like a mad-woman at home also. This Saturday morning, I’m bleary-eyed and spent.

I’ve been playing around with some ideas that I’ve had in development for a couple of years now. The funny thing about creativity, is that there’s no way to control it. Snippets of ideas come, I start getting them down on paper, and then the juices end… just like that. Right when I think that I’m on to something, they dry up, and those partially worked ideas get shelved until they come to life. Looking back, and looking at my current designs, I can see the weird trail that they’ve taken. I also have learned, that these partial ideas that tend to hit me, usually make ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. Jim will come in, and mistakenly ask me what I’m doing. After about a 30 minute tortuous discourse from me, which is making no sense, he finally collapses under the desk in pain. Well, not really, but that’s what the look on his face looks like. These types ideas definitely have to have incubation time for them to germinate, then come back for a little air, then more germination time. Eventually, they’ll be completely born, and become designs. Hopefully, I can do something with my current inspirations, so that I can share, but until then, I’m not going to bore you with the insanity…

Well, busy day getting ready for Memphis! I’ll be touching in during the week, so talk with you then!