No one should write a blog this long, but I haven't done this in eight months (!), so--sorry--I'll just park some thoughts, whether anyone has time to read them or not. Since the Mobilization Ministry is somewhat seasonal as Perspectives classes are on a spring and fall schedule and college kids are going off having international and other adventures, it seems like summer should be a bit of a down time but, actually, it’s been quite busy and fun.
Once a year, the Walton Arts Center “makes over” the volunteers and has a reception and complimentary tickets to a show—this year complete with lei’s and Mike Rayburn, sort of a Victor Borge of guitar. One of the best parts was, of the 350 volunteers, Peter, an author—who we’ve been seeing potential for building a friendship with—ended up right next to me.
About this time, I usually get a call from my dear friend Becky from Hot Springs saying she was in the area for her nephew’s rather sophisticated baseball game. Determining they would be at Tyson Field, I took off for the only Tyson structure I knew about, south of the U of A campus. After determining they were actually in Springdale and after seeing clearly that I was at the very site where they were trying to break a record in assembling 2 million dinners for Haitian families, I decided it was providential so I teamed up with a Boy Scout at the end of an assembly line and what a team we were! I even got a t-shirt out of the deal.
I do love to plan and organize, and there’s been plenty of that. There are plenty of more weighty things I would like for those remaining behind me to put on my tombstone, but one of them has to be “she liked everything of one kind in one place”! Since we office in the former First National Bank of Fayetteville, we have a large vault with plush gold carpet that we store everything from promotional coffee mugs to Perspectives memorabilia from the ‘70’s to the new office waffle iron. John and I recently purged the vault of outdated material and those busy mobilizers are going to have to fight us if anyone messes it up.
As we shuffled, I had my friend Audra much on my mind. She was sitting on go for Baby #6, to be delivered at home. Oh me of little faith—I had been praying that the new little sweet thing of questionable gender would make its appearance before we had to leave town on Thursday, July 1, but Audra wasn’t due until the 2nd and I really wanted to accept her invitation to come out and stay with their kids as they concentrated on the work at hand. Wednesday morning at 6 a.m., I got a phone call that this might be the day so I rushed out to Paradise Lane and spent the day playing Caribou, watching Up, and generally anticipating the big event. Home births (my third to sit in on) are amazing—the competent midwife praying over the rooms, sharing stories in the backyard, and easily exercising her trade. (Note the boxes of Little Debbie's a neighbor of my health-conscious friends brought over after unloading his freezer to make room for an abundant backyard crop of okra. ) After the chiropractress showed up about 4 p.m., things started to happen. I helped tuck kids into bed at 7:30 and made up a wild story for the restless girls. The miracle followed fifteen minutes later—no other way to describe it—and Joe was calling the kids into their bedroom to hold and admire their new little sister Madison. I slipped out feeling so blessed.
Hmmm…one problem. Wednesday evening was the time to pack for the trip to North Carolina. Oh well, I threw things together and John, Zipper, and I took off after work on Thursday for the 16-hour trip. After weaving our way through the Smokey Mountains to Burnsville, home of our dear friends Jan and Joe, we breathed in the mountain air and ate hamburgers on their porch. They blessed us with a trip to the community theater where Jan is a board member to see one of our all time favorite musicals, Annie. I know we had three boys, but I have fond memories of wearing out the cassette tape of the music when the movie came out and it was all I could do to keep from bursting out with the actors ‘you’re never fully dressed without a smile’.
The next day we drove a beautiful hour into Asheville to meet Lyle and Anne who were driving up from Atlanta for the wedding. We had a couple of hours before they arrived to visit the artist district and the downtown area where some of the artistic looking people were hawking their cool wares. After lunch at the Corner Kitchen, we settled in to play with Jack at the Sleep Inn while mom and dad took off to tour the Biltmore House (did I mention the wedding was at the Biltmore House?). After regrouping, we piled in the car to travel the long 3-mile driveway into the largest house in the US. What can I say? Our friend David and his new wife Elizabeth had a storybook wedding that we were privileged to be a part of. After a beautiful ceremony on the tennis lawn, we enjoyed the visiting and the vistas then the rest of the evening in a big white tent with great things to eat. It was quite a memory!
Late night, we changed from fancy to plain and drove the hour and half to Simpsonville where Evan had moved poor Easton out of his bedroom so we could sleep. Sunday was playing games, and visiting with all four grandchildren—heavenly for us. The next day, Evan and Emily loaded everyone up and we drove back to Asheville so that we could tour the 42 rooms of the Biltmore House and the gardens while they took the kids to the petting zoo, then alfresco dining at a great little Greek food place.
I have to admit it’s been great to have a catch-up few days at work and home before traveling to Dallas next weekend for a family wedding, but we did take advantage of Cow Appreciation Day last night at our neighborhood Chick-fil-a. We marched right up there to the counter with the rest of the kids who had downloaded cow ears and cow spots (I pinned mine to my Haiti Relief t-shirt) to stand in line for their free chicken meal. We’ll do anything for a chicken sandwich—and another Gothic picture, this time Bovine.
