ALL SAINTS SUNDAY

Just got back from our weekly Vesper service.   It was nice but the best part of this one was the minister that served communion.    He spoke about Holidays and how many important Holidays are overlooked.

This Sunday is ALL SAINTS DAY and he asked us to close our eyes and think of the people that had touched our lives or ones that touch our lives now that have made a difference.   I remember one time at Brentwood United Methodist Church on All Saints Day they read the name of people that had died during the last year and when a man's name was read that had helped with the Youth, the whole Youth Choir (123 members) stood up.    The minister was rather new and he couldn't believe his eyes.

I ALWAYS think of my Aunt Ruth and my Mom when this day rolls around.  Another one is Aileen Forster for she helped me start on my Faith Journey many years ago.

BUT...I think of people in my life now that make a difference to me and the list is just TOOOOOOOO long to even try and mention here.    I think most of you know who you are.   Many will never read this blog but I think they know they touch my life in one way or another.

I've been so blessed over the years to have a good many very good friends.   And I hope my family knows how important they are to me and what they mean to me-everyone of you.

I guess this is where Benjamin would say "CUT THE SAUCE, GRAMMA"

One Special Volunteer

This week we have a group from Oak Ridge, TN and I have worked with a few of them before.   But there is a lady in the sewing room that has become very special to me.

She was very easy to get along with yesterday, nothing outstanding but we just hit it off.   Today she was sitting at a machine in front of me and we were just visiting while sewing.   I was telling her two of my children were good friends with their ex-spouses.  

All of a sudden she turned around and told me she had been divorced for 15 years and she and her ex were also good friends.   Then she said, "He died yesterday".    Tears were in her eyes and I thought for a minute I had misunderstood her but she repeated it.

I just felt so bad for her.   I got up, went up and gave her a hug and then she told me about their relationship the last few years.   

I asked her if I could put her on the prayer list here for Vespers Thursday night and she said yes.

I went back to my machine and was sitting there realizing how blaze I can get about these people.   In a trip here I meet from 300 to 400 people from all over the U.S.    I need to remind myself that I do not know what pain they bring with them or what is on their hearts and be mindful of these things.

TITANS WON

Our little apartment here in Peck Hall is close quarters to the one next to us.   I can hear them brush their teeth and shower.   They live on the OTHER side of the bath so we never hear their T.V. or conversations but figure if they are in the bathroom they can hear ours as our living area is next to it.

Yesterday the Titans game was on and they were loosing.   I was also watching the Saints who were loosing too.

BUT...about the end of the third quarter the Titans came alive and we had us a ball game.   When Kerry Collins threw the LLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG pass and we came close to tying the score I came alive too and yelled something - probably a great big Y E S.

This morning at breakfast the neighbor said that she was doing some work for the Food For Family program that they hold this Wednesday and she heard this screem and at first wondered what it was.   Then she realized it was me and she switched to the Titans game.

Pretty soon she said she was back at work when she heard another screem and swithced over to see the re-play of the next big one.   

Ted is always telling me to be quiet and I guess I need to realize I'm not out in the country at home in our living room but that was a GOOD game and I really enjoyed it.    She said her husband slept right through all my screeming so guess it wasn't TOO loud.

VESPERS

Last night was our weekly Vesper service.  A young woman did the sermon and I thought she was good, Ted didn't care for it.   Ah, well.  

We had expected a real mess.   I guess they just couldn't get it together at the planning meeting and we were all anxious to see just how this went off, which was a wonderful service to me.

Especially the part where people stand up and tell their blessings they will take from the week.   A couple of men spoke about going out into the community and what they saw there and how it affected them.   When we put the bags together or assemble the kits at the tables we don't get to see the people but these people that go work on some of the trailers and homes in the area DO.   Some of these trailers sound just almost unlivable to me.   Is life relative?   These people would think they were in a mansion in my little house.  Maybe someone from Haiti would LOVE one of these delapolated trailers.

ANYWAY...I came away with a FULL CUP from last nights service and as we left we were handed a piece of FAIR TRADE chocolate and information on how to use Fair Trade chocolate at Halloween.   Maybe Halloween isn't such a wasteful holiday after all.

If you want to know more here are two web sites for you:

HAPPY EATING OF CHOCOLATE

www.globalexchange.org/cocoa  and  www.equalexchange.coop/educationaltools

CHEZ HOPE

Since Ted told about the T-Shirt I won Saturday, I thought I'd tell you about the Domestic Abuse Center called Chez Hope.

Last year when I worked in the Outreach office I got to know more about this place.   It was an old hotel here in Franklin, Louisiana and was about to be abandonded when someone bought it and gave it to the Abuse Center for $1 a year.

It's very large and perfect for this.   We are allowed inside for a tour and you can see where they hold group meetings, the children are tutored after school, a play area, a dress up area, and Sisters Closet where they can go to get free clothing.

This is where most of our volunteers go to work.   It's only a couple fo small rooms but they have baby, children, and adult clothing in there.  

Most places do not let you go to the building where the abused are housed but for some reason they do here.   We, however, do not see them or their apartments.   I understand most of the ones that come here are from areas quite a ways from here.  

It's a wonderful place and UMCOR Sager Brown does a LOT for them.   Some volunteers do all their ground work and some have built shelves for books in their little library.   Some go in and paint.  

It's just nice to be a part of something so needed.

BLOOPER

Before each meal we all gather in the cafateria and give any announcements for the day that are needed.  The Outreach office usually has the most as they take people to the Domestic Abuse Center to work or take a tour, to the Head Start program where they read to the children or go to the library with them.   They are also in charge of the Vespers Service on Thursday night.     They have their meeting of the planning committee for Vespers meet in an adjoining room during dinner on Monday evenings.

Now we also have what we call "The Kitchen Ministry" and they are our dishwashers.   This group changes from meal to meal and everyone gets a turn to help wash dishes.     The Kitchen Ministry people always get to eat first so they can start washing dishes as soon as people finish.

Yesterday the lady that plans Vespers announced that the Vespers planning people should line up right behind the "CHICKEN MINISTRY" when what she meant to say was, they should line up behind the Kitchen Ministry.     The whole place came apart in laughter and she laughed right along with them.

She is a dear lady from New York.   She's very petite and sweet to everyone and she and I have gotten to be great friends this trip.   I told her she did my heart good because that sounded like something I would say.

Laughter is good for the soul.

Whatever Happened to Slap Stick Comdey?

Sitting here tonight very B O R E D and thought I'd pull up the Flip Wilson video Kim had on a few days ago, "THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT".    Then I noticed a Goldie Hawn one and she was another silly slap stick comedian that cracks me up.

Then I saw Lilly Tomlin.   Now that lady was the best.   She could walk on a set and I'd start to giggle.   Kind of like Ted when we went to see Victor Borge.   Victor Borge walked on stage when we went to see him and Ted laughed for an hour and fourty five minutes.

Red Skelton could get me laughing too.   He and his CLEM KIDDLEHOPPER.   We used to watch Laugh-In and to me that was one of the funniest shows on T.V

I think Bill Cosby was the best though.   We saw him in Nashville one time and I always think of Mark doing his Dentist visit routine.   One time when Kim and Jill were pretty young Bill Cosby had a T.V. show on while I was gone to a meeting and Ted and the girls taped it for me on recorder we had.   I could not see it, only hear it.   I laughed so hard thinking of the characters he portrayed; his dad and brother in the Turtle Heads In Your Bed story.    Then later it was on T.V. and I didn't think it was near as funny as what I had imagined in my head.

Whatever happened to make them disappear?   Too bad.  

SEWING ROOM 3

Yesterday we went over to the cafateria for breakfast and people were standing around outside.   We wondered if there was a strike or something.   Found out the girl that was to cook breakfast never showed up.    She's a single mom with three teen agers and we all wondered what happened.   Someone called her and apparently her electricity was off and she overslept.

All was well.   Breakfast was just a bit later and the coffee people made STRONG coffee I guess and everyone was happy.

I had not been looking forward to a whole day in the sewing room with MOTHER HEN but when we got there and everyone was working I thanked them for being so nice about breakfast being late.   Told them she was a really nice lady and had three teen agers to raise herself and was not the kind to do this on purpose.

Everyone said they certainly understood and these things happen.  I was so pleased there wasn't someone complaining.   Well, the day went UP from there and MOTHER HEN and I got to talking and I found out she is a nurse and has been in Africa several times on missions.   She's really very interesting to talk to and before the day was over the whole group was laughing and joking.

Someone came in telling us the pocket on the bag needed to match the handles and we told them to go back and pack school kits and enjoy it.   Then one of the ladies said she'd really like to have one of those bags and I told her if she spent 3 years in Armenia she could get one.

SO...I learned a good lesson.   CHILL OUT, get to know the people a little better, and make our work fun.  There's a lot of sadness and hurt in this world and if we can laugh it makes life just a bit easier.

SEWING ROOM 2

This week I have seven in the sewing room - most of the time.   There are a couple that have gone to the Women's Abuse Center and I encourage these little trips.   Today one or two are going to the Mickey Mouse Head Start program. 

We can go to the MMHS and read and just seeing 40+ children ages 3 and 4 sitting at a table together having breakfast and hearing them recite the little prayer together is something.

But...for the most part we have seven women and one man sewing.   This guy is a retired Jr. High School Principal and a fast learner.   He picked up making school bags so fast I put him on a serger and he's doing a great job.

Another lady from his church is just a jewel.   She will do ANYTHING that needs to be done and does it well.   Yesterday I had two sergers come unthreaded at the same time and could not seem to get either one working again.   I was getting pretty frustrated and she offered to go look at the one while I tackled the other.   Before you know it we both had them working again.

BUT...of course there is always ONE in every crowd.    This is a little lady that first of all corrected my pronounciation of Yakima.  That's fine, I usually don't get foreign words pronounced correctly - ask Kim.  Then later she suggested in a TEACHER fashion that I pin handles on bags the way SHE had.   Someone said what did you do when she suggested that.   I told them I just said, "YOUBETCHA" and did it.  They got a good laugh out of that.   I didn't do it that way but decided to go ahead and do it her way and keep peace in the sewing room.

But yesterday she told me to count the bags they had done and we needed to start cleaning the room up.   Well, it was about 20 minutes too early and I was busy sewing some handles together so I said, "I'm still sewing and anyway, it's way too early to start cleaning up".     SO...little mother hen just got up and did it herself and some of her little chicks followed.    She pretty well had the room cleaned up when they left and I didn't have much to do after lunch.   CLUCK  CLUCK  CLUCK

Friday, October 13, 1961

I remember the day as being a beautiful fall day.   I was well ready to have my baby and have help with this child.   Kim and I took a walk to a neighbors house late in the afternoon, went home and fixed hamburgers and strawberry shortcake for supper. 

Some of the headlines that day were:

Mickey Mantle was the highest paid baseball player.  Signed contract for $75,000,
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space,
President Kennedy announces U.S. goal of reaching the moon before the end of the century,
South Africa leaves British Commonwealth, becomes a republix,
The Ford Falcon was in the headlines

AND...

about 6 o'clock my water broke and we hurried up and delivered Kim next door to neighbors to keep so we could go to the hospital.    I called Ruth Ann to come be with me for the delivery and by the time she arrived at Mennonite Hospital I was well into labor.

About 11 p.m. (I think)  Jill made her entrance to the tune of 9 lbs., 13 ozs, on Friday the the 13th of October.

The next morning I was sitting on my bed and some Dr. walked in and said;

"Your baby was born on Friday the 13th, there are 13 babies in the nursery.   Your baby should of weighed 13 lbs."  I looked at him and said, "Who the Hell are you?"    He was the pediatritian I had never met.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Jill.   Love you,  mom

A VERY GOOD WEEK-END

We got our little apartment cleaned early Saturday morning, the laundry finished and both had a nap by 1 p.m. and decided to go to Avery Island.   We had been to the Tabasco Sauce plant a few years ago but never to the Jungle Gardens.  

All the flowers are gone but we did see a few alligators.   They were all pretty small but I still kept my distance.

This Island has quite a history and if you are interested you can read all about it at:    http://www.averyisland.com/

We drove the designated path and enjoyed what we could imagine of the flowers that are not there.   Would LOVE to see the Heron come and make their nests.

Sunday was church for me.   I go to a black church and they are always there for at least two hours but yesterday was children's day and so it ran a bit longer.  

One thing they did was have us sign a pledge to support our children/grandchildren and take a card with a child's name on it and pray for that child for a year.   I thought this was  a pretty neat idea.

Then Sunday was birthday Sunday too and one of the ladies was 74.   I am 74 and I was wondering how our lives would of been different if we could they them out side by side.   She looked a lot older than 74.

Then the football games began and to top the whole week-end off the Titans beat Dallas.   That was just the icing on the cake.   What a game.   What a week-end.

THIS YEAR IN 1957

After a little research on the handy-dandy Internet I learned that this day in History:

Lester Bowles Pearson, Canada, received the Nobel Peach Prize
Hank Aaron was named National League's MVP
Mickey Mantle was playing his best with 121 runs and 146 walks
Willie Mays toped the National League with 20 tripples and 38 steals
Betty Friedan, bless her, was headline news
The Edsel was named the MOST NOTORIOUS bomb out of Dearborn, MI
Theodor Seuss Geisel, "DR SEUSS" let the first Cat (in the Hat) out of the book covers
It is the birthday of John Lennon

AND

(a drum roll here please)

KIM TINGLEY was born in Mt. Carmel, Illinois

Happy Birthday, daughter.   I hope it's a great one.   Maybe next year we'll be there.

Love you,  mom

The Lady and The Scarf

We have had two ladies from a little town close by come over to volunteer this week and yesterday I got to meet one of them.

They have been working with one of our Long Term Volunteers sorting supplies people send in that cannot be used in the kits.   There are strict government regulations as to what can be shipped overseas and what cannot.   I have no idea just what big government agency decides this but I'm sure it's well paid.

The supplies that people send in that are not usable in the kits go to various agencies in the area but have to be sorted.   When you are putting a kit together there is a big tub you can put something in that cannot be used, then it is taken to another lady and she sorts it all out and others know where it can be used.   Some go to the Abuse Center, some the a medical center, some of it is boxed up and sent to Haiti.

If people making the kits would read the directions on the internet and not make this mistake we could eliminate this step but well...it's all put to good use.

So, here are these ladies working and I mean working.   They never stopped and they are both in their 80's.  One of them mentioned she made scarves for the Hospice Center and also little "ditty" bags.   Yesterday she brought both of these in for us to see as we had given her a lot of fabric we could not use. 

She makes the scarves for them to wear and puts foam in the front and folds the scarf over it to a perfect triangle.   The bags are draw string type with the most wonderful assortment  of personal items in there.   She DONATES all of this.   She does get help from some churches collecting items like tooth paste, deoderant, etc,  but this woman does most of it herself.   She is 81.

One of the women sewing said her daughter was just recovering from colon cancer and uterine cancer and her hair was growing back in and she had dyed it light green and said she was "Kicking ASS Cancer"

God at work?   Youbetcha!!!!!

SEWING ROOM 1

I numbered this because I'm sure there will be several other stories about the sewing room.   BUT...this was the first day I had anyone come in to sew.  They were being used to unpack all those boxes and Ted said last night they finished.

I only had two show up this morning and knew there would be none this afternoon because Wednesday afternoon the volunteers go sight seeing and this weather is perfect.

But...this morning I had a lady and a young woman.   She looked like she was a high school student but after talking with her I learned she is a collage graduate, has traveled the world but never used a sewing machine.

She did very well and put handles on several school bags and then asked what the WHOLE process was of making a bag.   So I had her cut one out, and cut out the handles.   First she sewed the handles up and then trimmed the bag and put the handles on each end.    I decided she was very capable and probably would like to learn to use a serger so she serged the sides.    She was very pleased with her bag and had the other lady take a picture of her with her first sewing project.

I then learned that the "OTHER LADY" was a home ec teacher.   Not fair to put an old woman in that situation without some warning.   I think the lesson was a success though as at lunch the hostess to the dorm said Adele had told her she learned to sew and how much she enjoyed it.    l

Back To Baldwin

We arrived Sunday afternoon and there were several friends here to help us unload the truck.   We were unloaded very quickly, thanks to them, and unpacked and ready for some football by 4 p.m.   The rest of the day was spent just watching these guys run around banging themselves up over a ball.   I LOVE IT!!!!

It's good to be back.   There is something about this place that just touches your very heart when you arrive.  It is a combination of the setting on the Bayou Tesch, the people that work here, the people that come here to volunteer, the weather and MOST of all WHAT is accomplished here.  

BUT...I forget how very poor the people that live here really are.   We had to stop on our way in and get a few groceries and it hit me that many of these people are the most poverty stricken families in the nation.   Many are crippled and mostly, not all, but most of them are black.   AND...sad to say but in Patterson where we stopped they seem very rude.   I guess if I'd had to live like they have I would be too but it is a shock.

The little town we work in, Baldwin, we see very little rudeness.   People are still poor and a few are crippled.   One lady that comes to get food when we give out the commodities for the month has a leg that just upsets me no end.   It looks like a bad surgery job to me but of course I know nothing about this.   It bends OUT at the knee instead of in and we all make sure someone helps her get to the desk to get registered.

There used to be a train that went through town every 2 or 3 hours during the night.   I LOVED that train and decided if I could live within a couple of miles of a train track I wouldn't mind that at all.  I've only heard the train a couple of times since we arrived on Sunday.   Not sure what happened.

But...we are here and loving it.   I am back in the sewing room and yesterday had NO volunteers because they needed everyone to open boxes of supplies and help DUMP them into the big cardboard boxes they use.   These are then taken over close to the tables where the kits are sorted and assembled.   Ted is getting to open boxes and help dump them and crush the old cardboard boxes into bales for recycling.   SO...once again he's working and I'm, well, I'm having a good time in the sewing room.

I LOVE OLD CARS

We started for Louisiana yesterday about 7:30 and the trip was great.   Perfect weather and saw LOTS of Tennessee families going south to a ball game that UT lost of their own stupidity.   Sorry, they do know how to count at UT I'm assuming.

We stopped at a rest area for lunch and as we sat down I noticed an old roadster coming in.   Man, it was a beauty.   Little fancy lady on the very front and a light blue.   Just a neat car.   But when we looked for it again, there was a bright RED, 1964 Chevrolet Impala Convertible in front of it.

I could hardly eat for wanting to go see that car.    We had a 1964 car in 1968, 69, and 70 and beyond.   It was a GREAT car.   Easiest car you ever drove and a trunk that would hold half an army.  

In 1970 we were getting ready to go to California for vacation but our car did not have airconditioning.   We began to worry about driving in the heat and started looking for a different car.   Money was tight in those days and we just couldn't see having car payments for a couple of years because of a three week vacation.  SO...Ted had an airconditioner put in that car.   IT was HEAVEN and we'd forget we even had it sometimes till I began to complain about being hot.

Well, after we ate I went over to see if the guy would sell that car to me.   I was teasing and he knew it.  HE was pretty proud, as well he should be.   He had the hood up and that engine was cleaner than my kitchen.  It shown like a new penny.  

The interior was black leather and I slobbered all over it.  His wife said it was a piece of scrap metal when he bought it. 

I have a whole other story on cars we've had that were WONDERFUL but will save that.

I do love old cars and if any of you really want to get me something nice for my birthday you could get me a car JUST LIKE THAT 1964 CHEVROLET CONVERTIBLE.

LUNCH WITH GOOD FRIENDS

Yesterday was a day I had looked forward to for some time.   I went back to the United Methodist Publishing House where I worked and met up with a dear friend for lunch.   I also took another dear friend from those days and surprised Marvin.

First I picked up Wini and we were early so we went into Cokesbury Bookstore.   It's all different now than when I worked up there which was some twenty years ago.   I cannot believe it's been that long. 

Then we met Marvin coming into the lobby of the Publishing House after he had been to a meeting.  So...he took his material to his office and off we went.   The day was just perfect fall weather and we walked a couple of blocks to the old train station in Nashville for lunch.

Wini hired me to work as a temporary employee for her in the Disciple office.   She was the Director and when I first started there were only two other women working with her.   I LOVED working there and never dreamed I'd someday get a REAL job there.

I worked for Wini one summer and then due to budget cuts had to be let go.   Went back to work for Kelley Services and was working for the Planning Commission of Nashville when Wini called me saying there was a job open in the typing pool and she was sure I could get it if I was interested.    She really helped me get that job and said she knew it wasn't something I would love, but it WOULD get me in the door.   She was right.  I hated the typing pool but did learn about the people there and when an opening in the Marketing Department came I was lucky enough to be hired as their secretary.

I worked there three and a half years and loved it, I mean I LOVED it.   I worked for a young man, two young women and another man a little older that I had gone to church with.    They were so much fun and we were all in one big room so the jokes and laughter could be heard all over.  I worked hard for them but it was good work and they made it fun. I learned what a Marketing Plan was and how books get their names and even met one of my favorite authors.    I understand that working for the Publishing House now is NOT fun and I'm thankful I was able to work when it was.

I met Marvin during that time.   We had lost a member of another team and Marvin was brought in to fill that position.   He's a small man of stature, but a big man in warmth and brains.   He's a United Methodist Minister so he's well qualified for what he does.

He is editor of Mature Years Magazine and edited an article I had published there after we went to Ecuador with Kim.   He not only edits that magazine, writes adult S.S. material, does several other jobs for them and is Secretary of the General Conferences.   He shared with us he has not had a raise in 12 years.   Unbelievable.

We laughed, talked about things that happened when we were all there together, our kids, their kids, and Wini and I told Marvin he needed to retire now that he has two beautiful grandchildren.   The two hours passed way too fast but it was a wonderful day for all. 

I am so lucky with the things I've done in my life.    Working there when I did, then Ted and I moving to the lake when we were young enough to enjoy it and traveling like we did.   It's been a grand journey.