My husband's grandmother was a Blaine (Bertha Matilda Blaine). She married a Moffitt (John McGee). They had Grace Earl, who married a Dickerson, Dewey Lee. Riley was the 7th child of Dewey and Grace.
This was the 2nd Blaine family reunion I've been to (I went in 2009), though Riley has been able to make several more (2009, 2010, 2011). Since we've been going, the reunion has been held at Louisa Chapel UMC, so we go up early enough to worship prior to the family reunion.
The messages (regular and children's [cotton candy clouds]) were good and I got to sing "The Summons", a song I've not heard since my Academy time.
It was great to catch up with family at the reunion, some we had seen earlier in August (Jan and Jay), and some we hadn't seen in quite a while (Aunt Ruth, Sylvia, Donna, Betty, all the Blaine folks).
Lots of great food and fellowship. Riley's son Sean was able to make the day trip with us, so that was good for him to visit with family and for us to visit with him.
Monday we took off for Arkansas to visit Riley's brother Bob and wife, Vickie. We stopped over in Memphis, TN for the night to see some sights and enjoyed walking all around Memphis (checking out Beale Street, the Elvis plaza, the Riverfront, the arena that was hosting WWF wrestling, etc.) that afternoon.
Tuesday we arrived in Arkansas. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have built their home on a beautiful piece of property. They are using solar panels for electricity and rain water collected in water tanks for water. We stayed in their RV camper while their, bringing back memories from our fall break in Harlowton, Montana several years ago.
Wednesday we went into Branson, Missouri and toured the old town, heard some Ecuadorian musicians (and I enjoyed speaking Spanish), then headed back to Arkansas after eating in a Mexican restaurant converted from a Wendy's.
On Thursday we did the Blue Streak Zip at the Branson Zipline and the 100 foot freefall drop at the end. Very cool! I will admit that I didn't follow the guide's directions 100% here at the freefall. We were supposed to hold onto to our strap on the front of us with both hands. However, when I got to the edge of the platform, my instinct was to touch the railing with my left hand. That was a "no-no". Honestly, stepping off that platform was more difficult than running off the mountain tandem with the hang gliding flight instructor. I compare it to rappelling. But, it was a great adventure, nonetheless, and I'm glad I did it!
We left to head back on Friday, spending another night in Memphis. We rode the trolley into town this time and walked around some. The Peabody Hotel reminded me of the Palmer hotel in Chicago somewhat, where we once stayed. We were there too late in the evening to see the ducks, but we did hear some great piano music and catch a taste of the atmosphere as we walked through quickly.
Saturday morning we toured the Sun Studio after eating at the Blue Plate café. We got home Saturday evening.
To top off the week, we headed to church for worship and enjoyed the early morning service at our home church, Burks UMC. "A strong tower" was the focus for the worship service. Proverbs 18:10-11 were the verses. It was a powerful message and a reminder of where to keep one's focus. I kept thinking of the Kim Hill song from the 90s "Blessed be the name of the Lord".... and sure enough, I learned that they sang that song in the 2nd service. But, Riley and I had taken off right after 1st service to head to another church across town. A friend was preaching today and I wanted to be there to hear her. So, we went to St. Marks Northshore instead of Sunday School and 2nd service at our church. When we got there, I learned some friends of ours would be joining Burks UMC at the 2nd service. Hmm... this was going to be interesting.
We experienced awesome worship and powerful preaching. Love overcomes evil.
We left during the last song to try to make it back for our friends joining. We weren't sure if we could or would. But, we did. Just as we were walking in the Narthex, the Associate Pastor was introducing them and asking them to come forward. She saw us coming in the back, running. ☺ It was good to make it. The neat thing is, we got to see our neighbors down the street join at St. Marks and then our friends join at Burks.
It has been a very full week.
A very blessed week of visiting with family and friends, seeing new sights, revisiting old ones, worshiping our Lord and being encouraged by the fellowship of believers. Whew!
On another note. With all this traveling, I've been watching the leaves.
The leaves were changing in Arkansas and Missouri, but not here yet in Tennessee. We did get to see some color changes last Sunday on our way to the Blaine family reunion in the North Carolina mountains. I hope we'll see some color here in TN too. One can hope.... and wait.
I don't know what kind of week you've had. I hope your week has had some quiet time, some family time, some time with friends, some time to gaze upon the changing colors of leaves. Wherever you've been, whatever you've experienced, I hope you recognize that you're not alone on this journey. You are surrounded by people making the journey alongside you. Need a friend on the journey? Be a friend to someone else on the journey.
Blessings as you continue your journey, as you live into whatever awaits you this week.
For me, I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine and rhythm of "normal" life... whatever that means.
Debra
P.S. Though I couldn't find a version of Kim Hill singing "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord/Strong Tower", here is one version. There are others.
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