The Blessings Guild: The Beginning

Part Three:

"You don't really need everyone here for this, do you?" Jamie's brother Jeremy asked as he opened the car door next to Jamie.

Jamie whispered back to him, "This is the first drop-off; everyone needs to know how to do it so we are more effective later!"

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "You kids think this is so fun, sneaking around, don't you?"

Jamie grinned. "Yup!"

All the girls gathered around Jamie. "No wheelchair?" Emmaline asked.

"Nope, I don't need it." With a dramatic pause, Jamie announced, "Jeremy can carry me."

"We do this all the time when Jamie's wheelchair can't fit through tight places," Jeremy explained. "I'll carry her, and you kids carry the baskets."

Jamie handed out the baskets from Jeremy's car. Emmaline was assigned one, as was Leelee. The girls without baskets stayed at the edge of the property. Jamie was ready to make them take notes on the proceedings for next time, but her mom said it wasn't necessary. No one but Jamie was disappointed at that!

Closer and closer the girls, Jeremy, and Leelee's guide dog crept to the house. One by one, each girl dropped her basket by the door. Then, Jamie reached out for the doorbell.

Diing-dong.

"Scatter!" Jamie whispered excitedly.

By the time the Hansens opened the door, Jamie was in the car, seatbelt on, and Jeremy was starting the engine. The other girls in the other cars were already down the street.

Later, after the other girls had gone home, Emmaline was saying her goodbyes to Jamie.

"I had a great time tonight. I can't wait to do it again."

"Glad you did," Jamie replied with a smile. She followed Em to the door. "See, this old thing didn't stop me at all." She tapped her wheelchair. "God can use everyone in some way."

Emmaline smiled. "Yes, He can."

THE END

The Blessings Guild: The Beginning

Jamie and Emmaline passed out the badges to all the girls. One badge lay at the bottom of their baggie.

Emmaline glanced at Jamie. "Who's that one for?"

"Well..." Jamie thought a moment. "I have a friend at therapy who might want to join. Let me ask her. But you haven't heard my first plot yet."

"Okay, what is it?" Emmaline asked.

Jamie beckoned her close, and whispered in her ear. Emmaline smiled.

"All right, then, I'll see you tomorrow night. How are you going to manage with – well, I mean..." Emmaline let her words trail off, and gestured hopelessly to Jamie's wheelchair.

"I have a plan, don't you worry!" Jamie wheeled away to her parents' van.

Emmaline shrugged. When Jamie had a plan – it usually turned out all right.



At Jamie's house the next evening, the Blessing Guild met. Each girl brought something – cans of food donated by their parents, some fresh vegetables from their family's garden, and, wonder of all wonders, a little cooler with frozen goods in it. Lastly, the twin sisters Jessica and Janine brought bread and cookies; baked just that morning.

"Okay, what's next?" Jessica asked. Her black pigtails bounced with excitement.

"You and Janine can put all the food into the baskets. My mom gave them to us." Jamie pushed a stack of baskets across the table to the girls.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Jamie's mom got it, while the girls continued to make their plans. Emmaline was in charge of a group of three, to decorate the baskets. The other girls were going to crochet & knit dishcloths. In one hour, each girl could have one done.

"Hey, how's it going?"

A dog barked. The girls turned. Behind them stood a fifteen-year-old girl, and a dog. Across the dog's back was spread a coat that said "Service Dog". The girl unlatched its harness and walked slowly to the table.

"Chair on your right, Leelee." Jamie said quickly. "Girls, this is my friend Leelee. We go to the same therapist, who teaches us to do things that we might not otherwise be able to."

Leelee smiled. "After the accident, I didn't think I'd ever get to crochet or knit again, but my therapist taught me how." She paused ,then continued. "Could each of you say your names so I know whose voice is whose?"

The girls complied eagerly, and soon they chattered with Leelee as naturally as with Jamie.

The hour sped by.
"Okay, time to go!" Jamie called. "Dishcloths into the last basket!"

She held the basket out to Leelee. The older girl cautiously reached out for it, and gripped the handle. Then, she dropped her dishcloth inside. The other girls added their dishcloths on top, and the basket was done.

"But, Jamie, how are you going to sneak up to the Hansen family's house? That wheelchair isn't going to roll across the lawn very well," Emmaline pointed out.

"Wait and see!" replied Jamie.

To be continued...

The Blessings Guild: The Beginning

One out of a series...

Emmaline slammed her knitting onto the table. I can't do it! she thought.

The phone rang persistently.

"Are you going to get that, Em?" Adam yelled.

Emmaline sighed. Brothers. "Yeah, I guess." She picked up the reciever. "Hello?"

"Em, want to come over?" Emmaline's best friend chattered. Jamie was never one to waste time with preambles. "I just learned a new stitch – and I have a great idea!"

"Only if I don't have to bring that afghan," Emmaline groaned. "It's going to take me years to make it at the rate I'm going!"

Jamie laughed. "Bring it, and I'll work on it a bit for you!"

Fifteen minutes later, Emmaline tossed the afghan into Jamie's lap – then untangled the skein of yarn from her wheelchair.

"Sorry about that," Jamie apologized. "That old thing just gets in the way of everything."

"You can't help that; don't feel sorry," Emmaline consoled. "What's all the clay on the table for?"

"I'm making beads." Jamie rolled her wheelchair closer to the table. "There's a girl at church; she likes to make jewelry and can't afford nice beads. So I decided to surprise her and make her some pretty ones."

"Cool." Emmaline sat down. "Can I make beads and you knit?"

"Sure. Actually, this was part of my idea." Jamie smiled. "Let's start a club. We can call it the Blessings Guild, and make blessings to give to other people."

"Like what you're doing with the beads?" Emmaline eyed the clay.

Jamie nodded. "I even made up little badges for us! See? Mini knitting needles in a ball of clay 'yarn'!"

So it was decided. Jamie and Emmaline made a dozen badges in all colors. After church the next day, Emmaline dropped a sack of beads in the window of the car belonging to the girl who needed beads. Meanwhile, Jamie gathered nearly all the girls in church around her wheelchair in the parking lot.

"Are you with me?" she called out to the others as Emmaline jogged up.

The lot resounded with the girls' cheers.

Note to all readers: sorry about the formatting issues; I can't seem to fix them! I'll try again next post. :)

A Tale of a Princess

This story is meant to be read to a young child...




Once upon a time, there were three children who lived in a great castle. Emerald was much, much older than either Diamond and Amethyst; and Diamond was much, much younger than either Amethyst and Emerald.

Every day they would go out and play in the gardens, with the paved stones underfoot, and the bushes and flowers all around in little flowerbeds. Emerald would bring his marbles, Amethyst her books, and Diamond brought herself. Each would enjoy the others' toys: Emerald taught the girls how to play marbles; Amethyst read aloud; and Diamond was loved by both.

Diamond especially loved Emerald's marbles. Pretty things they were, clear with colorful designs on the inside. She would roll them across the pavement just to see the sun shine through the colors.

So it was that she and Emerald were racing marbles down the pavement, running alongside them as a dark form glided down behind them.

Next thing they knew, Amethyst was calling for help as a cloaked figure threw her on the back of a dragon. Before anyone could do anything, the dragon was gone.

Emerald, with Diamond in his arms, ran to the castle. Fifteen minutes later, he and his father were in full armour and in the air, following the dragon on their flying horses.

Little Diamond was left to the care of nurses, for her mother had been ill a long time and needed to rest.

The eldest daughter of her nurse came over to play, but she did not know how to play marbles. She only wanted to dress Diamond up like a doll. Indeed, Diamond was as pretty as one, in her lovely dresses. But Diamond didn't like being a doll. After all, she was five already; a big girl.

Diamond toyed with Emerald's marbles. Even rolling them on the pavement was uninteresting without Emerald playing with her. Amethyst's books made no sense to Diamond without her sister reading them.

The next day was the same. No siblings to play with. Nurse brought Diamond a new dress of shades of gorgeous blue, but Diamond didn't care. She wanted Amethyst and Emerald.

Finally, several days later, Emerald and Father came home...but without Amethyst.

"Daddy, where's Amethyst?" Diamond asked.

But her father could not answer. Emerald had no answer either.

Perplexed, Diamond wandered all over the castle, asking everyone where her sister was. No one could tell her. Emerald joined his father again on the search for Amethyst the next morning.

So once again, Diamond was alone.

This time, though, she came up with a new idea so she would not be so bored all by herself.

"Hello, nursie!" she said when her nurse came in to check on her. "Look at what I drew!"

The nurse peered through her thick glasses at the pages of the sketchbook.

Each page was filled with a full-color picture: stick figure-populated villages, bright green hillsides, smiling sunshines, and colorful rainbows.

"I am going to take these to everyone who misses Amethyst. Then it won't be so long until she comes home."

So she did. She took a picture to the cook, the stable-boy, and the maid. She left one in her brother's room for him to find when he came home.

Finally, she begged Nurse to take her to her mother's room. She crept in oh-so-quietly, and laid her drawing on the bed. Then she turned and fled.

"Diamond!" her mother called.

Diamond turned.

"Thank you for your picture," Mother said. "It's lovely, and it brightened my day."

At that very moment, a voice called from the door.

"Mother, we're back!"

Emerald stood in the doorway, his face beaming. Leaning on his arm, bedraggled, but happy, was Amethyst. Father came in behind them. Diamond lost all her bright words as she saw her beloved sister.

A few minutes later, as they all sat on Mother's bed, laughing and talking as they had not for many a long day, Diamond finally found words for her joy.

"I love you all!"

The Adventures of Microwave Mitt Monsters: A Creatures of Etsy Feature

The Continued Adventures of the Microwave Mitt Monsters

Dear Roy,

RoadToGrinnell has so many cute cards, and tags, and gift bags, and oh, I wanted to take some home with me. And she has headbands. You know, I heard MTIS talking about those headbands. She has one and thinks it's the best headband she's ever had! I don't know why human girls like headbands so much. I'm a girl and I don't wear headbands. Oh well...humans are strange, IMO.

Mike was thoroughly bored. He wandered off after a while; I'm not sure what he did. But I had so much fun last night, I am going to go out again, if I can get Mike to go with me!

Your sister,

Wayve


Dear Roy,

Yup, it was just like I thought it would be. Quite boring. Why do girls want to send cards to everyone? Guess they must like getting mail or something like that.

I decided to do an Etsy search for chainmaille. You are going to have to check this out, bro, it's so cool! Maybe you can convince your human to buy a keychain made out of this totally cool stuff. See? http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16556290

I think I might go look for more interesting stuff on Etsy tomorrow night. Seems Wayve wants to go, so I might as well take her!

Your brother,
Mike


Dear Mike and Wayve,

Glad you had fun last night! I may have to join you sometime! Maybe we can meet in the chatroom or the forums and go browsing from there?

It's been a lot easier to keep in touch than I thought it'd be. Etsy has a lot of ways to contact each other. We'll never lose contact!

Well, I hate to run, but I hear my human coming home from work. I'll talk to you some other time!

Love,
Roy



Coming up next time: a read-aloud fairy tale for children.

The Adventures of Microwave Mitt Monsters: A Creatures of Etsy Feature

Mike, Roy, and Wayve are three Microwave Mitt Monsters who live in the shop of MoreThanItSeams. Mike and Wayve are waiting for forever homes, but Roy has already found his!

Without Roy around, Mike and Wayve have been very lonely. So they convo each other back and forth. Let's read over their shoulders for the next few days...

Dear Roy,

It's quite boring without you here. Hope your human likes you; we sure miss you here. :)

Mike and I are going to do some exploring on Etsy tonight after MTIS goes to bed. Her friend RoadToGrinnell has the loveliest cards – I peeked when MTIS was looking at them – and I want to take a closer look.

Your sister,

Wayve

Dear Roy,

Wayve is going to make me look at cards tonight. Girly stuff. Even more boring than sitting in the shop all day without you! Please convince her to find something better to look at.

Your brother,

Mike

Dear Mike and Wayve,

Yes, my human likes me a lot. Don't worry, your days will come soon!

Hey, sounds like fun! Wayve, have a nice time tonight snooping. Just don't make too big of a mess or RoadToGrinnell might complain. ;) Mike, Wayve will be safe in RTG's shop, you can go look for some good guy stuff. Let me know what you found!

Your brother,

Roy

To be continued...

Greetings!

Hi!

This blog combines two loves of mine: Etsy and story-writing.

Each post is going to be a story which includes a number of different items that I find on Etsy.

I choose the items from a list of applicants, as well as browsing on Etsy! I try to include some "free" items as well as some that pay for the priviledge of advertising on my blog. (I will choose from applicants at my discretion)

The small fee is for my time taken in writing these promotional stories. I do have to pay for things like yarn and a car and other living costs! :) I don't really want to end up as a "starving author". :) See below for rates.

All stories will be clean and positive. No swearing or rough language, no blood, no adult content.

So follow me – tell your friends – convo with your application – this is a great opportunity for your items to be seen and remembered!

Giveaways and contests are welcome: if you would like to sponsor one, let me know!

Rates:

Custom Story: $25 (a full post focusing around your item, with your theme of story. Very hard position to get!!!)

Creatures of Etsy feature: $15 (a full post focusing around your creature)

Regular Story Main Feature: $15 (the story (my themes) is written with your item as a main focus talking about it multiple times)

Regular Story Minor Feature: $8 (the story (my themes) includes your item as a minor piece.)

I take Paypal or trades only. Payment due after the story is written but before it is posted.

Convo me through my Etsy shop (www.morethanitseams.etsy.com) to apply! :)

I reserve the right to reject applicants on any and all grounds. Sorry, I just don't have the time or resources to do everyone's items! I have to draw the line somewhere! :)