Where in the world is Lizzie*Kate?

I'm still here in Kansas, looking out my office window at the sandpit lake in our backyard, dreaming of the coast!

I haven't blogged since March 28...yikes! After so many inquiries about the "future of the L*K blog", I decided it was time for an update.

Thanks to all of you for being so patient with me during this incredibly busy period of our lives. Since we announced our L*K retirement on February 12, life just hasn't been the same. We were swamped with orders and our little L*K world headquarters was strained with the volume. 

On our path to retirement, we were suddenly busier than we had been for the previous 22 years at L*K. It was completely unexpected, thrilling and overwhelming. We finished shipping orders to needlework shops around the world by the end of April. 

But we're not done yet!!! We have spent the last few months reprinting, assembling and shipping hundreds (and hundreds) of pounds of L*K inventory to our distributors. Needlework shops can then order from these distributors.

We pored over sales records for the past several years, and consulted again...and again...with the distributors trying to get them the right quantities of everything they desired. With hundreds of different items in our inventory, it has been a long process.

Almost empty shelves at L*K headquarters

We also reached an agreement with 123 Stitch.com to continue selling our L*K kits. Because of distributor fees, we had never "allowed" kits into distribution, and it was not feasible to do this going forward. This new agreement will enable many of our kits to still be available to you through 123 Stitch.com. 

WHEW! We are still in the L*K office, extending our lease on a month to month basis with our flexible landlord, hoping every month that will be our last. Really...I think we'll be done by the end of August. We're having a big office sale in a couple weeks to sell dozens of racks and other office equipment.

One of my friends shared some wisdom saying that "Closing your business will be the hardest thing you've ever done". And we agree...much more time-consuming than we had ever anticipated. Hey - we've never done this before!

So what's next???

The short answer is "we need some free time to determine how we want to spend more free time!". Does that make sense?

We are excited to have more time to spend with family and friends, and are excited to pursue more volunteer activities. And, of course, more TRAVEL! We returned recently from 2 weeks in Spain visiting our daughter and husband (who live in Barcelona) and touring their beautiful country.

I've been active for many years on a school partnership team at my church. After weekly events for a long time, I almost "dropped out" the past couple years when I was busy managing my mom's care and daily needs. Now I'm excited to rejoin the team and go "back to school" this fall.

Could they be any cuter?

What's a church/school partnership?

It's so cool!! Over 10 years ago our church began a partnership with the elementary school closest to our church building. It's near downtown and has a high poverty rate. Most of the children speak Spanish in their homes.  A few years ago we expanded this ministry to another nearby elementary school. These schools are wonderful and interesting places!

Basically, we do what a really supportive parent group might do. We send a team of tutors and mentors into the building every week. We also work with the social worker, principle, nurse, whoever makes a request...to do special projects for the teachers and the students. We furnish school uniforms, underwear, socks, even a washer and dryer to do laundry. And more...

This week we're hosting Back to School Luncheons for the entire staff of each school. We invite them to our church building and we dine together. This is the week that the teachers return to school. The students won't be there until next week!

I'm off to serve taco salad and ice cream sundaes to a big school staff this morning...thanks for reading!!!

***I've missed sharing my life with you all. If you're interested in future posts, please send me a COMMENT below. I promise to share more cross stitch related content, too!