Monday, September 17, 2007

Note from MN

I'm in the library in Litchfield, Minnesota right now, since at Mom and Dad's house one is cut off from the fast-paced world in almost every way--scratchy rotary-dial phone, no daily paper, no radio, no cell phone signal. And certainly no internet.

So Mom has been telling me stories, and I have been writing them down. Which is better than having Internet access.

So now I've been at the library for half an hour and know what my big kids are really up to because I read their Xanga's.

Thanks to all who prayed for my talks at the women's retreat in International Falls. My voice held up very well, I connected with lots of people, and it was a wonderful weekend. However I am realizing, after the fact, the great risk and terror of talking to 300 people at once and how easily what you say can be used against you. What if that story wasn't appropriate, and what do I do about that point I forgot to say, and what if the minister who is adamantly opposed to the retreat listens to the tapes and becomes even stronger in his position?

Ya vell. What was my topic again? Trusting God's promises? Like "thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee."

A number of women at the retreat had read my evaluations of the youth retreat in Idaho and also the BMA convention, and they said they'd be waiting for a similar overview of this weekend.

Not yet, but maybe after I'm home.

Now I get to take my mom out for lunch. Good times.

Quote of the Day:
"Dot gaet aeh nass da billy goat melga." (There he goes out to milk the billy goat.)
--what Aunt Vina said to Uncle Ervin's friend Checky (Jake) when she was a little girl, as she climbed into his buggy and showed him a picture book

6 comments:

  1. No cell phone service? What ever happened to wondering around until you find a couple bars? he he he.

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  2. Yeah, actually, my mind went down the same path as Matilda's. :)

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  3. Dorcas!!! The folks up here in Northern MN want to thank you for taking the risk and sharing your stories with us!! Where would we be if we wouldn't take risks?? And we will never be able to meet everyone's expectations of us! Thank you for being the person God made you to be and for the challenge to accept the design God created in us!
    May God bless you for leaving the "Garden of Eden of the US" to the "Icebox of the Nation"!!!

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  4. Litchfield, Minnesota? If I'm not mistaken, that's where my husband and I ate some of the best ribs we've ever eaten, on one of our flying (in a small plane) trips...Peters' World Class Ribs. I too would enjoy an evaluation of the retreat, having been there myself! The first year I went I was overwhelmed with all the different styles of veils and counted 14 distinct categories, with variations in the categories yet! I tried not to get hung up on that detail this year! I loved your quote of the day! It took me awhile to get the joke! :)

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  5. I am still basking in the glow of setting a stage and seeing God show up!!! It is so much work but I have discovered that anything of much value usually is. I have very few regrets from the weekend but one of them is that I really wished I could have spent more personal time with you and have gotten to know you better. I have read your writing for the last few years and feel I "know" you from there and I am certain we would be friends. :-) I LOVE your sense of humor and how you see stories in everyday happenings. Blessings to you!!

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  6. to matilda and amy--I went looking for bars and found only a few and they didn't seem to want to do any business, if you get my drift.

    thanks to all for the encouragement and reassurance.

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