July 14, 2008

Welcome to a beautiful Minnesota Monday morning.

God blessed us with 2 ½ inches or rain Thursday and Friday. It was quite a storm on Friday evening. I had plans to attend the concert at Grace Covenant Church that evening, but with the strong winds (60+ mph) and the heavy rain, I changed my mind. We lost several big branches and many twigs but no trees in our yard. The west side of town seems to have lost many more trees, and even their electricity for about 24 hours.

With the rain our lawn greened up again. The lawn will need to be mowed this week.

Yesterday afternoon, I watched video from the tornado that struck south of Willmar, MN on Friday evening. Oh, the power of wind. I was amazed at the picture of the turkey barn that was blown completely away and all birds still standing as if the barn was still there. As Mom would have said, "God is still in charge."

I got an e-mail last week asking, "How smart are you?" The Question: What do the words "banana, dresser, grammar, potato, revive, uneven and assess" have in common? Answer at the end of this article.

Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m., several of us greeted three busses on their way to Camp Ripley. The busses carried 155 troops returning from Iraq. This is the second time I’ve been at the road’s edge to greet the troops. I hope I do it many more times in the near future. I had goose-bumps as the busses passed by—and I didn’t know anybody on those busses. I can’t imagine the joy and excitement in the hearts of the men and women on those busses. The grandson of one of our employees was one of the returning men.

The other evening we were talking about wedding dance customs. Apparently it is a Polish wedding custom for the bride to dance in a wash tub. Probably in a plastic tub now days, but in the "old days" it was a metal tub with a rug under it. So they really moved around the dance floor. It must make for lots of laughs and excitement.

The Morrison County Fair is next week, July 23 to 26. I always enjoy the fair, especially the 4-H and Homemakers building. I am always so impressed with the beautiful things people make. I didn’t go last year. The weather was too hot. I hope to get there next week.

Answer to the question: In all the words, if you take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word.

Have a good week. Peace and blessings
Sister Mary Lou