Visitors from the South (Well, Kind of South)

As I typed the title above I was reminded of a conversation I had with someone over the phone this past weekend. After we finished talking he asked about the 314 area code of my phone number. When I told him it was a St. Louis number he said, "Ah, that explains the 'ya'll' you threw in there." So, to some St. Louis is indeed south.

Anyway, Pat and Paula came up this past weekend to visit. They made it on Thursday night in time for dinner. Friday we toured the provincial house and college grounds here, had a wonderful, long walk along the river, and visited with Paula's friends from her time in Hawaii. What a jolly group they were. Friday night we invited three sisters here (Connie, Shawn, and Adele) to join us at home for dinner. Saturday brought us to the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit at the art museum, a simple lunch out, and time to rest before mass and dinner with the vocation team here. Great Vietnamese food! It was a quick weekend as Pat and Paula left early Sunday with an extra hour of sleep. What a wonderful visit.

Last week we got very exciting news here at Sarah's. (I can write this as I'm pretty confident that none of the women here are checking my blog and I think this is supposed to be a surprise.) I suppose the persistent stories that Krista and I shared about the little computer problems we occassionally have paid off as a monetary gift that was given to Sarah's was used to purchase all new computers for the activity room. The boxes came on Friday and Krista and I spent all day yesterday disassembling the old computers, cleaning everything, and setting up all of the new equipment. From huge, old monitors to sleek, black flatscreens the desks almost look naked down here. We have managed so far (we think) to keep it a secret from the women. It will be fun to unveil the surprise tomorrow after dinner. For those women who use the computers regularly (not to mention myself) it is quite a gift. Of course, now that we have these nice computers that would let me upload some pictures, my cord is at home. So maybe I'll add one later on. For now, up to make some German chocolate cake for dinner tomorrow.

May peacemaking prevail on earth today.

--Sarah