Count our blessings at Thanksgiving!

We are here in Minneapolis for Thanksgiving at our daughter's apartment and I read USA Today (November 25, 2009) at the motel. You know the section where there are little news stories for each state? Well the post for Iowa is as follows:

Des Moines - Authorities said the church where more than two dozen parishioners were sickened had used gasoline generators for months to power the building. Authorities said fumes from the generators flowed back into the building on Sunday as a choir rehearsed, injuring 26 children and two adults. The church used the generators because it owed $3,200 in utility bills.

Puts a new light on the Stewardship drive.

Family Literacy Program Cooking Class

Since September 15, 2009, there has been a family literacy program meeting here at the Church of Peace. This program is a cooperative effort of the Regional Office of Education, Blackhawk College, the Rock Island Library, Rock Island School District #41 and the Church of Peace. It turns out that the need of most of our students is for learning the English language, and most of the program is classroom instruction. At the same time, there is also a need to learn some practical language skills, and this is best done through a hands on technique. And everyone likes to eat!

So, one of the practical, hands on, language activities is to cook together. That way the foods are named, and the cooks use their language skills to communicate with each other. So on one day last week the students prepared lunch for each other. This was made possible by a small grant from a group at Royal Neighbors that was used to buy the food. And once the cooking was done the whole group sat down to enjoy a meal together.

Our church secretary, Nora, snapped two photos of the students and teachers together, standing proudly behind their accomplishments!