Friends,

My husband and I just got home from a long car trip, 4 weeks!  We traveled to see family and friends in Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin!  To help pass the time for 6,905 miles, I reread This Tender Land, to start preparing questions and thinking about items for the display case to enrich our understanding of this epic story.  My eyes would drift out the car window and catch glimpses of the many rivers, large and small, that flow through our diverse landscape.  I kept thinking of a canoe with four kids making their way to safety, family and home.  I love how a good book lingers with us, even when we aren’t reading it!

We are so grateful that the author, Kent Krueger, has set aside time to Zoom with us on September 26th!  He so enjoyed his time with us a couple of years ago when we read his book, Ordinary Grace.  Kent has waved his speaking fee for us, but asks us to make a donation to the An Dah Yung Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.  “An dah yung” means our home in Ojibwe.  This organization provides all kinds of support and resources to Native American youth and families in the Twin Cities area, and Krueger has long been a supporter of its important work.  Click here for a link to An Dah Yung's web site for more information.  We will be collecting a free will offering on September 26, but you can contribute beforehand by clicking here.  Under fund, click Directed Gift and put OBOC - This Tender Land in the memo field.

Finally, in my last blog, I attributed the quote below to Toni Morrison, but it actually was written by Maya Angelo. 

         “Do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.” 

                                                                                 Maya Angelou

Gratefully,

 Janice Mack