“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”  by Nelson Mandela

The Weather

Today, we have experienced some welcomed and positive changes in our weather here in southeast Washington. The map shows much of the smoke has moved eastward to Idaho and Montana.  This follows several days of heavy smoke and ongoing fires. 

Last week our smoke was mostly from fires in western and central Washington, Oregon, and Northern California including our own small fire locally.

Now, most of the recent smoke has been coming down from Canada where there are several major active fires.

I am only reporting more than I am complaining. It is certainly far worse for those living closer to the fires, those in danger, and those who have experienced losses because of the fires.

Rebuilding the Church

My comments about the Copey church that burned down a year ago prompted some new information about the current efforts to rebuild. Larry Windes, dear friend and architect living nearby Copey, shared the news about the Copey community now working on a new building design. This indicates at least the community’s interest and desire to re-establish a local worship center to serve the Copey community. (Larry shown with his wife Cindy)

It is uncertain how much assistance and financial support the community will receive from the upper levels of the Catholic hierarchy even though the community is a predominantly Catholic community in need of a replacement church.  Hopefully, support will be provided and sufficient to meet the needs of the local and faithful community.

“Friends of Copey” has been patiently waiting to see if the community would decide to rebuild. To rebuild is a very important decision and will take most of the community to work together to accomplish. The other major building interest is the “new” Learning Center which was in the plans before the church burned down. We (Friends of Copey) determined it was unwise to interfere or impact the community’s interest and decision regarding the rebuilding of the church.

Special Birthdays 

Today, one of my dearest cousins celebrates her birthday and on August 26, we will all pay special congratulations to Aunt Katherine Johnson. She will celebrate and enjoy her 100th birthday.  Best wishes and love to cousin Anna and Aunt Katherine.

Other Learning Center News

All appears to be going well with the classroom instruction in the Learning Center. Typically, not much news is really great news. On my end I am eager for our schools to return from summer so we can renew our efforts to get more American students connected to Copey students. We have plans in the near future to attempt a skyping session and there is one school who has expressed interest in setting up a “Pen Pal” arrangement. We fully enjoy our success getting students to talk to students. Stay tuned in for more on this over the next several weeks.