It’s me, your CAIR communications director, back from last week’s vacation! It was spring break at SMSU, and for the first time in my life, I went on an actual spring break trip – two friends and I headed to Vegas, which is, as I was dismayed to discover upon landing, a town that wants to eat your money. I did not gamble, apart from losing $20 in an airport slot machine, but I did spend a lot of time squinting at menu prices.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…” and Medicare has adopted this “weighty” idea. Medicare covers preventative services at 100% to prevent and/or detect diseases early when they are most easily treated. Diabetes is one such disease.
Coni Sederstrom, Shirley Olson & Rhian Debban went to the Sons of Norway at the KiloWatt Community Center in Granite Falls last Sat. afternoon. Rhian gave a speech on Norwegian Vikings. Coni & Shirley served lunch.
In February, MAMLN partnered with the Living at Home Block Nurse Program in Granite Falls and brought The Remember Project to our area. We heard very positive comments from those who participated. On Thursday, March 24, a third short play entitled, “In the Garden” will be performed. This play is set in the home of Arthur Monsetin where his three grown children have gathered after the death of their mother. They have come to try to decide a course of action for their beloved father who is struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. At times Arthur may wander off, lash out in anger or forget the names of his grandchildren. At other times he is lucid, funny, and wise. Each of Arthur’s children has a very different view about what is best, yet one thing is clear: their love for their father will guide the way.
There’s an old saying many people like to console others with when life is very hard, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” When I hear that, I cringe. This saying says that it is God that gives us our problems, our worries, and our stresses. Take a breath here! God, our Creator, loves us. This old saying seems to have roots in 1 Corinthians 10:13 but somewhere along the way it got twisted. The verse is “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” God tempts no one as we are reminded in James 1:13, “No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.” God tempts no one and God leads no one into problems, worries, or stresses.
The Alzheimer’s Association statistics about memory loss in Minnesota shed some light on its prevalence. They are from the 2021 report at alz.org/facts. The number of people aged 65+ with Alzheimer’s is projected to be 120,000 by 2025 which is an increase of 21.2% from 2020. Last year, there were 170,000 people providing 155,000,000 hours of unpaid care. Dementia caregivers today are providing 20% more care than in 2009. Whether it is you, a loved one, a customer or neighbor, memory loss is something that touches everyone in our communities, and I would like to share some of the resources available.
March is Women’s History Month. Women have made a huge impact on policies and understanding of Domestic Abuse. One group we want to recognize would be the Women from the Duluth Model. The Duluth Model helped to change the way community members think of domestic violence. This model is an inter-agency approach that brings justice, human service, and community interventions together around the primary goal of protecting victims from ongoing abuse. The Duluth Model was started in 1980-1981. Eleven community agencies (police, prosecutors, probation, mental health agencies, as well as others) took part in this experiment. The goal of this experiment was to bring criminal, civil justice, and community agencies together to work in an interrelated way to respond to domestic abuse cases.
How do we ask something of the God? We pray. Merriam-Webster. com defines prayer as an address (such as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought, and an earnest request or wish. I learned to pray when I was too little to remember when I learned to pray. It feels like I’ve always known I should pray. I’ve always been comfortable talking to God about what I want. I’ve prayed prayers of praise to God for the joys of all creation I get to experience. I’ve prayed prayers of thanks to God for many good things I’ve received. I’ve prayed prayers of lament when I shout out to God that I am unhappy with the way things are turning out.
Be sure to pick up a copy of the March 31st edition of the Advocate Tribune to grab a coloring sheet for the Granite Falls Area Chamber of Commerce coloring contest! Saturday, March 12th: Granite Falls Downtown Pub Crawl THIRD ANNUAL Granite Falls Downtown Flannel Pub Crawl begins at 4 p.m. Bar hop between Granite Bowl, Bluenose Gopher Public House and the Granite Falls American Legion for food specials, games, music and more.
Settling into her new role as a stay-at-home mother, Anaïs Johnson, of Clarkfield, started brainstorming ideas for something to do that would be a unique home-based business. What she came up with, a couple of months ago, was a home-based resale site that operates on Instagram in which parents looking to find trendy, affordable, gently used baby clothes could purchase them easily from the comfort of their home.