Rhode Island: FWCC report call-in

I talked to Robin M. last night and tonight. She got to Providence, R.I., safely, ahead of the winter storm today, for the Friends World Committee for Consultation meeting. Some very interesting people are in her worship sharing group. Much as I'd love to get the scoop, I will let her reveal names and affiliations when she blogs about it later.

Today Robin, Wess Daniels, Shawna Roberts, and David Male (the last two both from Ohio Yearly Meeting), led the first workshop on "Convergent Friends: Reclaiming the Power of Primitive Quakerism in a Postmodern World." They run the workshop again Saturday. She said it went well, that some people had concerns and others were enthusiastic. She is very glad she went.

Robin and Wess have both already linked to their workshop handout, but in case you missed it, I'll do it, too: It's here. It's pretty sharp.

Meanwhile, here at home, the boys have had a lovely couple of days of playdates yesterday and today. Eight Year Old had a field trip to Angel Island, the West Coast's former immigration station. His main report back was that they were able to play on the beach, and that he successfully got one rock to skip three times! And, yeah, somebody said something about immigration.

Tomorrow we're going with another family to see the heron and egret rookery at Audubon Canyon Ranch, whose URL is so cool I'm going to call it out separately: www.egret.org. I've been to the Bolinas Lagoon there many times, but never the Ranch.

At work, I was able to put in almost my usual hours, thanks to Robin having arranged those playdates. (Oh boy, I could post about the three or four pieces of legislation we're working on, plans for Affordable Housing Week in May, and the membership retreat I'm running on Monday... but I would get too tired.)

(Or I could post about the discernment task I'm facing in relation to my own monthly meeting, but it's too soon to talk about that... I was sitting in quiet reflection about that earlier this evening and did almost literally fall asleep. Which is a sign that I need to end this post already and get some sleep!)

Finally, I meant to post this the other day before Robin left, so here it is now, better late than never:

24 The LORD bless you
and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.

-- Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)