I wanted to know more.  They were glad to assist me.  They discovered that he has various retreats that are segregated according to language. Such as Italian, French, German, English.  I thought that was perfect!

  They said they would not know any details for sure until November, but that the retreat was scheduled for February 25-28, 2001.

  That was all I needed to know and I was off and running!  I began speaking about it to everyone I knew, and word of mouth spread quickly. I was able to put an ad in some local bulletins.  As time went on I had about 10 verbal commitments to go.  Not 25 but there was still time.

  I had written to my priest and asked if he would go.  I told him I was working on the 25 so he could go free!  He responded that he would go, but referred to his mother who never knew what she was going to be up to tomorrow, let alone months from now!!

So I continued to work on recruiting people and was hopeful to get the 25 needed.  Our family of 6 added in was a good jump.

  In September, my eldest came down with mono.  She was out of school for 2 solid weeks.  Slowly her health returned, but having lost so much time she was not a candidate for the journey.  Then my husband said he would stay home with the kids if I wanted to go!!!

This was fine, but I lost 5 people in one swoop.  Then, slowly the others who had verbally promised to go began to drop out one by one.  I began to become a little nervous.

  Perhaps this was a sign I should not go.

Therese Joy

(End of Part 2)