Christmas Wishes w/ Exciting News...

The Blessings of Peace

The Beauty of Hope

The Spirit of Love

The Comfort of Faith

May these be your gifts this Christmas Season.

For the Houston Rivers peace, hope, love, and faith are our gifts this season as we chose not to do traditional Christmas gift after Lee received some exciting news.

In November Lee applied for the IIE Travel Fellowship Award which grants IIE staff the opportunity to travel abroad to attend an international conference for the purpose of professional development.

Lee applied last year and unfortunately was not selected. This year, with a record number of applicants seeking the award, Lee was one of five recipients selected for 2013. The formal announcement is below:

We are excited for Lee as he is well deserving of this award. They say when you are married you become one, so Lee winning the travel fellowship is like me wining the travel fellowship. Naturally, I will be joining Rivers for the Eastern Europe trip. Also because I acted as his assistant, editor, and cheerleader during the entire process :)

Lee will be attending the European Association for International Education in Prague, Czech Republic:

We will also visit countries such as Hungary (Budapest), Austria, Slovakia, and possibly Poland.

We are super excited for this honor and are looking forward to fulfilling our dreams of traveling the world together. We will be able to check many countries off our "To Visit" list.

We love you all. Have a very Merry Christmas!!

The Houston Rivers, Lee + Q

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from New York City!

The weather is brisk and the sun is bright
On this holiday morning.

I spent Christmas Eve with friends
At Red Rooster

And ended the night
Under a blanket on the sofa
Oliver the Chinchilla
(Yes, I am chinchilla-sitting)
Knawing on sticks in the background.

Today will be quiet.
Spent reflecting
And watching one of my favorite movies of all time
35 Shots of Rum.

I will laugh.
I will cry.
I will think of all of you
Celebrating in your homes all over the country
And my heart will be warmed.

Merry Christmas, family!

Love love and more love,
Harrison

Merry Christmas

just getting ready to watch "A Christmas Carol" with D.A.D.
it's the 1951 version with Allistair Sim- so creepy and grumpy.

had a great breakfast and gift exchange with the Wichita Rivers duo. looking forward to the Junction City duo and Grandma G tomorrow.

Grandma A is back from Texas and is cloistered away in "her room" as she calls it.
she loves coming down for a late breakfast and a cup of coffee.

wishing the Houston duo and the NYC Man much love and blessing this Christmas!

This is What I Want

The D.A.D informed me that I had not told him what I wanted for Christmas. I said what I liked, so I'm restating my declaration:  THIS IS WHAT I WANT!

A like gift cards- Dressbarn, Dillard's, Paul Mitchell
A dark purple KSU sweatshirt. XL
red vine licorice
Regular Coke

Lift Up our Sick Ones!

Mom A is recovering from a cold and will be on her way back to Manhattan in a few days.
Q is recovering from the "cruds". You were a good girl to stay in bed and get taken care of!

Hope everyone else is keeping warm and braving the recent cold weather.
Be careful driving and Har- enjoy wearing your new coat!!

Love you much!

MoM W

Great Thanksgiving/Christmas

Post-Thanksgiving Update: New York City

Hey y'all, 

I hope that everyone is doing well post-Thanksgiving.

I have a few updates: 

1. My proposal for THE LAST QUEEN OF CANAAN (AKA the sharecropping musical) was accepted. I am now the official book writer on the project.

Here is how the musical is described: 

"Kay McKenna, an eager young writer hired by the WPA, travels to Virginia on a mission to collect narratives from former slaves. In Canaan, she meets Cora Skye, a sharecropper who still farms the land she worked as a slave. Each woman wants nothing more than to forget her past. But, in this deeply haunted and slowly healing South, secrets are unearthed, and past and present collide. THE LAST QUEEN OF CANAAN is a powerful tale of legacy and forgiveness with a rich, gospel-infused score."

2. I've worked up about 20 pages of material for BUT BEAUTIFUL (AKA the jazz monologue play) and Ron and I will be submitting it for approval to the Public Theater next week.

3. My play LOOK UPON OUR LOWLINESS has been nominated for the Terrence McNally New Play Award, which annually recognizes "a new play that celebrates the transformative power of art." 

The weather in New York has been unseasonably warm. Fifties every day. Too hot for a coat 
(in my opinion). Hopefully it will cool down soon and maybe even snow.

It was lovely being home for Thanksgiving. Thank you all for your love and encouragement and prayers. I probably would have stopped this writing thing ages ago if not for your support.

Much love,
Harrison