Minnesota Update

Hello all!

I'm writing to you from the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, where I have been staying since Friday, with my new friend (and playwright) Josh Wilder.

I'll be crashing on his couch until this coming Friday (August 1st) when I officially move into my year-long residence in St. Paul.

My address there is:

2294 Priscilla Street
St. Paul, MN 55108

OR you can also ALWAYS send mail to The Playwrights' Center:

2301 East Franklin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55406

I hit the ground running last week--with job interviews at both The Guthrie and The National Theatre for Children. I have secured employment at both institutions and will most likely start training this week.

I am hanging out with Joanna Smit Nelson tomorrow--she's in town visiting her husband's family--and I will most likely see Julian Ryba-White and Ranjan Muthukrishnan in the very near future, as they have both recently moved to St. Paul.

For the time being, I will be spending my days writing writing and writing some more. There is so much to do--and I only have a year to do it in!

Much love to you all.

H

morning peeps!

while we are celebrating #2's BDAY, i would updates from the family.
need to here from the new minnesota man. also need to get an update on ashley's grandma.

Manhattan Rivers
grandma's test went well. no signs of anything wrong. spent the weekend here at our house resting. might want to give her a call this week just to chat and say hello.
update on dad's eye surgery. did a checkup with the doctor and the pressure is on his eye has gone down significantly. dr. was very pleased. pressure in the other eye is still high, so we will do the surgery on the left eye in october.

let the updating begin...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE

mr lee - travel man. already broken the seal on 30,
one more year is just icing on the cake!

HAPPY B DAY!

love you much #2

hope all goes well in nyc and you have a great 

celebration of you when you get home

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES

happy birthday #3

had a great birthday breakfast with mr. james!

29 and fine. just think...you can offically say that all year!

you are a blessing to us! we are so proud of who you are continuing to be.

it's awesome to sit back and watch it all happen in front of us!

here's to a great year!!!

Houston Rivers Update

Hola Familia!!

We hope everyone is doing well. From the recent posts it sounds like everyone is blessed, and that makes our hearts glad :)

Things are cooking down here in Houston. Literally, it is so hot you can fry an egg on the side walk. Pops must have taken the decent weather with him back to Kansas. Speaking of which... it was such pleasure having him visit the city, seeing the sites, and eating great food. Of course there was pie... with whipped cream.

   

 


He even went shopping at the Galleria for 2 hours. Rivers wanted to keep going, but Pops and Q were ready to throw in the towel. Thanks for letting us borrow him Momma Wandean.

Here is the latest and greatest with the Rivers 2.0 Team

Rivers

• Lots of travel coming up (Outreach in New Orleans starting July 15 and training in NYC starting July 22)
• Lee's Birthday July 27... secret surprises pending
• Lee was recently elected as Chairman of the Generation Study Abroad Marketing and Outreach Committee, and he will be featured in a promo video coming soon to theaters near you :)
• Lee has been taking longer bike rides... we may need to upgrade the bike soon with some higher gears
• Both went and took our photos to update passports for our Europe trip in the Fall
• Lee recently became the proud Uncle of Landon Ramsey Rivers.

Q

• Training in El Paso, TX on Economic Justice for Survivors
• Preparing a variety of paper/poster presentations on the following topics: Male Victims of Domestic Violence; Mental Illness & Intimate Partner Violence; and of course Minor Sex Trafficking. The goal is to submit proposals at various conferences in Texas to train and educate advocates in the field
• Selected for the Planning Committee for the 2014 Big Dipper Dash for Human Trafficking Awareness Month in September
• Was recently selected to assist in the training of over 50 Assistant Attorney Generals in the State of Texas on Family Violence Criminal Cases
• Recently joined one of the choirs at church - Psalms of David (POD) Ministry. Good times!
• Hosting a Ladies Book Club at the end of the month
• New Hobby: Spending time on Facebook looking for recently posted pictures of Landon to add to our Wall of Landon in our living room.

Well, that about wraps it up down here in the Bayou City. We are trying to stay cool, but not get in the habit of being stuck in the house during the warm summer. Anyone else up for a visit, just let us know!! 

Hugs,

~ Uncle Lee and Aunt Q (formerly know as just Lee and Q)

Wichita Update

Hello Family!

Here's what's new down in Wichita - work is going well for me, very busy but enjoyable. This time next week I will be celebrating my 3rd year at the Foundation! I just returned from a short trip to Atlanta, where I attended a Public Health conference (July 8-10) and I am so happy to be back home with my wonderful wife! Looking towards the future I have been exploring new opportunities to continue my own professional and personal development. 

After quite a bit of research I am looking to hopefully start classes this fall at Friends University pursing a Masters in Business Administration. Upon revisiting Ashley's benefit package we discovered that their tuition remission policy is very generous for spouses and will cover the entire cost of a graduate degree. Whats more, the program is designed with the adult learner in mind - 8 weeks of one class at a time, once a week in the evening, year round. In the next few weeks I will meet with the dean of school of business and hopefully be all set! Hopefully it will all work out!  

Ashley, having conquered pneumonia, whooping cough, nausea/fever/back pain, and wisdom teeth removal, is naturally exhausted! But we're not quite out of the woods yet; to prevent further oral issues, Ashley had to get braces today. 

  
A rogue tooth is lodged in her upper gums with the potential to cause continued oral pain and gum disease, so we decided it was in our best interest to go ahead and take some preventative actions. The braces will make additional in the mouth and work to pull the tooth into place. It has been a rough year for Ashley, so thank you all so much for your prayers and words of encouragement! And while things aren't the nicest at the moment, we are very thankful that for the blessings God has given us to be able to address all of these challenges. Hope you are all well!  

Love you all tons!

Jonathan & Ashley

New York Update

Hello all,

My last day at the Tenement Museum is Tuesday, July 15th.
I leave for Minneapolis on Tuesday, July 22nd.
I will be using cousin Janet's home address as my address until I find an apartment.
It is:
920 Logan Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55421.
I am presently tying up lose ends
And packing
And saying goodbye.
I'm sad
But excited.

It will definitely be an adventure.

Much love,
Harrison

time for updates again

i know that we text each other. call. and on occasion, see each other in bodily form.
but...i need updates for everyone to be on the same page.
so have at it!
the D.A.D. just got back from a visit to Houston. i missed him of course, but i was busy tending grandma a. she is feeling better and will see the dr this week. i will give an update later.
we also have a couple of birthdays coming down the pike. the grandma's, james and lee!
be sure to load them up with calls, texts, cards and visits if possible.
i will be pulling another long event with my sunday school kids. we will be going to the zoo for an overnighter. hopefully, i won't have to threaten them with cages. we will spend the night in the new education building, do crafts, take a night tour of the zoo, watch a movie and have a visit from one of the furry creatures lives there.

Landon's Book

i made this book for my dad. he totally caught me off guard when he called and asked about being a great-grandpa. it's funny. just because someone seems distant, it doesn't mean that they don't care.
i had it mailed to him, so it should be fun to hear from him.
here is the link to the digital version, enjoy! Landon's Book