More from Wichita

Hey Family!

It is wonderful to hear about the great things taking place for everyone! Only a few items to report from down here: 

As of Thursday we are 12 weeks pregnant! I believe 13 weeks is usually the cut off for the first trimester and from a health standpoint Ashley is very eager to leave it behind. Her battle with bronchitis continues, though we think we are moving forward in a better way now that we have changed medications. Ashley is currently in Texas attending the NACA Institute Huge Leadership retreat, so continual prayers for her for travel and that she is able to get at least a little rest during the hectic schedule! 

Now that Edgemont House has been inspected we have entered into repair negotiations with the buyers, and hopefully we will still be able to maintain an end of June closing date. 

Work is keeping Jonathan busy as Habitat is about to kick off a build taking place during the Wichita Riverfest! Learn more by following the link - www.wichitahabitat.org/riverfest-build/ 

Hopefully it will stop raining so that they can build the 3 bedroom house in the allotted 9 days... fingers crossed! 

And that's about it! Love you all!

Jonathan & Ashley

P.S. we found a potential future friend for the little one 

    

Houstonian Rivers Update

Hola Familia!!!

We hope everyone is well. The Houston Rivers are living the dream and having a blast. Life has been busy, crazy, and hilarious all at once, but we are thankful that our Lord has sustained us through it all.

We just celebrated 5 magical years of wedded bliss. Five is the number of grace and we are thankful for all that God has blessed us with and how He has grown and changed us. We enjoyed a fun weekend in New Orleans at the Jazz Fest with friends and of course ate like gluttons. The following week we went to Costa Rica to celebrate and had a blast eating food, sailing, snorkeling, exploring, seeing sloths and drinking morning coffee with monkeys in the rainforest.

We met a lot of expats and may plan to retire down there in a few years. We just have to pick up a hobby or trade that we can use to support us financially. Lee is leaning towards surf lessons and Q will be a street dancer/juggler/fire blower. We are still working out the kinks. We'll keep you posted.

At this moment, we are taking a short break from packing as we are relocating to a different neighborhood. Our landlord is selling our beloved condo so we are moving to EaDo (East Downtown). No worries visitors, we are still in the inner loop near all of the excitement. Super close to the light rail, the soccer stadium, and baseball field, and obviously downtown which has tons of cultural and food events. We officially move on Monday so that will consume our entire weekend.

Of course Q is extra excited about becoming an aunt again. She has been telling strangers, once again, about the newest Rivers baby!! We cannot wait to meet him/her/them!! We are also excited about the upcoming birthday of nephew #1 and cannot believe how fast he is growing. Every picture we see is just remarkable. Can you all make him stop? We are so proud of him.

Quick Updates:

Lee has been traveling. He just returned from D.C. visiting legislators on the Hill to discuss continued funding for international education. He will continue his travels with a trip to Denver in a few weeks. He has been working on proposals for sponsors, conducting campus visits, sitting on a few focus groups for the restructuring of the organization, and being a general boss. He is closing out the academic year for outreach. Lee has picked out a few marathons that he wants to train for and has been hitting the gym pretty frequently when travel allows.

Q has been busy with presentations, organizing her program more effectively, doing some public policy work in Austin. The month of March was busy with multiple dance performances. She is scheduled to do a table reading for various monologues from “For Colored Girls”, “Lady MacBeth”, “The Colore Purple” and Joe Turner’s “Come and Gone”.  And she is still singing with her young adult choir, Psalms of David. If you like gospel music, check them out:

https://www.facebook.com/danny.davis.77128/videos/10156491764920191/

https://www.facebook.com/john.douglas.524381/videos/1162342523793608/

That is all for now. These boxes won’t pack themselves. We’ll post pictures of the new place soon. Love you all to the moon and back!

L + Q

Grandbaby #2

James and I took a trip down to Wichita to see Jon and Ashley! Just wanted to check in with them to make sure things were OK!  Here's some pics of their place!

HAPPYBIRTHDAYHAPPYBIRTHDAY

We had an early celebration of D.A.D's birthday on Friday

 Landon and I had fun shopping for balloons and ice cream cake!

Dad and I will be going to Kansas City on Sunday to celebrate his 
birthday and our anniversary!

I was trying to use the Airbnb to select a place for us to stay, when I encountered several difficulties. It ended up with me not being able to book a place, but in the series of turnaround events we ended up with a place to stay –  Ken and Dee Canfield's home!

They will be out of town and offered for us to stay at their place.

What a blessing in this guys!

Minnesota Update

Hi all,

Lots to update so I'll get right to it.

1. I have a website!

harrisondavidrivers.com

It's basic, but I like it a lot.
Christopher's mom, who is much more technologically savvy than myself, did most of the design work.

2. I leave for Williamstown in three-ish weeks.

I'll be there all summer serving as Playwright-in-Residence--seeing plays, writing about plays, leading post-play discussions AND working on my own projects.

It was just announced that Liesl Tommy, a 2016 Tony Best Director nominee for "ECLIPSED" that's now on Broadway starring Lupita Nyong'o, will be directing a reading of my play, "WHERE STORMS ARE BORN" in July.

A super exciting fun fact about "WHERE STORMS ARE BORN", which will be produced by Williamstown NEXT Summer (2017) is that Oprah's people are currently reading it as a possible project for her. How exciting would that be?

3. I have several productions opening this fall:

a. My play SWEET will be produced by the National Black Theatre in Harlem. Opening night is
October 22, 2016.

b. My play AND SHE WOULD STAND LIKE THIS will be produced by The Movement Theatre Company in New York City. Opening night is December 5, 2016.

c. I have been commissioned to write a new play for the 21-person BFA Acting Company at the University of Minnesota. It will be an adaptation of Euripides' "ALCESTIS". It will run December 6-8, 2016 in Minneapolis.

(And then I'll hop on a plane to meet RIVERS BABY #2!)

d. My musical FIVE POINTS will be staged as part of 11th Hours Productions season sometime this fall in Philadelphia.

4. FIVE POINTS is a finalist for B-Side Productions' New American Musical Award. If we win, the show will receive a three week workshop in New York City in September.

Whew!

I think that's everything.

The weather's been glorious in Minnesota and I'm trying to soak up as much summer goodness as I can before I leave for the summer. Last night we barbecued with Christopher's best friend, Samantha and her husband Eric and their 2 year old Calvin and today we're catching a Twins game with Christopher's parents.

I hope EVERYONE'S well.

Much love from up North,
H

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congrats to HARRY!!

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