One year
ago today we moved to Morristown, Tennessee. So many good happenings have been
part of our lives – here are some of the highlights. However, we have so many
readers around the world in many countries, and I must say that we strongly
oppose the unraveling of our moral national fabric. I love our system of
democracy which has a long history of respect among people of different
opinions, but our president has lost the trust of many Americans – we hope that
as more citizens and elected officials find the courage to speak out, we will
see changes and begin to rebuild our partnership with people of good will
around the world.
So –
what are we doing these days?
Irene
has been busy. We’ve been married since 2009, but Irene kept her last name (in
order to get her Peace Corps security clearance, she had to apply using the
name she had ‘used for at least 2 years’), so in May we petitioned the County
Court , and she is now officially Mrs. Irene Ledesma Lawrence!
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| ...at the courthouse: Meet Mrs. Lawrence |
She is
thrilled to have started work with the local Head Start agency as a Teacher’s
Assistant. After our experience in Jamaica, Irene decided that her passion was
to continue giving by teaching little kids – I am so proud of her. Also, she is
continuing her education in a college program to earn her ECE (Early Childhood
Education) Certificate.
And, she
has grown as an artist – doing amazing work…both painting and photography. She
will have a booth at the big “Arts in the Park” fair in September, and she had
a piece accepted for a juried show too. Check out her website www.DiGrayLady.com.
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| Colorado Columbine |
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| Universe Applauds |
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| California Poppies |
Steve
started two new projects recently. He will be teaching 2 freshman classes in
American Government at Walters State Community College, and he is continuing
his work in international education as a teacher for www.Global-LT.com providing customized ESL
and integration support for large local corporations’ new managers and
engineers relocating to Morristown from other countries.
Who
would have thought that a girl from Southern California and a guy from New York
City would love living in rural Tennessee so much? We are a mile away from one
of many large lakes and we can even see a bit of the Great Smokey Mountains
from our house. Morristown has great theatre, a good college, some fun
restaurants, very good medical care, and of course very welcoming neighbors. No
state income tax and low cost utilities contribute to a very affordable cost of
living; we wish the nearest ocean beach was closer than a 5-hour drive, but…our
life is good!
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| Lunch at Brumley's in nearby Greenville, TN |
