Summer's winding down!

Wow, lots of things are happening--so I thought I should update my blog (finally)--if I have any readers left!

Mark has been on a bike trip from Minneapolis to Yellowstone. He and his two buddies have had adventures that I can't wait to hear about in person. They've been gone for almost five weeks, and about two weeks ago decided they were going to return home via Amtrak. So, tomorrow they will board the train in Havre, MT and arrive in St. Paul about 7 am Monday morning. It will be so good to see him and know that he has returned safe and sound.

My dad has continued to struggle with Clostridium Difficile, resulting in almost a one-week hospital stay in addition to his initial stay after his surgery. He continued to fight the sickness and weakness at home, but this past week he seems to have turned a corner and was even back out on his lawn mower/tractor mowing a couple acres again. We are very grateful for his recovery!

Meanwhile, on the home front, our daughter has registered for fall classes again at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, continuing on her criminal justice/sociology track. Classes for her start a week from Monday, I think.

Luke continues to work delivering pizzas and managing his home. He has three roommates and works hard to keep things going smoothly in this tight economy.

Tim's kept a couple of interns from Bethel busy this summer working on the properties (houses) he owns in North Minneapolis. Drywall work has been pretty steady, and we're grateful for the work as so many in construction are struggling mightily this summer.

As for me--I just finished my full-time summer stint in the registrar's office. I go back to part-time on Monday, and return to my Anthro/Soc part-time position then. This fall, I'll be teaching Introduction to Liberal Arts again (freshman seminar), and also doing an internship and integrative portfolio seminar: a class where I'll be building my teaching portfolio. My advisor is working on setting up an internship: the plan is that I'll be working with a journalism professor at Bethel or another college, helping that professor and teaching at least two class sessions. So, it will be a very busy fall!

Mai, our exchange student from Japan, is coming back for another visit to see us since she left in 2002. This time, she is bringing her boyfriend Masa, and we are excited to see her and meet him. She's going to a pharmacy convention in California in late August/early September, then coming to spend a couple of weeks with us. Masa will be visiting friends in Portland, OR, then coming to the Twin Cities to visit for about a week.

Then Carla, our first exchange student, will be coming to visit us for a month over the Christmas holiday. She is from Bolivia, and we haven't seen her since she left to return to Bolivia in the summer of 2000. Lots has happened since then! (Namely, she and our kids have all grown up!) It will be wonderful to spend time with her again.

Well, Tim has planned a game night here tonight, so I should work on getting ready for the "party." Hope your summer's been going well!

Till next time,

Suzi

PS For more updates, see me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/swansmith