Recent Happenings

• Alan is much better.  The recovery from his surgery was much more painful than he expected, but he is back to normal now.  The headaches have improved, so we are glad that it may have been worth all he went through.  They aren't gone, though, so he is still working on other possibilities.
• I have been very busy with Sullivan County Imagination Library activities. 
• I coordinated a registration event at the Sharkie Kids Expo at the Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend.  We had volunteers from Target helping with children's games and activities.  It was a lot of fun, and we registered quite a few kids.  The most fun was hearing all the present and past recipients of the books coming up to us to tell us how much they loved getting the free books.

• I also coordinated a 300,000 Book/6th Birthday Celebration at the courtyard of the Renaissance Center last Thursday.  It turned out well, also, although it was a lot of work.  Alan was a wonderful help on both of the events:  hauling stuff in his truck, setting up sound and musical equipment for the celebration, helping to get a musician to play background music (Mike Knowles, who was great on keyboards), etc. etc.
• I have taken on a new student at the Literacy Council, a 20 year-old guy from China.  I wanted to work with an English as a Second Language student so volunteered to take on another person.  I am continuing with the man that I have been working with for over a year now.  I tutor the two of them back to back on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I am still only at the Literacy Council two days a week.  I have to spend a lot more time in preparation, however, since what I do with them is so different.
• Alan and I have both been working for Nathan Vaughn, who is running for state representative in our district.  We've been making phone calls and canvassing neighborhoods.  I've seen parts of Kingsport that I never knew existed.  It is going to be a close election; we are crossing our fingers that our candidate wins.  He lost two years ago by just a little over 300 votes.