Celebrate, Megan ! ! !

Happy 18th Birthday, Meggie Moo!

Keystone, Colorado

We just got home from Keystone a few hours ago. (Great vacation, awesome weather.) Makes you wonder why anybody lives in Indiana. We hiked and biked, mostly. These are just a couple pictures from the trip.


This is Jenna and I halfway up the mountain at Loveland Pass.Jenna on the trail
white water rafting on the Arizona River.
Dad took this one on the bike trail to Dillon. You can sort of see the massive storm clouds in the background. It poured in Keystone that night.

Caring Bridge Website

We're going to give this a try...a really neat site to help keep you posted on Megan and her upcoming surgery. Being so far away, we felt like this would be a good way to stay in touch and allow all her friends to correspond with her. We're just getting it started now, so we don't have all sections ready to go yet. Please be patient! At this time, Megan doesn't think she wants to do any of the writing, but I have a feeling that will change. I do know that she would love to hear from everyone. Feel free to share this with others and, as many have asked, yes, of course feel free to put her name on your church's prayer list. We appreciate all the kind words and thoughts that you have shared. We are blessed!

You can visit Megan's CaringBridge site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/meganefoster.

Moving outta Maine

We have been "living" in Maine for the past 24 days. Time to move into New Hampshire.

How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation

So this summer instead of getting a real job I decided to become a blogger. The university graciously assisted me in this endeavor by providing a grant, and so since mid-June I've been busy trying to understand how poverty in and around Chicago works.

After lots of hard preliminary interviews and ride-alongs (and much research at the beach, also known as my office), I've finally launched my website. There still some work to be done (namely, integrating some amount of graphic design and/or other visual interest), but it's up and running for now, and you can expect to find several new posts each week about my adventures in the 'hood, critiques of policy and interviews with the folks who are doing the hard work of trying to end poverty.

Check it out: www.ThePovertyBlog.com


Lw

Flikr Account

We have made it to Andover,ME. I plan to do my first marathon day (26+) miles on my birthday putting me into Gorham,NH and crossing the ME,NH state line.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28745888@N02/?saved=1

We will be setting up a trail journal soon so you can track our progress better.

Home from Cleveland

Enjoying Chinese food

Always posing!

Ready for a CT scan

All hooked up!

Not much to report since the last post other than the doctor's initial diagnosis was confirmed by the CT scan results. We are to call Monday to schedule a meeting with the doctor and the surgeon, Dr. Muhammad Mumtaz, for later in the week. At that point we will schedule Megan's surgery for sometime in the next week or so. We are a little overwhelmed at how quickly everything is happening! Megan has a good attitude...lots of questions, but a positive outlook.

On our way

We have made it to Maine and summited Mt. Katahdin on June 29th. There is much more walking that needs to be done from this point but we are eager and ready to get on the move.



It was a class 3 day on the mountain that day and we almost didnt get to go up but we needed to start then.Visibility was a little under 10 feet with sideways rain and fog all day. We only spent a few minutes up top,just enough time to cram down a few powerbars then get back to camp. Round trip was a little under 6 hours,most do it in 8. Not to bad for our first day and doing the largest mountain in Maine.

We are now a little over 2 weeks into our trip. We have made it through the 100 mile wilderness and now hitting towns every few days. The mountains are up next and the first few sets have been challenging but we need to push hard to get our legs for the White Mountains in New Hampshire.


It is July 17th and we have made it into Rangley,ME.,and have covered 223miles. We have been pushing hard and were starting to pass a lot of Southbound hikers. We're doing about 17-20 miles per day and most people are only doing 8-13. For the past week we have been hiking with another couple from Utah. We work well as a group and seem to keep each other spirits high and most important help each other pump out the big miles each day.



I will be setting up a Photobucket account and post the link here so everyone can view our pictures along the way. We will continue to post on here with updates of how we are doing and what is happening on the trail.

Here's the Scoop from Cleveland

...just thought we'd include a post from Cleveland. Megan had her first appointment at Cleveland Clinic Wednesday morning with a pediatric cardiologist named Dr. Richard Lorber. During that visit she had an EKG and an echocardiogram. Later in the afternoon we visited a pediatric nephrologist (that's who manages hypertension in children and young adults), Dr. Charles A. Davis, who gave us a pretty good report. He didn't feel that her high blood pressure was a major concern and placed her on a low dose ACE inhibitor. A few other tests were done and we'll get those results this a.m. Tomorrow Megan is scheduled for a CT scan to confirm what the cardiologist is pretty sure he found - a coronary artery anomoly (for those who want the specifics-an interarterial course of the left main coronary artery from the right facing sinus with probable intramural course). At this point, we are just taking it one day at a time and gathering lots of info. Megan has had lots of good questions and we really liked the fact that her doctor addressed HER and not just us. Today we're going to find a journal where she can write down all her questions and concerns between now and the next time she sees the doctor.

We've moved to an Embassy Suites in nearby Beachwood where there's a lot more to do. David is hard at work on his laptop trying to keep Kimball satisfied and although I'm sure Evan (Megan's friend) is bored to death, it's probably a good thing that he's here because he has helped keep her a little less stressed than she might be in this situation. And yes, he CAN talk!

We'll post again when we know more.

coke zero 08

thought would show a couple pics from Daytona Beach over the fourth. here is barb's first nascar race, something every female would like to have in her baby book. have Kenny and his son coming down next week for a dive trip. will send pics for Eric and Morts viewing pleasure next week. other than that pretty boring here in florida

Kelli and Jenna Visit Chicago: Day 1.5

Jenna and Kelli before hitting the magnificent stores of South State Street. (The Forever 21 was THREE FLOORS. It took two hours.)




Ahh, the Chicago River. And: Trump Tower, something, Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower and something...





Jenna decided to bury herself at Oak Street Beach.




So then she had to rinse off.



After the beach, we did some more shopping in Wicker Park. The girls bought some beads and string, and we visited some vintage and local designers' stores. Then we needed a break. So we got dessert at Laetizia's: two peanut butter cookies with about an inch of ganache sandwiched between.

Quite fatigued, we decided to head home, order Thai food, make bracelets and watch Casablanca. Tomorrow: Barack Obama's house.

Kelli and Jenna Visit Chicago: Day .5

Walking down Cornell Avenue to my apartment. Jenna is obviously the younger sibling/packhorse.




This is Kelli in Chinatown, trying to fit in.




Jenna tried a mango tapioca freeze. The grimace actually started before she drank it, but it turns out she didn't like it much, anyway.





We went to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. Note: Jenna likes lamb a lot more than mango tapioca freeze. She ate all of ours.




Millennium Park. Shortly before Kelli pushed Jenna under the stream of water shooting out of the faces. (Just kidding.)




Then we decided to be a bit more high class and sat in on the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra for awhile. If only we'd remembered the picnic.





Then is was time to defy gravity and induce vertigo, etc at The Bean. We took a lot of pictures that we won't bore you with.




And, finally, back to Hyde Park to watch the evening's fireworks from Promontory Point. Only the public restroom was locked and Jenna was in a bit of an emergency-type situation. We told her that's what the lake was for, but she wouldn't have that, and so we went back home and promptly fell asleep.


And just think, we had this much fun just between noon and nine o'clock.

The Maiden Voyage...

Reviews from Guests:
"It's awesomely awesome cheesy"
~Emily

"The best pizza i have ever had"
~Nikki

"OMG, what a taste sensation!! I have never, in my life, ever had such a delightful mouthful!! Chef Joe has outdone himself again!!!"
~SR

"i love the pizza its so good!!!"
~katie riley

"Amazing, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it and tasted it. Soooo fast. Joe needs a fast prep crew. It only takes a couple of minutes until 'Pizza Time'."
~Mom - Yum, Yum

"It was so worth the hours..I mean YEARS... to have a piece of that tasty pizza."
~Carrie

The Taj Mahal is Taking Shape!

Joe and Kyle sit on top of the Taj Mahal....Tower of Babel...Eighth Wonder of the World....(We haven't came up with a name for this massive structure in our backyard....any suggestions!?) Joe hopes to have the roof on by the beginning of August and then....NO MORE PROJECTS FOR A LONG TIME!!!!!


Joe fired up the pizza oven the other night...haven't made a "real" pizza in it yet....perhaps this weekend! Who's coming over?!?

Country Music Hall of Fame party in Nashville

Bret, Dean Hall (guitar & Tom's son), Loren Bandy (now a pilot)

and Ron Gannaway (now Gretchen Wilson drummer)

laughing about the "good ole days" in the Storyteller's Band...

Tom T stops by for a visit at the party....

a great reunion for Bret ! !