From: Scott and Melanie Smith [melscofam@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 11:09 PM
To: Sherman; Sequayah; Sequoyah; Sequoyah;
Sherman; Spirit Lake; Thomaston; Thomaston; Thomaston; Thomaston; Thomaston;
Thomaston; Thomaston ; Thomasville; Thomasville; Thomasville; Thomasville;
Westminster; Westminster; Wooster
Cc: ssmith52@vt.edu
Subject: Scott
and Melanie Smith's
family letter.
I had
this ready to send when my laptop died a few weeks ago. Now I have retrieved the
information but the news is a little old.
Also
I recreated the mailing list again so if you are not part of our supporting
church members list or wish to be removed please let me know.
New Year Greetings
from Scott and Melanie Smith
Mel’s Musings from
1701 Ginger Lane, Blacksburg , Virginia 24060
Started in NOVEMBER
It seems that I have not
recorded much about our life in the last few weeks. So here it is….I
think it may become a Christmas letter!
I have been on the move in November. I went with Scott to Louisville
for a mission conference with about 2,000 other medical mission people. It was
held at the mega church with escalators and snack shop, and crying room. Quite
an experience, lots of small sessions on subjects such as; exit strategy,
hospital sustainability, and parenting. About a third of the people there
seemed to be medical students thinking about their future, that
was encouraging. There
were display tables for every organization, including EHA (Emmanuel Hospital
Association) where we met people we know. Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint was there. He is back working in the Amazon
Jungle with the tribe that killed his father. It was hearing my parents
read a book (a Sunday afternoon activity) about their lives in the Amazon that
was one thing that inspired me to go overseas.
We were staying with Daniel in Louisville,
in his little down town flat in Louisville.
We had his room and he slept on a couch. He lives very simply; there was no tea
or milk in his kitchen!!!
I stayed in Louisville
the week to work at the PC(USA) office. Scott
drove back to Blacksburg. It took a
little getting used to, staying with Daniel. I changed my lifestyle to get up
later and stay up until midnight just
so I would see him when he came back from work. I learnt to go on the bus and
luxuriated in non guilty television watching. I also
had a few invites for meals and took Daniel out to eat at one of the
restaurants he works at.
I enjoyed being back at the Presbyterian
Center. It felt good going in the
doors and up the green stairs, being part of a large organization that we have
worked with for nearly 30 years. It was good to chat at the coffee machine and
join the grumble about the decision to getting rid of the coffee makers, as a
money saving activity. There are so many really dedicated people there that
enable us to work overseas.
On the Friday at 11.30 at night
Daniel dropped me at the coach to travel overnight and join the peace rally
against the School of the Americas (SOA), being held in Georgia.
I could not believe that later when I removed the blanket from my head and saw
the sun shining, I had slept till 8 am.
I met Scott, who drove from Blacksburg
(9 hours) at a hotel and we went off to the area in front of the gates to the Training
Center where the protest was. That
day and the next morning there was a full program of speeches, music, funeral
procession and information sharing from all the tables lining the road. Hilary and her friend Sydney were there fully
participating. We arrived back late Sunday feeling good that we had really done
something we believe in . (www.soaw.org)
The next day Kelli
and Dave arrived from Iowa for
Thanksgiving. Tim and his friend Insuk were coming on
the train, but unfortunately they missed it by not getting to the platform in
time; they saw it leave. They managed to catch up with the same train on
an express train to Washington!!!
This was all a little anxious making for me. Daniel at the last moment also
decided to come. So we had them all the kids for a while. Made
the house here feel more like the Smith home place. We had lots of food
produced under Kelli’s coordination of siblings
and then hosted a party for Co-housing Community in the common house, and got
them playing games.
DECEMBER 2006
The month was full of the usual
Christmas activities. We drove to Dallas
(about 20 hours) stopping in Louisville
to pick up Daniel. We also stopped to see the Henderson
family on the way, which was a good chance to catch up on friends in India
and Woodstock.
Kelli had flown to Dallas.
So again a large family gathering of Smiths.
Timothy then went off to help in
rebuilding houses for Katrina victims for a week only returning for two days
before returning to New Jersey
where he is happily adjusting to college life.
JANUARY 2007
Kelli is
on the move again and decided it will be easier to finish her studies back in Boston.
So she has returned for a few months and has a place to stay and work back in
her old office, so that is good.
Scott struggled to finish his course work and has decided not to pursue a Phd. He certainly benefited from the educational point of
view but not the stress. We are now concentrating on speaking at churches about
our work in India.
He is way most weekends for the next few months.
We are planning to return to India
the end of June for another 2 years, passing through England
on the way. We need to rent our house here and work on a new job description
for Scott in the next few months.
Thank you for your continued
support and interest in our work and our family.
Melanie
So many emails have changed I would appreciate if you could
confirm you got this and still want our news. Please put your name somewhere
when you reply as I can not always connect an email to the right person.
---------------------------------------
Scott and
Melanie Smith
cell
540 808 9465
1701 Ginger Lane,
Blacksburg, VA 24060
home 540
951 0345