Letter #127 from North Carolina

Letter #127 comes from April in North Carolina.April actually lives on an Indian reservation,about 50 miles from the main reservation in Cherokee,NC.April is part Cherokee Indian and loves learning as much about her heritage as she can.With many people marrying outside of their race,many people are now losing their ethnic history since many people are focused on their "American" identity and forgetting their past ancestry,so I think it is nice to keep your ancestry alive to tell your future generations.That is one of the great things about America,the diversity of people and being able to learn about other cultures without having to go to another country.

Everyday life for April consists of work and spending time with family.Some of her pleasures include reading (#1 on her list),traveling,photography,writing letters,learning her native language,and watching tv.She loves to collect glasses,postcards,stickers and photos.

April currently works in the middle school on the reservation,working as an advisor/tutor for grades 7 and 8.

April has enclosed a wonderul Cherokee cookbook with bread recipes.We really enjoyed the way it was written,I actually felt like we were there listening to her tell us how to make the bread.The book showed a picture of each step with the lady explaining each step....such a unique and interesting book.She also gave us a copy of the Lord's Prayer written in her language and a wordsearch puzzle and also a chart showing the syllabary.April says they don't have an alphabet,but a syllabary made up of 85 sounds,with a character for each sound.It was created by Sequoych in the 1800's and her tribe is the only one with their own written language.How interesting!I never knew we had an Indian reservation in the state right below us,so I will have to look into this interesting fact more.April also told us that her grandmother gave her the name Apple...I guess grandma wanted her to be a sweet person,which it seems like she is. :)

Thanks April so much for your lovely letter.I have always been curious about Native American life because we thought we had Indian blood in our family when I was younger,but found out we probably do not.Thanks also for the wonderful cookbook,stickers,bookmark, and the printouts.Please look below to enjoy her goodies:

Letter #88 from North Carolina

Letter #88 comes from Teri from North Carolina.She is one amazing lady!She does so many things,she is also a fellow homeschooler and enjoys knitting,spinning her own yarn,growing her own cotton,growing and making her own herbal medicines and she even makes her own inks for pens.She actually wrote the letter using her homemade ink that she made from pomegranate peels.Who knew you could make ink from a pomegranate peeling!

She enjoys making things from plants and loves animals,as well.She volunteers as a wildlife rehabilitator,helping orphaned opossums and squirrels,mostly.They also just successfully incubated their first batch of chicken eggs.We recently watched a show on PBS that showed people who did the same thing and it was amazing.

Teri also says that she enjoys "drinking" in life and all that it can teach her.I would love to visit Teri and have her teach me all the things she wrote about.She also said that the world is an oyster and I couldn't agree more.Thanks Teri for writing.She also shared a recipe for sweet potato pie since she said North Carolina is the sweet potato capital of the US.

Enjoy her letter below which shows some of the things she enjoys doing:

Letter #74 from North Carolina

Letter #74 comes from Adam in Durham,North Carolina.He is currently a law student at Duke University.He started law school last year after working for a large public accounting firm for about four years.He says school is a lot more fun than work (I agree!).

Adam is originally from Kansas City and his wife is from Boston,but she moved to Kansas City when she was a kid.Together they have two children and a dog.He went to college in Utah (BYU) and then moved back to Kansas City.He says living in North Carolina was his first experience living in the south,although he says it doesn't really feel all that southern because of the people affiliated with Duke and UNC.He also says that he loves the warm weather there.

Adam was getting prepared for an oral argument competition the night he wrote our letter,so I hope he was successful!Thanks Adam for your letter!Enjoy his letter below:

Letter #19 from North Carolina

This is so exciting to see that we are up to 19 letters.I know we have a long ways to go but I still think even 19 letters from perfect strangers is a big accomplishment and we are just beyond thrilled at the response!Thanks again to all of you for contributing!

Our 19th letter comes from Judy in North Carolina.I think she lives about 4 hours from us,so not very far.Her oldest daughter is named Carolina...yes,she is named after their state.I guess Carolina is thankful her mom wasn't in Hawaii when she was born..that could be an awkward name to have. :) Judy is an airline reservationist for a major airline....I hope people are being kind to you.If you make a reservation through Judy,you better be nice to her. :) I'm sure it can sometimes be a terrible job when people hold you responsible for cancelled flights,etc.

Anyways,she is going back to college...yeah for Judy!She wants to get her degree in Creative Writing...my favorite subject.I hope she is very successful.Maybe she'll be a famous writer one day.At least we can say we heard from her first.

She told us that their state capital,Raleigh is named for Sir Walter Raleigh,who was given the land grant by Elizabeth I. Judy and her family are part of their local Renaissance re-enactment group.I think that must be very interesting to play the role of people from history.She is also a seamstress and makes some of the costumes.I would just love to see the costumes she sews...I bet they are amazing!

North Carolina has a really interesting history.She recommends us look into the "Lost Colony",she says it's a mystery involving the first English child born in this country and when the ship left for supplies,it returned only to find all the people gone.I will definitely be looking for the book for my children to read.I am really curious to see what happened to the people.She didn't want to give us too much info,she recommended us do what I always tell my children to do....look it up!Haha,she must really know me.

Also in Raleigh are Duke University and the University of North Carolina.They are well known for many reasons,which include,of course,basketball.My husband watches the games,so we are familiar with these 2 teams.They also have 2 large medical hospitals and research centers..

Judy also told us that Raleigh is close to both the beach and mountains.If you drive 1.5 hours east,you can visit the Atlantic Ocean and if you drive 2 hours west,you will arrive in the Smoky Mountains.The Appalachian Trail also passes through her state.She also gets to enjoy all 4 seasons,with no extremes....just enough to enjoy the season.They do have to worry about hurricanes,but have been lucky to avoid them for the past few years.Judy,I would like to keep in touch with you because we do plan to visit Raleigh,so I would love some help with the area.Thanks!

Thanks so much Judy for your lovely letter that has really taught us so much about the area...when we go to Raleigh,I'm sure we will be referring to your letter and remembering what you told us when we see those places.We also loved the postcards.Thanks for writing!Please enjoy Judy's lovely letter and postcards below: