Where does the time go?????

I know this is the first of many, many times I will say this in my new life as a mommy but it is so very true. This little bundle of joy that we brought home 10 months ago is now a precious little girl, not baby, of immense personality. She is just changing everyday. She is so much fun to watch. I love seeing the world through her eyes. It is impossible to have a bad day when I see her face light up when I enter the room. She is slowly turning into a Papa's girl but she still loves to cuddle with Mama. God has blessed our lives so richly. Something that to me looked so bleak and heartbreaking, God has turned into something more than I could imagine. Here is just a short list of the things she is doing now.
1. Crawling all over the place.
2. Pulling to a standing position
3. Standing unassisted sometimes
4. Walking with the help of Mama or Papa
5. Eating, eating, eating. She loves finger foods
6. She has three teeth and a fourth on the way
7. She talks up a storm, her favorite words right now are bible and doggie. Go figure. She says mama and dada and poppy (my dad).
8. She recognizes and does the sign for eat, bottle, and more
9. Practically perfect in every way :-)

Things I Have Learned About Living in Oklahoma

1. All pickup trucks have trailer hitches. All of them. This can be painful to learn.

2. If your meat isn't smoked, you need to get out of the state, you un-American, Commie punk.

3. There are some places where you can go to Sunday morning worship wearing jeans, and it's okay. Even if you're preaching.

4. Sometimes the wind does not go "sweeping down the plain." Sometimes it hits you like a Mack truck.

5. Dry heat is not as sticky or clammy as wet heat, but 100 degrees is still hot.

6. Fiberglass boats and rocks do not mix.

7. Fireworks and dry grass do not mix.

8. There are some towns with populations that would fit in a row at Doak Campbell stadium.

9. It is possible to "kiss your butt goodbye" during a tornado warning.

10. There are some landfills that will take "drit." I haven't see what it is, but the sign said they take it.

11. There is someone in Webber's Fall, OK, who will babysit your kids, but you will need to supply "dippers." She'll change the "dippers," but you need to buy them.

12. Chicken "gizzards" or "chunks" is an acceptable meal.

13. You can be arrested in Arkansas for some acts connected with "debauchery."

14. There are several places to take concealed weapons license classes.

15. Daughters grow up really, really fast.

Only the lonely

Dissertation writing is hard work. I'm sure you knew that or at least guessed. Quite often it is difficult to get things written when you know you need to write but you have nothing to say. That has happened to me quite frequently. There have been several times when I have thought about giving up, but then I thought I am so close to being done that such a decision would be really foolish. The dissertation and comprehensive exams are important parts of academia. They provide a qualifier that someone with a Ph.D. has been judged by their mentors and their peers in the field to be of a certain level of expertise (unless you get your Ph.D. from a diploma mill--and it is sad that such places exist). It is also important that on the days that I get stuck that I remind myself how much I love teaching and how much I want to teach as my vocation. But writing the dissertation (or "paper" as my parents infuriatingly call it when they ask "are you done with your paper yet?") or taking comprehensive exams is such a separating experience. Obviously it separates you from your non-academic family members, both in terms of time and effort but than also the material you are trying to assimilate. Jenn could care less about how we should construct the colonial religous scape and how important Puritans should or should not be to that narrative--to be fair, I couldn't care less about the Medicare guidelines that consume her workday either. She is very supportive in other ways. Particularly when she asks, "Shouldn't you be writing instead of blogging?" But comps and the dissertation also separates you from your academic colleagues as well. So the end part of the academic qualification period can be a very lonely time--despite a system that stresses collegiality and the importance of scholarly engagement. It also becomes difficult in trying to explain what you are doing when people ask. "Oh, you are a graduate student?" "Yes, I'm working on my dissertation." "What are you doing it on?" "The importance of sentimental expressions of piety in evangelicalism and how prevalent such expressions are in evangelical religious practice." "I'm writing about Max Lucado." "Oh, I've read one of his books."

Plus out here in Oklahoma (read previous post), it is even lonelier. But at least I'm almost done. And I should probably get back to writing.

Chloe's First 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone. We took Chloe to her first fireworks show. I think the pictures will explain it all.
Before the fireworks started.

Fireworks


Here is Chloes reaction


She liked them better from the car. We think she really liked the colors just not the noise.