Quick Successions: New Mexico Edition

We went to Europe for an academic conference and while we figured out that while we were there, we could get to Belgium for not much money, so in the name of seeing a new place, we went. While we were there, we saw a lot of very unique stuff, but Hannah's favorite part was the park. 

Every year for the past seven years or so Brian and I have taught summer school in our district. Specifically we work with diverse children who for various reasons are determined to have gaps in their education.  We are not huge fans of the deficit model for looking at kids.  When we meet the children, we always marvel at how smart and capable they are and how many talents they have and it causes us to wonder whether school really values the right learning and cultivates the kind of disposition that will make citizens who will protect and preserve democracy.  Here is a picture of some of us as we all cooked food on the last day. This is kind of a good celebratory tradition. The students say what they want to make and I look for recipes or they bring them from home and we make the food and then sit at a table together and eat it and talk.  Then we give awards to the children. It is not an exciting picture because I didn't want to have the children's faces highly vis...

This baby likes to make faces.  She was very expressive, even as a newborn.  Here are my three favorites from last night.  When I exercise I do it in the evenings and she stays with her dad.  She is very excited when I come home.  Last night we took these just after I got back. 

Brian and I are considering moving and so we thought we would do ourselves a favor and get rid of excess items that we don't want to pack and haul off. We made about $300 selling unwanted textbooks from Brian's recently completed master's program.  We also sold some of our excess furniture and made another $600.  A couple of Saturdays ago we had a yard sale and raised just over $200.  We still have some things to take to Kid-to-Kid of Hannah's that we will get a little money for and we have all of our change jars.  When we finish, we will have gotten rid of a lot of stuff just cluttering our house and we are on track to make close to $1500. Amazing.  This picture is of Hannah in her walker helping at the yard sale by staying in the shade close to momma. 

I was asked to give one of the transition speeches to the new teacher education cohort at BYU.  They have a reception every year to welcome the new people into the program and allow the outgoing people to present their research. A person from two cohorts ago gets invited to speak with a faculty member. This is Hannah and I after I finished speaking. 

As a scholar, a lot of my research questions lead me to collecting and studying narratives. There is a large community of narrative researchers and a lot of kinds of narrative research.  A while ago a group of scholars started a conference called Narrative Matters. They hold the conference every other year in various locations.  Last time it was in Quebec, Canada.  This time is was in Paris.  I wrote a proposal to be in this conference at the urging of my BYU supervisor.  About 600 people applied this year for no where near that many spots.  Strangely enough, they picked my proposal and I got to go to France for a week.  I spent time at the conference, because that is what academic people do, but I also got to go and see a lot of fun stuff.  I was in Paris about two years ago in August and I am going back again this August. Brian and I (and now Hannah) really love France. 

Brian finished his master's degree and graduated over the weekend.  The first picture is of him walking and the second is of him turned around afterward so I can see him. This June will be our 10th anniversary and it will also be the first year since we have been married where neither of us has been in school. We actually applied to PhD programs and got accepted but we are so tired of school we are having a hard time bringing ourselves to commit to another 4-5 years starting in September.  We also have reservations about pursuing education at the doctoral level while Hannah is so young. But then, if we don't go soon, we fear we never will. For now, we are just celebrating Brian's victory and waiting to know the best thing to do.