Adult update

So Jon has pretty much overrun my blog! Here is an update on the adults in our family:

Jonathan defended his dissertation last Monday, and it was approved by his committee!!! Jon and I attended the dissertation defense, and understood about 2% of what Jonathan said : ) I got a bit worried during the questioning part, because it seemed that one member of his committee was asking what the point was of his many years of research. Jonathan presented on three proofs he has come up with over a period of six years, and to hear someone questioning it was a bit unsettling for me. Jonathan was cool as cucumber, because he had anticipated those questions. The committee sent us out into the hallway while they deliberated for about 20 minutes, and we breathed a huge sigh of relief when Jonathan's advisor came out with a smile and 'congratulations.' After the decision, we chatted for a bit with the committee, and it was so sweet to see how several of the faculty members are very proud of Jonathan and his work. I am super proud of him, too! We celebrated at Jonathan's favorite restaurant, Texas de Brazil : ) Thank you, Becky, for babysitting!!

Waiting for the dissertation defense results

Math talk

Jonathan with Dr. Lehel

Is this what Jonathan will look like in the future??

Dr. Lehel, Dr. Bollabas, Jonathan, and Dr. Rousseau

I went back to work last Tuesday, and have really enjoyed getting back into the swing of things at Youth Villages. I am slowly getting back into my work routine, which involves a lot of phone calls, emails, planning, and replanning. I made a couple of mistakes, got a little overzealous at times, but I know it will take a little bit to return to normal functioning. I have a couple of big projects to work on this month, including developing a volunteer newsletter, overhauling our record keeping, and captaining Team Make a Difference for the YV5k on April 17th. Check out our team website! We are almost half way to our fundraising goal of $1000 : )

I have my sights set on the St. Jude Half Marathon in December! Even if Jonathan and I end up moving for his job, I have promised myself (and a few others) that I will run the race. The farthest I have run without stopping at this point is only 1.3 miles...so I have a long way to go. I ran a little over 2 miles with Becky a couple of weeks ago, but we had to stop to wait for crossing signals, so I had some breaks. I think I am going to try to run after work on the evenings when Jonathan does not work, and then I will continue walking with Jon on the evenings that Jonathan is teaching. Then Becky and I will run on Saturday mornings, and I'll take Sundays off. I need to get some cross training in there too. Playing with Jon is sometimes its own cross training! Anyone have tips on integrating some core or strength workouts into the mix?