As noted in one of our last posts, after mailing our dissertation defense drafts, we experienced some more “firsts” with Ethan. Yesterday (Monday) was a gorgeous day with mild temperatures and we couldn’t wait to break out the new stroller (which you may have seen here)!

Since we were in State College already to copy and mail our drafts, we found a nice residential sidewalk to test-drive the new Jeep stroller. Ethan just laid back and enjoyed the ride. This is the first we were out for a walk since we were in Seoul, so it was a welcome activity for all three of us.

Afterward, we decided to try eating out together for the first time. We went to Backyard Burgers, figuring fast food was the way to go. The first thing I did was head into the restroom with Ethan for a diaper change. The “screamer” made an appearance. From start to finish of the diaper change he cried at the top of his lungs!

Randy was ordering while I took on this task. I emerged from the restroom and asked, “Did you hear him?” His response was that he had oh so clearly, as well as everyone else. Thankfully, the rest of our dining experience was a pleasant one (Randy and I had the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich with seasoned fries Ethan had some baby food — you may notice the remnants on his face in the photo), so we’ll probably eat out again sometime.

Now that our defense-ready drafts are on their way to Asbury (see last post), the countdown to the end of the journey officially begins. The finish line is now in sight!

So, what’s next? We’re certainly not done yet, but our to-do list is getting much shorter …

• Our mentor will receive our drafts this evening. He’s going to look over them one more time, then deliver them to the doctor of ministry office by Friday.
• Once the doctor of ministry office receives them, they will begin scheduling our defenses, which should be somewhere around 6 weeks from now (around the end of our parental leave).
• When the doctor of ministry office receives our drafts, they’ll go immediately to an editor, who will use a lot of red ink on them (like last time).
• While we wait for the edits to be returned to us, we both plan to develop the literature review section (which is never really done till the end).
• We’ll get the edited copies back in a couple weeks, and will have another couple weeks to make the corrections and edits.
• After making corrections and edits, we will mail 3 defense-ready copies of our drafts to the doctor of ministry office (one for each member of our dissertation committee).
• At the time of our defenses, we will travel to the Asbury campus in Wilmore, KY.
• If our defenses are successful, we will have 2 weeks to make further, final revisions (changes recommended by our dissertation committee at our defenses).
• Our post-defense drafts will be edited by an editor one final time, which means we will have to make corrections one more time.
• Finally, at the end of the process, we will submit final copies, a minimum of 5 printed copies of our final drafts (for binding), plus any extras we want, I suppose.

The list still looks long, but it will keep moving and it should be manageable (with God’s help). The light at the end of the tunnel continues to get brighter and brighter!

And our gratitude to God, who continues to work out all the details, keeps getting stronger and stronger as well!