Entries from March 2008 ↓

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!

Today was a huge day on our dissertation journey. If you’ve read our latest posts, Back to School and Back to School 2.0 (including several of my daily updates last week in the comments section of the second post), you know we returned from Korea with a big deadline looming over us.

At first, we were overwhelmed when we returned and read our mentor’s feedback notes. We actually wondered if we’d have to postpone our graduation, at least till December. Fortunately, phone conversations with our mentor last Monday helped us get a sense that finishing and graduating this May was do-able. That gave us a needed boost of momentum.

For the most part, we put in a few hours each day, taking shifts with Ethan, working during his naps, and on a couple of occasions, working after he went to bed. On one occasion, Joleen worked at her laptop while Ethan napped in the Ergo Baby Carrier she was wearing.

Today was the most challenging day — wanting/needing to mail our drafts put us under the gun. Plus finding time to work today wasn’t so easy. Ethan got up early, which ruled out an early start for us. We were hoping Ethan’s late morning nap time would give us a good opportunity to finish up, but that was cut short thanks to the siren at the volunteer fire company located within a few hundred yards from our house. A little later, still sleepy, Ethan fell asleep in my arms as I was trying to finish up.

We had other challenges too — our printer appears to have died yesterday [EDIT: Well, it looks like our printer has a little more life; after attempting everything I could think and/or find by way of online searches, I was able to get it working), and the church copier/printer that's in the home office is not producing clean prints. We uploaded our drafts to Staples Copy Center, then picked up the printouts about 45 minutes later at Staples in State College.

We were planning to overnight our drafts at the USPS in Pine Grove Mills. However, the deadline for overnight packages was 3:45 pm, which was just a little too early for us (we picked up our copies at Staples around that time). We ended up shipping them via UPS (located in the Staples store) -- for $52.20 (and that was for an evening delivery; morning delivery was much higher!). [EDIT: I just calculated how much it would have cost at USPS.com - $30.70, so that was a costly missed deadline.]

But, oh, what a relief!

The best news about these drafts being submitted to the doctor of ministry office (of course, we’re relying on our mentor to deliver them to the office by Friday) is that this step gets our defenses on the calendar. IOW, with this step, the clock officially starts to count down. Everything we have left to do (watch for the next post) is tied to a timeline that will come to an end in less than 10 weeks (with graduation in less than 12 weeks).

After mailing our drafts today, we both spent the rest of the day with Ethan, which included a couple firsts for us as a family. But we’ll save that story for a post (possibly) tomorrow. Also, watch for an update on our (especially Ethan’s) transition and adjustment in the next few days.

For now, thanks to all who have prayed with/for us anytime during this journey!

In Leonard Sweet’s book, SoulSalsa, one chapter is entitled, “Make a Moment.” Sweet writes …

There is one day in your life that will be your best day. There is one day in your life that will be your worst day.

It’s important to know when you’re having one of life’s best moments. And worst. Landmark both.

Joleen and I are blessed to have experienced several great moments on our journey together. Here are some of our best moments, moments we’ll always remember and celebrate, moments that have left a lasting mark on our lives …

February 18, 1992 was the day we met at John Woods Park, a United Methodist camping/retreat facility in Cleveland, TN, where we were both students at the Church of God Theological Seminary (COGTS), in our pre-United Methodist days. Joleen’s student small group hosted a day at the camp/park for new students (I was a new student). The teacher/leader divided the group into twos. The group divided up a few times before the leader was happy with the way we did it — Joleen and I ended up together on the third try. Our “assignment” was to walk the trail in the woods and get to know each other a little bit. That’s how we met!

July 19, 1993 was “Ring Day,” the day I gave Joleen an engagement ring, on the grounds at the Chattanooga Choo Choo (Chattanooga, TN).

January 15, 1994, an unusually cold day in Cleveland, TN (15 degrees, IIRC), was the day we got hitched! Our wedding was the first wedding held at the still fairly young New Covenant Church of God, where we were attending (in fact, they worked hard to get the carpet installed in time for the wedding). Revs. Drs. Jackie and Cheryl Johns (pastors and seminary professors) officiated at our ceremony. Ironically, during our last visit to New Covenant, on September 30, 2007, we made our first public announcement of the referral of our baby boy from Korea (another best moment, below).

June 3, 1995 was the day we both graduated from COGTS with master of divinity degrees. Interestingly, having only been married about a year, we co-wrote our Master’s thesis on husband and wife co-pastoring. The title was, “Covenanted Together in Marriage and Ministry.” Mostly, it was an opportunity for us to dream (or try to figure out!) what our life together in ministry might look like.

July 1, 1998 marks the day we began pastoring in the United Methodist Church, serving the Royer United Methodist Church, near Williamsburg, PA. The years between graduation and this date were filled with both best and worst moments, but through them, God led us to be part of the United Methodist Church, a change for which we continue to be grateful to God!

January 15, 2004 marked our 10th anniversary. We were in Wilmore, Kentucky for our first class in the doctor of ministry program we had just begun. We figured, where better to spend our 10th anniversary than at school since we met at a school! Our fellow students, whom we had only met that week, helped make it a moment (complete with cake and balloons).

September 25, 2007 - While at Asbury for proposal hearings, we got a call informing us that we received a referral of a (then) 3 month-old baby boy.

January 29, 2008, a day after submitting first drafts of our final two chapters of our dissertations, we received the sudden call that our baby in Korea was ready for us to come and get him.

February 11, 2008 was the day we first met Ethan at his foster home in Korea. We spent an hour just getting a little acquainted with one another.

February 12, 2008 was “Gotcha Day!” the day we became parents of Ethan. Every year, we will celebrate two days with Ethan — his birthday and gotcha day.

With God’s help, we hope to continue making many great moments together!

Click on “Comments” below to tell us about some of your best moments.