05/04/2003 Newsletter

5-4-03

If you want to read about our California trip go here. (it was too long to include on this same page).

This past week has been filled with graduations and family gatherings. On Friday we went up to Logan for Jenni's graduation. It was nice because the speakers were very brief and the ceremony was more focused on the actual rituals of graduation. As each Master student was presented they were hooded by members of their faculty off stage and then proceeded to the stage where their name and their degree were read. Jenni was quite excited to be done and we are proud of her accomplishments. After the graduation we went over to gma and gpa Baerwaldts for an open house. Jenni had invited several family members and friends and we all had a good time eating and talking. Both Jenni and James were constantly being asked, "So, what's next?" Jenni's response was always "find a job"; James' response was "nothing new" since his degree doesn't change anything in his current job. It was good to meet some of Jenni's friends who she always talks about and to be with family.

On Saturday, we woke up early and got James ready for his graduation. I had to iron his gown since it had been folded up in plastic since he got it and was ultra wrinkly. He left before me so that he could get into line with the other graduates. I drove over with my family so that we could all sit together. The University of Phoenix graduation was less formal than Jenni's, but still had it's highlights. The "invocation" was given by a Native American man dressed in a full headdress, he talked forever about his past and his family and then gave a prayer that sounded like a bunch of mumbling with the English words "graduating class" interspersed here and there. The weird part was that everyone clapped when he was done. I don't think that clapping for a prayer is very appropriate. Then they had four speakers who went on and on about different things. I must say that I mostly tuned them out. Finally they got to the naming of the graduates. It took about an hour for them to name all of the bachelor degrees. I went down to get a few pictures of James as they called his name, but I couldn't get very close and most of the pictures turned out blurry because of the zoom feature. James reveled in his three seconds of fame as he walked across the stage when his name was called. After all the bachelor degrees were presented, they began calling up the master students. While they were in the middle of hooding the Masters, half of the Bachelors got up and left. It was really rude and tacky. I'm surprised that the University didn't do anything to prevent it. One of the pictures I took is of James sitting nearly alone in a sea of empty seats during the hooding of the Masters. I am glad that James stayed and wasn't one of the disruptive, rude people who got up. I am so proud of and happy for him, he's been working a long time for this day. He's finally DONE!!

We had a lunch at my parent's house after the ceremony, it was a much more intimate get together than the open house the day before. My brother Chris grilled burgers and hotdogs and we had a simple buffet lunch. After most of the Lance relatives left my family celebrated my niece's birthday she turned 2 years old on May 2nd (Same day as mom Lance). It was funny to try and get her to open all of her presents because she wanted to play with whatever one she had just opened and didn't seem to notice that there were more. It was also funny to tease her, by telling her that it was everyone else's birthday, she would get all flustered and finally burst out "No, It's MY birthday".

Later that evening we went at the last minute to see the new X-Men movie. My sister was going with a bunch of friends and they ended up having two extra tickets so she called us. We both liked the movie and James is already talking about going to see it again this week sometime.

Today, after not enough sleep and early church, we went up to Laura's for dinner and spent the evening with gma and gpa Lance, Laura's Family and Sally and her two boys. We stuffed ourselves on bacon wrapped chicken, asparagus and fruit salad. The rest of the evening was spent singing, talking and playing a couple of party games. It was a long, but fun afternoon. (I think I needed a nap, but didn't get one).

That pretty much brings us up to date. James and I have been working hard on getting lots of little things done on the house so that we can start the big project of moving James' office. We have a goal to be totally done with it by the time John comes at the end of the month, so we have a lot more work ahead of us. After the office is finished, we will move on to cleaning and painting the nursery so that it will be ready when the baby comes. We still need to get a lot of baby furniture and accoutrements, so I've been keeping my eye out for some good deals on used stuff so that we don't break the bank. I can't imagine how people can afford to buy all their baby stuff new.

I am getting a lot bigger, but I feel really good. People keep asking me how I'm feeling, but I don't really feel different except for when the baby kicks and for the big belly. I feel like I've doubled in size since we had the ultrasound 6 weeks ago. I guess it's okay since the baby has doubled in size too, but it's still weird to get bigger so fast. I suppose I'd better get used to it since I'm only going to get larger from here.

Love, Miekka and James

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This page contains a single entry by James published on May 4, 2003 5:00 PM.

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