This has been a year of great changes for us! As many of you know, Tim finished his PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Washington in May. His research focused on surgical robotics. I was privileged to help edit his dissertation and see him defend it. His work found that the expensive way that surgeons evaluate trainees' surgical skill is no better than a guy with a stopwatch -- the new approach that Tim is working on is better.
After a huge amount of work and an especially challenging last six months, Tim (we) got his (our) reward. As one friend put it, we gave birth to a PhD. Oh, and during this time I continued to teach English as a Second Language, which I really enjoyed.
Tim had already landed a job in Minnesota, and they were eager to get him out here, so without much of a break, we moved here at the beginning of June. You can read about our road trip if you like -- it's the first post in this blog. Tim started as a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in mid-June. We rented a lovely duplex unit in a lovely neighborhood in lovely St. Paul.
Tim was thrown right in and his job has been demanding and rewarding ever since. He enjoys teaching and working with students. He is also continuing his research, so he had to find students to work in his lab and has to apply for grants and lots of other fun stuff.
He was surprised at the....interesting lab facilities when he arrived.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
As for me, I figured I would take a few weeks to settle in and then look for something in ESL. Wrong! About a week after arriving here we found out we were pregnant! After over three years of prayer and everything we could do to achieve pregnancy morally and naturally, it really is a miracle. If I haven't said this to you all before, thank you so much for your love, support and many prayers for us! They worked!!
Our baby boy is due in early March. We have been taking some wonderful birth classes and are doing our best to prepare, at the same time realizing we have no idea what is about to happen. We're very thankful that Tim will not be teaching any classes next semester. I've had a very good pregnancy -- "morning" sickness (really all-day sickness) was very intense, but everything else has been going well, for which we're very thankful. Since you can't see the baby yet, here's his adorable coming-home outfit.
Other than that, we have been getting involved a little at church and trying to meet people, now that I'm feeling better. I play piano for a little inner-city Catholic church in Minneapolis and we really like that community. At the same time, there's a church closer to us that we like as well, so we'll have to decide which one will become our official parish.
All in all, it's been a very significant year and we're growing a lot, as well as feeling very thankful for the many blessings. Marriage seems to get better with each passing year - especially with this new baby chapter of our lives beginning.
We wish all of you and your loved ones much peace and many blessings this Christmas season and New Year!
