Rosie, Grad School, and More!

Last weekend I headed to the apple orchard with Steve & Lisa and Jenna & Kody (Tom wasn't feeling well). We had fun picking apples and pears and enjoying beautiful fall day.

Steve and Lisa

Just the girls-Me, Lisa, and Jenna

Kody and Jenna

Well, I am happy to announce that I will officially be graduating from Grad School this December (December 18th to be precise-in case you want to come down to celebrate with me!) I am in the process of writing my Action Research Paper (like a thesis of sorts) and hope to be done with it before Thanksgiving. Whether I am done or not, I still qualify for graduation and I am ECSTATIC!!!!!!!! I have learned a lot, but it will be nice to be done and have one less thing on my plate.

In other news, I recently adopted a sweet golden retriever named Rosie from my dear friends Abe and Lindsay. She is slowly adjusting and has only been with me 6 days so far. She is 9 years old and pretty much completely deaf. We are both adjusting to many things. For me, the extra hair around the house, learning to communicate with a deaf dog, and the joy of cleaning up dog doo. For Rosie, the adjustment is tough. She still thinks she is going back home (to Indiana) and jumps at the chance to get into any and every car. She also had a bit of trouble going potty at first and after holding it for 2 days, she let loose in the house (of course in the only room with carpeting in my whole house). She has since gotten more comfortable with that and now goes daily outside (thank God!). I enjoy having her around and hope that she quickly gets more comfortable with walks so she can go farther than her current 1 block radius from my house.

Rosie hiding under the bed-her normal sleeping place

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Women of Faith conference in Milwaukee. It was phenomenal. I loved every minute of it and was inspired, uplifted, and full of laughter. It was great fun to attend with friends, both Jessi and those from my Bible Study group. One of Jessi's friends had connections to box seats at the Bradley Center, so we spent much of the day on Saturday seeing the event from the Box (complete with a bathroom, fridge/sink, couches, etc...) I am looking forward to next year already!

Our view from the box