Nothing Much Happening, Except...

You'd think we'd had a quiet, uneventful month since I obviously haven't had anything profound to post about.

Wrong.

Unless you call three weddings, two trips to Illinois, a baby shower, an extremely inconvenient fiasco, a visit from both sets of parents, and a dissertation defense, nothing.

Where do I start?

To begin with, August was a month full of travel.  After the trips that comprised my last posts, we took two separate trips to Illinois for weddings.  Such is our stage of life, I guess, that we have so many good friends tying the knot!  First up: my dear sweet Sarah, the only roommate I've ever had, fellow Magdalena warrior, and owner of one of the most brilliant smiles!  Also on that trip, Jonathan spent the weekend with some good friends of his from way back.  The Roanoke guys that make up that core group got together to relive their young teen days camping out at a local lake.  Amid the goofing off and fun (too much fun, apparently, as one ended up with a fishhook through his finger), they also reconnected and got serious enough to have some deep conversations and really challenge and sharpen each other spiritually.  Praise God for those kinds of friends!  That same praise welled up in me as I watched Sarah walk down the aisle that weekend.  So much history with that girl--many long talks as we walked around CVE campus, many middle-of-the-night prayer sessions, many battles fought and won, many tears, many laughs and joys too.  Those kinds of relationships run deep, and when our paths cross again, it's such a joy and encouragement!

The next round of weddings wasn't for a few weeks, so home again we went.  After just a short time back at the Beach Cottage, I was headed back to Illinois, this time without Jonathan.  He came the next week, after taking care of some responsibilities at school and also helping host the high school Labor Day weekend get-together in Altadena.  The first weekend in Illinois I watched my kid cousin, Elisabeth, get married.  Also that week, my dear family hosted a baby shower for Silly Goose!  It was such a fun evening with friends and family, and, of course, everyone blessed our little guy with all kinds of great things he'll need when he arrives--fun little outfits, books, toys, diapers!  Then Jonathan and I were reunited and enjoyed some family time before the next weekend's wedding: a childhood friend of Jonathan's.  The big wrinkle in the weekend happened on Saturday.  We spent the day up in Chicago with my family--just enjoying the city, like we used to often when Caleb and Liv still lived up there.  To our horror, when we got back to our vehicles in the evening, someone had broken into my parents' jeep and stolen Jonathan and I's luggage.  Besides losing most of our clothes, the greatest loss was our laptops and my personal Bible.  While it was just belongings, and thankfully nobody was hurt, it was still a frustrating end to an otherwise wonderful day!  Thankfully, I'd forgotten my piano book at my parents' house which would have been a painful loss, and all the baby shower gifts were packed in another suitcase, which wasn't with us in Chicago.  Needless to say, it was a rotten end to our trip.

Back home again!  We were a week into September and facing the stressful few weeks leading up to--drum roll please!--Jonathan's defense!  The climax of 4 and half years of grad school!  Praise the Lord, his dissertation work was all backed up online, so unexpectedly getting a new computer (thanks to the Chicago fiasco) wasn't a problem.  Our kitchen appliances listened intently during practice sessions, and after many long rehearsals and revisions, it was finally the big day!  Both our parents were able to come for the weekend, some uncles, Grammy, and Steven who has just moved out here, rounded out the supporting audience.  The presentation was excellent!  It was the best version I'd heard--and I'd heard it a few times!  There were some tough questions thrown at Jonathan from the panel of professors, but he never let them fluster him.  Even when one was so kind as to point out the spelling mistake on a few of his slides.  Oops, that's my job as editor!  I never caught the "principal" that should have been "principle".  Oh, well, I don't think they held that against him--being an engineer and all!  We waited nervously out in the hall after the defense, curious as to what they were discussing behind the closed door.  Finally, the exciting moment came and the door opened.  Jonathan's research adviser came out and offered his hand, "Congratulations, Dr. Sauder!"  We applauded!  All glory to God--He's the one who gave Jonathan the opportunity and the talent that made getting a PhD possible!  The degree will be officially conferred in December.

 Dr. Jonathan Sauder

"Collaborative Stimulation in Team Design Thinking"

 With the Sauder parents.

 With the Zobrist parents.

So, I guess you could say we've had a rather busy few weeks!  Will life settle down now?  I guess we'll see.  Now full focus is on the job search and enjoying these last few months at the Beach Cottage and before Silly Goose's arrival!  We find ourselves constantly needing to remember God's past faithfulness and take courage as we look to the future, knowing He will provide for us.