that's my husband!

This morning Vance took his oral preliminary exam...a grueling 3-hour examination before 5 professors who each test him in their field of knowledge. Allowed to question him on any area of horticulture, these faculty basically try to find the limits of a student's knowledge. That's what Vance was up to this morning.

And.......

He passed. With flying colors, of course. He came home and said, "It was easier than I thought it would be." Go figure :) In fact, every one of the professors commented that it was one of the best oral prelims they'd ever seen. To which I say, "That's my brilliant husband!" I'm very proud of all his hard work!

Piano Recital

Cosette
Shannon

Eliana

These are some pictures of a few of my students (all the same age and gender, you notice, because they were the only ones who wanted their pictures taken...what a fun age :) We had a great time even though the recital took about half as long as I expected and the kids were so ready to be done that they practically flew off the stage to get back to their seats. It was hilarious to see them running around outside afterward. You could tell that they all had so much pent up energy. I'm mostly taking a break on piano for the summer. Even though it's nice to have more flexibility in my schedule, I'll miss teaching them. It's been a lot of fun.

a wonderful visit

This is an older picture, but several weeks ago we drove to Fargo, ND to meet up with Yesupadam and Monika. We hadn't seen them for three years, but this time their US trip brought them somewhat close to Minnesota, and we jumped at the chance. They had never met Isaac, so that was a really fun introduction! It was too short, but it was lovely to get to catch up a little, reconnect, and talk some about the book. I've been very grateful that they are stateside while I'm working on the book. It means that answers to many of my questions are only a (national) call away, rather than an international one. Hooray for visits!