April 28, 2006

quick update

*M gave a "brown bag" talk for his department. This means he presented his research ideas to a bunch of professors and fellow grad students. It went well! He is hoping to take his qualifying exam before the end of summer. After that, he is "ABD": All But Dissertation.
*Matthew will have surgery on his right foot on Friday morning (9:45 pacific time). He's had plantar fasciitis for over a year now. He will get the left foot worked on in about a month if all goes well with the right foot.
*M leaves on Wednesday for "FATR" (Fellowship at the River), the yearly gathering of college buddies from M's UT Knoxville days. There will be fly fishing, poker, gourmet cooking, and the like. OK, I don't know about the cooking-- I'm guessing that they make do and are glad to go home to their wives after the trip. (In my case, I'll be glad M is coming home; he's the real chef in the family).
*A loves gymnastics and is looking forward to swimming classes.
*G will give a paper at the Northern California Renaissance Conference this Saturday afternoon.
*G will graduate with her MA in English on June 15th.

April 24, 2006

Picnic Day in Davis


DSCN1993.JPG
Originally uploaded by gennabby.
Before biking to campus for the festivities, we snapped a few pics on the back patio. We had fun watching the Doxie dogs race, eating bananas and ice cream, and cheering as the parade went by. We're LOVING Springtime in Davis!

From the mouths of babes

Abby had some excellent questions for us tonight:

(At the dinner table):
A: Does God have eyes?
M: Well, God is a spirit, remember? He doesn't have a body. But Jesus has a body and eyes, and he is also God.
A: Well, how can he see everything if he doesn't have eyes?
M: He's a spirit, and he is everywhere.
(pause)
A: Um, is there only one God?
M: yes.
A: Well, it sounds like if God can see everything then there's lots of Gods.
(M and G smile, chuckle, and keep trying to explain...)

We're still trying to understand these mysteries ourselves, but the kiddo is asking awesome questions (in both the "cool" and "staggering" senses of the word).

(Tonight Abby had lots of prayers for the orphans of the world. She was especially concerned about the orphans having to sleep on the ground, in the sand, with the "pokey" ground hurting them. She prayed for them to have jammies, toys, mommies and daddies. Oh yes, and she prayed for them to have lots of money so they could have food and clothes. Then, we said "AMEN," after which Abby asked...)
A: Why is there A MAN at the end?

We both laughed.

April 18, 2006

An Easter Story

Matthew and I both believed in the easter bunny when we were kids, but we haven't made much of it (him?) with Abby. Saturday night Abby got a phone call from her Meemo, and the easter bunny came up. Matthew and I were laughing as he told Meemo: "You just cost me a trip to Wal Mart." We were planning on setting out a basket anyway. The idea of the easter bunny was sinking in with Abby, and she began to ask her 101 questions. Well, the result was a freaked out Abby (our answers probably sounded odd because we were trying to phrase things so as not to seem like the easter bunny was actually real). She did NOT want that rabbit coming in the house, but she was worried that she wouldn't get a basket. Tears were calmed, and we came up with a great idea: Leave the bunny a note on the front door!

(Abby's note): Dear Easter Bunny, Please give Abby a treat, but don't come in the house because Abby is scared of your shadows. Put the treat on my carpet in front of my door. Thank you for the treat. Love, Abby P. I (heart) U

She slept in our room and made sure that the front door was double locked. She then asked how high up the note was taped, how the bunny could read, how I KNEW the bunny wouldn't get in, etc. She's a smart girl. She liked her treats, and so far, no more talk of bunny fears!

April 7, 2006

Sucker-punch

Matthew and I were laughingly scuffling over the espresso machine this morning. I was threatening to pour a shot into my coffee cup, rendering his almost-finished americano undrinkable until the next shot was drawn. I pulled out a technique I learned from my first college roommate, Jenny; I like to call this move "the butt." Basically I tried to ward off Matthew's attempts at getting to the machine by physically distancing him from it. Well, his arms are too long, and he easily reached his cup past me and under the espresso spout. I told him I was going to sucker punch him, so he offered me his arm. I KNEW I shouldn't take the shot, but I did.

I'm the sucker, to be sure. My wrist hurts like the dickens and his arm hardly knows it was struck. I don't think anything is broken, but we both heard a pop. Might have been a knuckle. Anyway, we were reconciled over coffee on the back porch; my pride is, I must admit, still suffering with my wrist.