8 months

Krista is now 8mths. Her official due date is June 8th. This week is finals week, and Krista and I both finish tomorrow...finally! She has turned in her thesis of 30 pages, of which she wrote on Jane Austen.

My thesis began with the idea of reader response which is the idea that the meaning of a novel begins not within the work itself, but within the reader because of the separate experiences and ideas they bring to the work. I started with this idea and then moved into the idea of a constructed narrator, or a narrator who is created within a work as a character of the novel. I developed this idea to speak about how this constructed narrator, through other literary devices comes to shape the story and the reader's response to the story and finally that this is all done in an effort to convey a specific message to the reader. As examples, I used Jane Austen's novels, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

But, sorry to bore you all :) I finally finished that, and I have not heard back from my professor yet, much to my relief! As Stephen started to say, I have my last final tomorrow for my Samuel Johnson and Jane Austen class, which should be a breeze. Stephen and I both took a biology final this morning. We both came out feeling fairly confident, and very glad that biology is all over! This afternoon Stephen, along with two classmates, had an oral final for his Living in Christ class-which went very well! He answered each of his questions completely and reported that his professor seemed pleased with their answers. So that's over-I'm sure that Stephen will find that he's aced that exam as well. He also turned in a paper for his directed study today.

Stephen is (as of this moment) making tea and getting ready to finish studying for his last oral final tomorrow for Catholic Political Thought. He's a bit stressed, but I'm sure he'll do well! Both of us having grades slowly but surely trickling in-and we're both doing pretty well! (Say a prayer that it continues that way!)

This weekend is graduation weekend-a long time coming! Stephen's parents, my parents, my younger brother and our friends Kaitlyn and James Tutwiler are coming into town and all staying at our house. We're packed out again, but very excited to see everyone!

So we've been incredibly busy and yet again, apologize to everyone who has been loyally checking our blog to see what's happening! Too much!!! After graduation is over with, Stephen has drill at the end of the week. He's very anxious, thinking that I'll go into labor and he won't be here for it. I get a little nervous that that may happen, but I just try and take it one day at a time and hope for the best. When he gets back from drill, or perhaps prior to his drill, we're going to finish the baby's room. Yes, that is correct-it's not done yet. But I think, just as with everything else that we do, though it will have to be done quickly, it will be done well! We've already painted the room, so we just need to do some touch ups and the stenciling. The crib is assembled, but we're missing a piece so we're going to fix that up as well. Most of the clothing is set to go and we have a bassinet set up in our room already. There are a few necessities that we still need to get, so next week-it's off to Babies 'R Us, armed with gift cards and our new SUV.

Ahh, yes-the new SUV. We just bought a new car :) We had been talking about getting a new car for a while, knowing that we'd need the space and also, as Stephen has drill, if I have to stay here (as is often the case these days..) then he takes the car and I don't have any way to get around. Sort of a concern. So we looked and were in the process of trying to find a good deal when I happened upon a nicely priced SUV, with exactly the specifications that we wanted: black, 2006, and a mileage of 16,000. It seemed as though God had placed exactly what we needed in our path once again :) So after a trip over to Miami, quite a few phone calls, a bunch of paperwork, some illegal driving and a rather surprising sales tax, we have exactly what we wanted: a legitimate new car, complete with the part no one ever wants: a new fun car payment. Anyway-we're very excited to have the car and we've both tried our hardest to remain neutral about which car is whose...we'll see how long that lasts ;)

Well, I think that about wraps it up for now-more to come of course, but it's study time!!