Reception

A message from my mom:

Hello to Paul's friends and family!

Today is the RSVP date for the Kansas reception. If you have not sent in your reservation card yet, but are still planning on coming, you may go ahead and send it in the mail or call me at (785) 272-8316. If you did not get a reception invitation, and you would like to come, please contact Paul or Kindel for details. I need a head count so I order enough food.

Thanks! Hope to see you all there.


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P.S. Kindel and I know of friends from IL that are planning to attend the KS reception. Please email me if you want their name and number in order to set up a carpool.

We also look forward to seeing many of you there! I agree with mom. If you didn't receive an invitation would like to attend, call her or email me. We'd love to have you!

Graduation

Kindel (officially) and I (unofficially) graduated on Sunday. We attended her ceremony, where she received a fake diploma and got to wear a really cool robe and colorful scarf type thing. My thesis is ready to deposit and I'll do that sometime this summer. So I'm not quite official regarding my graduation requirements. However, I borrowed Kindel's cap and gown to take some photos Sunday afternoon. Check out the "IL Graduation" folder in my photobucket (link at right).

Last week I put together a rough draft of a manuscript for publication in a professional research journal. Think of a research journal as a magazine filled with wordy articles that report the results of various research projects throughout the world. Publishing is very important if one plans to have a productive academic career because this is where the rest of the research community can see and critique your work. My advisor will review the manuscript and we'll submit it soon. There's no gaurantee, though, that it will be accepted.

Kindel and I also had our last pre-marital counseling meeting last night. We had 5 meetings with Pastor J. and his wife that covered some very important topics. Most of all, though, we had a ton of fun, and as a result are looking all the more forward to marriage. We're excited and we hope to include you in on that excitement at our wedding events.

Cheers!

pb

My masters thesis defense was Tuesday morning, and I'm glad to report that I passed. While, the term "defense" may sound intimidating, I'm in the Sciences, not Jedi school. I had given a departmental seminar in March, so I was required to give an official defense seminar. Instead, I updated a PowerPoint showing my results and used that to guide us through the thesis document. I really enjoyed myself - my committee members are very knowledgeable, but easy going.

With our academics well in order (this is the last week of student teaching), Kindel and I gearing up to move out to California the first week of June. We're sad to leave all of our friends, our church, and campus. California will be a lot fun, though, especially starting out fresh as a married couple.

On the marriage note - wedding plans are coming together, I think. We're blessed to have a lot of help from both sides of the family, which has made the burden on Kindel and I much lighter. It has also helped keep our time free for more meaningful events. Recently those events have included watching Mission Impossible 3, getting run out of Allerton Park by a battalion of mosquito's, swinging in a hammock under a nearly full moon, fishing (Kindel is now up to four or so fish!), church potlucks, and a UIUC symphony concert (tonight). So, thanks to all of you who have taken some of the wedding load away from us!

Until next time...