Masters of Divinity, Fuller Theological Seminary...CHECK!!

Well, so much for "keeping up with the blog posts."  For those of you who have been checking over the last 7 weeks, sorry!  Here is a quick update on the eve of my graduation from Fuller.

River's room - in our closet!

His first "business casual" outfit - one of our good friends out here and his wife sewed River a bunch of amazing Onesies, including a basketball, football, and baseball that will fit in the corresponding professional season!

It was such a blessing to have Gigi out for River's first week +.  Her loving the girls and doing fun things with them was so great, especially because Fuller doesn't give their students paternity leave (go figure!).

Bowling pins that Esther made with Gigi in one of their fun crafts.

Some of Janelle's good friends from our church who had little boys a couple weeks before we did.  We are so thankful for Knox Presbyterian Church - what a wonderful, welcoming, family-loving worshiping community.  It's going to be hard to leave our Knox family.

Dadda's 33!! 

Just a little hoe-down with Mickey at Disneyland - no big deal!

One of our favorite activities - walking/running to preschool 3x/week.  Then Janelle and I often went for a run together.  It is really cool how fun it can be to walk places.  We walk places here way more than we drive, and it has been so refreshing!

My first half-marathon - the Pasadena Half.  Really a fun day running through all of the iconic Pasadena sights, and I made my goals of raising money for a well in Africa and sub-7:00 miles (6:57) - so grateful!

YeeHaw!

I gave River his first haircut and Janelle and I decided that it would only be right to shave my head to match him!

River's first Disneyland day - really taking it in!

What color eyes is he going to have?  Looks blue here?  Still not sure!

 
Well, I hope those pictures get you up to speed a bit!  We have had a really great (and full) last 7 weeks.  River is healthy and doing well.  After 9.5 years at Fuller, (8.5 of those part-time), I will graduate tomorrow (6/9) with a Masters in Divinity.  Our house is almost all packed up.  Gigi and Grandpa (Forrest's parents) are out for the weekend for graduation and helping move us back to Boulder.  On Monday we are going to Disneyland for one last day and then dropping Janelle, Esther, Bella, River, and Gigi off at the airport to head to Colorado that night.  Grandpa and I will be driving the Uhaul on Tuesday!  Back in Colorado by June 13. 

I am so thankful for my time at Fuller.  I have grown and been challenged in so many amazing ways through my Fuller education.  I am also really grateful for this year on campus.  There are many amazing gifts from being out here that I don't think I would have gotten had we not made this move.  God has used the professors here, the learning community, the library, and the culture of Fuller Pasadena to transform and grow me. 

As simple as I can put it, probably the best thing about coming out here this year is that my understanding of the gospel (good news of Jesus) has really expanded.  What used to be mostly about individuals getting to know God has expanded to include individuals getting to know God while being grafted into the community of the people of God for the purpose of participating in God's work in the world.  Also, I have found that God's purposes in creating humans was not just for relationship with him (as important as that is), but also for being fully human - creating culture, cultivating culture, making the most of this world!

If you'd like to talk more about any of those thoughts, I'd be delighted to!

I hope you are well and that your summer is starting great!