It Is Finished

HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is: the finished PhD thesis, hot of the press on Thursday night. He pulled it out of his bag to show me after work, and I burst into tears. I am so proud.

The front page

The important stuff

Me and his 365 pages (one page for every day of the year!). Nathan was not exactly in the mood for a photo shoot but allowed me to take this candid shot.

I begged Nathan to wait until Friday (my day off) to go with him to turn it in. I forced him to stand in front of the print shop to reenact him receiving it from the book binder.

Then we walked to the brand new Palatine Centre. Here he is about to turn it in.

The actual handover moment... I think this receptionist thought we were a bit nutty, but she was good-natured about it. She actually said she gets her picture taken a lot by PhD spouses. I'm not surprised.

We went to Flat White, my favorite little cafe, to celebrate with chicken sandwiches and chai lattes.

It's blurry, but I like this picture.

Twinsies with our drinks :)

That night we invited over some dear friends to celebrate over more food, this time Gilesgate Tandoori, which is our favorite Indian takeaway. Nathan and I ate ourselves sick. Our bellies were quite uncomfortable when we went to bed, but that didn't stop us from eating leftovers the next night.

Clockwise from the top: Sam, Emily, Francis, and Amy honor the PhD champion!

I couldn't be prouder of him. I just couldn't. Thanks for all of your love and support for us.

What's next? You can read about that here.

Working Every Spare Second

Last week I called Nathan after school finished at 5, as is my usual custom, to figure out a time to meet in town so we could walk home together. I was about ten minutes later than I thought I would be, and when I approached the market square, I saw this.

He's working every spare second, literally!

Caught being studious...

I told you that he doesn't require much sleep, but I am thinking he should sleep for a week after he turns this thing in. He's been coming to bed after 1 a.m. every night, and he's always up before 6 a.m. working. Despite this lack of zzzs, his eyes are still gorgeous!

Right?

We were having fun taking pictures with the sun when a uni-aged girl asked, "Do you want me to take a picture with the two of you together?" She probs thought we were tourists.

Why not?

Friday is the big turn-in day. Can't wait!!! Have no fear, I will document everything.

Coastal Berry Picking

I love when Nathan comes up with something fun to do and then says something like, "I didn't know it was a crime to want to make special marriage memories." This time we went berry picking at one of our favorite spots, Easington Colliery. We love it there!

Here's Nathan among the thorny blackberry bushes. It was so cold and windy! The sky and sea were grey and ominous. Nevertheless, we were not deterred. There were special marriage memories to be made!

Here is a beautiful cluster of berries. Nathan held up these yellow flowers (weeds?) to make the picture even prettier.

I was prepared with several layers, including a hat, puffy vest, furry hood, and gloves.

Picking away...

And tasting a few I see...

My fingers were bright with berry juice within just a few minutes.

And my gloves were covered in spiky little burrs that took me forever to pick off. Yuck.

The spoils.

He stuck a berry between his teeth just before we snapped this pic. Classic.

The berries are washed and in are currently hanging out in the freezer until I have time to make a cobbler. Can't wait!

Cathedral Eye Candy

In case you needed more persuading to come visit us...

It's Fall, Y'all

The temperature here rarely gets above 70 degrees. In fact, it seems like it's in the 30s for four months out of the year, in the 40s for four more months, and the 50s or 60s for the final four months. However, that doesn't mean it always feels like autumn. It does now, though. 

Lately the air has had a little bite to it. The wind is shifting. The leaves are crunching under us. The days are getting shorter. It feels like Thanksgiving outside. 

Source

It makes me homesick. 

For high school football. For canned pumpkin. For my porch swing. For the bright yellow tree in front of E. Rivers Elementary on the corner of Peachtree Battle and Peachtree Road. For cinnamon and sugar doughnuts. For hay rides and corn mazes. For Lalley's Halloween party one weekend and our annual autumn get-together with s'mores and a bonfire and hot apple cider the following weekend.

Eat it up, Americans. Enjoy every bit of it. For now we console ourselves with the thought, "There's always next year."

Geordie Version of "Call Me Maybe"

One of the benefits of going back to school is getting re-plugged into what's up with "kids these days." My freshmen-aged tutor group was going on and on about the Geordie (local Northeast English dialect) version of "Call Me Maybe" (a.k.a. "Give Us a Ring, Will Ya Pet") and I was dying to get on YouTube to see it. Hilarious! I take great pride in being able to understand it.

Enjoy...

Thesis Update

For you, Horner...

So, after working two 100-hour weeks and having two very good meetings with his primary and secondary supervisor respectively, it looks like Nathan will submit his dissertation by September 30th. 

You probably have questions.

1. How did Nathan manage to finish a PhD in two years?

Our sweet friend Sam said, "I've never heard of anyone who has ever done that. You are the hardest-working man I know," to which Nathan replied, "No. I'm the cheapest man you know," to which I would add, "That, and he doesn't require much sleep."

Here's an extended answer:

When Nathan was originally admitted to Durham University, he was accepted into a one-year research Master's program because his MDiv didn't have a thesis component. Basically, the folks in the Theology department wanted to test him out to see if his writing was up to PhD scratch. Because of his "maybe you'll get into the PhD program, maybe you won't" status, he started straight away and worked like crazy on fear and adrenaline. About six months into our time here, he submitted a 20,000 word writing sample and, thankfully, was then upgraded into the PhD program and given retroactive credit for his work. Thus, we cut down our potential time in the UK from four years (one year Master's + three years PhD) into three.

Our first year here was good and hard. The good part was that we got involved at church, made lovely friends, and had lots of adventures exploring our new country. The hard part was that we were cold the whole year, I didn't have a steady job, and the savings that was meant to last us three years ran out after ten months. Stuh-ress. We needed to find a way to cut costs and increase income - FAST!

Our second year was a huge blessing from the Lord. It was everything good about our first year, plus we were able to move into a warm house and split the cost with friends, I started a job that I love, and we experienced the best year of our marriage so far (and we still have four more months of 2012 to go!). As an added potential financial bonus, Nathan was keeping a very purposeful, focused pace in his studies, and he thought it would be possible to finish a least a term early (March 2013) if not two (January 2013) so we could save money on international student fees.

Nathan put it this way: "Every meeting I have with my supervisor [one every six weeks or so] is costing us $1,500. I'm being penalized for being productive. I'm ready to go back to being rewarded to work."

Here's the kicker that caused him to move up the submission deadline yet another term (October 2012) and thus a full year earlier than originally planned:

In late August, Nathan was supposed to go back to the States to surprise his family on their annual beach vacation, but - to make a long and really heart-breaking story short - our passports and visa renewals didn't come back until the day after he was meant to leave, and he couldn't go. When this happened, he was so fired up in a rage against the UK Border Agency that he pounded his fist on the dining room table and said, "That's IT! This country is not getting any more of my money. I'm finishing this thing before the fall term starts."

And then he put his head down and did it. 

2. So, will Nathan be Dr. Nathan Parker on October 1st?

No. After he submits his thesis, it will be read by internal (meaning, from inside Durham University) and external (outside Durham University) examiners, all of whom are chosen by Nathan and his primary supervisor. After they read it, they will set a date for the viva, or the oral defense, when the examiners will grill him on his dissertation for a few hours. We are hoping and praying that it can be done before Christmas so he doesn't have to stress about it when we go home to see our families for the holidays.

After the viva, the examiners will get together and decide whether or not Nathan has passed and if so, if he needs major corrections, minor corrections, or no corrections. After corrections are done (if any), he will be Dr. Nathan Parker. However, he insists that he still just wants to be called Nathan. 

Y'all, the only reason I would even think about pursuing a PhD would be for the satisfaction of hearing people call me "Doctor," but that's just my pride talking. Maybe I'll insist on being called "Mrs. Dr. Nathan Parker" to scratch that itch.

3. Does this mean you're moving back to the States at Christmas?

Uh, no. Unless Taylor University has an opening for a tenure-track professor job that starts in January and Nathan gets hired there. Then, the answer is yes. 

We'll stay here until July 2013 at the earliest, when my school year ends. We have to apply for new visas (again!) after Christmas because Nathan won't be a student nor I his dependent anymore. My Headmaster has already agreed to sponsor me on a Tier 2 Work visa, and Nathan will be my dependent. Financially, it just makes much more sense for me to keep working and for us to split our living costs with the McKenneys while Nathan looks for work from here. 

Plus, we love our life here and are looking forward to another year of memories on this island. 

4. What will Nathan do until July?

After he turns in his dissertation, I have a feeling Nathan will take a full week to watch all nine seasons of Seinfeld and maybe play a little golf. To that I say, "Well deserved." After that, he has some article and book ideas he wants to spend time on. Publishing his thesis is a dream of his that we hope will become a reality. We also hope he'll do some more teaching and preaching at church and in college Christian union meetings. But most importantly, he'll be looking for a full-time academic job that would begin in the fall of 2013. You can start praying for that YESTERDAY.

When our new visas come, he may be able to get a part-time job, but I'm not sure on spousal work restrictions at this point. Maybe he'll work at Starbucks or something. The boy is wired to work and earn money. Thanks be to God for designing him that way. Thanks also to Jim and Susan Parker for making him "get a job" at seven years old! I love that he is such a hard worker.

While, in my opinion, our division of labor is quite balanced now, my dream world starts on October 1st when Nathan will also take over all of the housekeeping and cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping and laundry responsibilities. All I'll have to do is say, "How much is that gonna cost me?"  

5. Can we still come visit you?

Do you even need to ask that question? Honestly... 

Your time is ticking. Book the flight. Your guest room awaits.

Meeting Miss Irby

Some dear friends of ours, Josh and Taylor Irby, moved to Bosnia a few years ago to be full-time missionaries.  Since they (and we) moved away, I've really missed their music ministry and their adorable kids (Israel, Elijah, and Adeline). 

Josh recently wrote a book on a relative of his, also a missionary to Bosnia but many years ago, Adeline Irby, after whom they named their newest daughter. You can check out a guest post about the book written by Taylor here. Here's the Amazon synopsis:

In 1855, a wealthy 24-year-old English woman, Adeline Paulina Irby, left her London home to search for her purpose in life. By a strange turn of events, she ended up in Sarajevo where she stayed and became a national hero.

In 1999, an average 22-year-old man left his home in the United States to live in the Balkans for a year. There, in the most unlikely city on the other side of the world, he not only found another Irby, but also a purpose for his life.

This creative memoir reveals that extraordinary things happen when ordinary people search for meaning and, instead, discover love.

Meeting Miss Irby is on sale this weekend only. You can get it on your Kindle for $2.99 or on your Nook for $0.99. I've read it and recommend it!

The Irbys

I'll be back to some normal blog programming next week after an insanely busy two weeks back at school. Thanks for checking in!

My Regular Job

Guess what? I love my job. I really do. I've been putting in ridiculous hours this week (Wait! It's only TUESDAY?!), and it's sometimes hard and annoying to deal with stuff that goes with school and kids and international governments taking their sweet time issuing visas for our pupils. But tonight I am nearly in tears because today was one of those days that felt rewarding. I make a difference. Wow.

Here's a presentation I gave to my colleagues this morning if you're interested in learning more about what I do.

Welcoming Overseas Pupils on Prezi