J-Team Shakedown: January 2008

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise..."

-Psalms 8:2

Winter break is winding down and the J-team is back on the Farm after spending some time up in the Puget Sound area. Nice to get back in the rain, though after a year in Ketchikan Michele and I have met our Seattle rain quota until 2014.

While up in Seattle I worked at PND for a week and caught up with friends at work. It was nice to contribute value to a project that was not myself. After a few years in the working world, one of the hardest aspects about becoming a student again is coming to terms with being primarily a drain on resources, rather than a contributor. After working we spent time with friends and family including a long weekend with the Johnson family in a beach house my parents rented on Tulalip Shores. It was most relaxing and we really enjoyed catching up with everyone including Julia, our niece, who is three weeks older than Lachlan.

This quarter my classes tend more toward the engineering side of things and I am excited to get things started again. I am guessing this will be my heaviest quarter so this weekend I'm trying to get as much time in with Michele and Lachlan before I mentally go away. My schedule this quarter includes:

Goals and Methods for Sustainable Building Projects
Design and Construction of Concrete Structures
Organization Design for Projects and Companies
Integrated Concurrent Engineering
Behavior of Structural Systems for Buildings (bad structure, no no!)

Lachlan continues to captivate us. Every day he seems to have discovered something new and is now learning to sit on his own. He is drooling a ton and we are anticipating the sprouting of his first tooth. We are just in awe of the little gift that the Lord gave us and we pray to raise him up in a way that is pleasing to Him. We are thinking that we should probably begin to "baby proof" our little apartment in anticipation of a mobile little man.

Michele is busy getting ready for the start of the quarter and is looking forward to getting started in her mom's group and ladies Bible study here on campus. She continues to spend time with her sister and her family while I am busy with class. She is looking forward to getting out on walks again now that we are heading into some dryer weather.

In November Jeff (my brother) was able to come down for a visit.

Rian and Jeff at the UW v. Stanford football game with Lachlan looking on.

Lachlan: "Dad, you call THIS football, ugh!"

Field trip to Operating Engineer's Training Facility near Sacramento. They never let you drive the equipment in elementary school.

Lachlan's first solid food experience. "Don't like rice cereal, buddy? Just wait 'til we get to broccoli."

Michele and Lachlan out on an evening stroll in the Stanford Quad

Michele and Lachlan at Half Moon Bay, CA. Can't complain about being half an hour from the coast. In other words, one could drive to the coast, loaf for an hour, and drive back to campus in the time allotted for the average class lecture. (Not that I ever think about that.)