Finally making it through...

It's been pretty crazy lately... we are so glad the semester is coming to an end! One of the biggest things out of the way is that I defended my prospectus, again, this last Friday which was quite stressful on myself and the family due to needing to work in the evenings on getting ready. I changed dissertation topics due to a number of reasons, but it came down to doing a dissertation that I have more interest in the topic (thus more motivation to complete), and the feasability of completing it ASAP (just another hoop). So my dissertation is looking at exclusively heterosexual non-pedaphilic male responses to Affinity 2.5. We're doing reliability and validity assessment of an instrument that measures sexual interest that will later be used with sex offenders. Anyway, we hope to get it all done before we leave for Colorado, we're crossing our fingers!

The biggest event this week was that Grace received her hearing aids two days ago! We are just so excited that she was able to get them so quickly! It was a little hard seeing these big things dangling from behind her ears, but it's just incredible that she is able to hear sound! We can definitely tell that she notices the difference because once we put them in, her eyes widen and she looks to where sound comes from. It's nothing short of a miracle. Here are some pics of her and her hearing aids. (sorry about the sideways pics, we're working on this!)

One more good thing that happened over the past two weeks is that I was able to watch the X Files season one that I borrowed from a professor... it definitely brought back old memories of sitting the dark on Friday nights my freshman year waiting for the newest episode of something wierd. As a side note, I will be co-teaching a graduate course this spring term entitled Alternative Forms of Healing. We'll be bringing in a psychic, a shaman/medicine man, hypnotherapist, acupuncturist and other

interesting speakers. This class is living my X Files dream since Deb won't let me go work for the violent crimes sector of the FBI. Mulder had a B.S. in psychology so I feel we are kindred spirits.

Reese and Cameron, as well as their parents. have been enjoying the weather as we've been able to go on a walk and play outside with the neighbors. We are looking forward to BBQing outside, drinking lemonade, eating snow cones, and hanging out with dear friends before we head out to Colorado. We are so grateful for the times we've had out here at BYU and we will sorely miss our friends and family that we'll be leaving behind. Debbie is especially going to miss all the great friends from our ward. They've been such wonderful friends and support to us and especially to her!