November in Review: Part 1

I am woefully behind. However, the holiday and all of my coursework being done (insert Charlie Brown happy dance), there is a significant chance that I will be caught up with blogging by the end of the week. 

You will be getting the Cliff's Notes version of November. 

On November 13, we took a badly-needed family day and went to Free Day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. 

view of Denver from the top floor of the museum

It's splendid! There's the usual variety of hands-on activities, and a truly impressive number of dioramas complete with museum taxidermy! This being right up Jon's alley, we spent a lot of time with faces pressed against glass, admiring the tableaus.

We really needed to get away, after Jon being out of town and my being so busy finishing my coursework.

Speaking of which.. on Tuesday, November 15, I successfully defended my thesis, "Enterprising Women in Novels of Manners: The Social Economies of Austen, Thackeray and Wharton," over Skype! I'm so grateful for the way my committee and other faculty have worked to make it possible for me to finish a Virginia degree from Colorado. It was truly a dream come true to have finished, and to finish within a semester of leaving Virginia and have such minimal unemployed time is simply a gift from God I could not have looked to have. 

the view after hanging up from the Skype call which congratulated me for passing the defense. 

My face, just after hanging up from that wonderful call.

I finished my coursework just before Thanksgiving, but I have also been actively pursuing employment. Please continue to pray for an opportunity for me! I have interviewed for two jobs, one I know that I did not get, and one that I expect I did not get, because I was supposed to hear from them by the 18th. I have applied for many more from which I have not yet heard back. I am trying to be patient! I'm used to being able to gain everything with hard work and persistence, so this is a trying time for me.

Adele celebrated Thanksgiving at her preschool with a special "Grandparent Lunch" to which she invited our beloved neighbor, Mr. Dave. He befriended the children immediately after we moved in, and has been a friend, a loaner of tools, dispenser of ice cream for the kids, and a surrogate grandfather ever since. We are so lucky to have moved right next door to this man and his wife (who is limited by illness).

Mr. Dave not only attended Adele's lunch event, but he brought her a corsage!


Stay tuned as we count further blessings by recounting Adele's birthday and our Thanksgiving. Happy DiNovember!