An Indiana State of Mind: Rob's Graduation

It has been a very busy, busy few weeks around here. We've been up up to our eyeballs in end of the semester work for Rob, a huge kids consignment sale at church for me and the new world of being mobile for Liam.

But today, the consignment sale and school are behind us and we are all breathing a huge sigh of relief. (Liam is still on the move however, which does present its own set of new challenges, but it is fun to see him reaching new milestones.) This semester was by far the hardest we have encountered yet (even surpassing the semester Liam was born in), so we are even more thankful it is over.

I am still having a hard time believing that it has been two years since Rob started his masters work and almost as long that we've lived in Bloomington. It has truly flown by and so much has changed since then. Yesterday at Rob's graduation I almost got a little choked up (almost!) thinking about how much work he has put in to get to this place. I was, and am, so proud of him. He works so hard and often juggles many responsibilities; it amazes me how he manages. And he would be the first to admit that he doesn't manage well all the time, but at least he is failing in the right direction.

And so, we continue to press on to what is next, namely the summer and then five more years for Rob's PhD. There is a lot more work to come, but this was a good milestone to reach. I'm glad too that we aren't moving away from Bloomington yet when we are finally feeling settled here. If this was the end of the road I do think I would be sad. Of course, I'm not looking forward to all the school work to come, but I am glad to be in a place where we have great support to get us through. Check back to this blog in five years and I'll give you the recap...

Finally, what graduation would be complete without lots of pictures? Thanks again to my mother-in-law for all the great shots. We could see Rob from the stands in Assembly Hall, but her zoom made it feel like we were much closer to him.

Liam with the graduate in the morning

Rob all dressed up and ready to go

Waiting for the ceremony to start

The fam waiting for the ceremony to start. Liam was highly interested in everything going on around him

There he is!

Major zooming in. Lori kept trying to snap a photo of him smiling, but he was bored during the ceremony and never did. Consequently there are lots of photos of Rob looking like this. :)