Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Best Part of My Job

One of the very best aspects of my job is leading study abroad. I have spent all spring semester getting to know this group of students, and we just spent the last two weeks in Italy studying schools and the culture in general:
I did a horrible job taking pictures. The one above is outside my favorite school--the Liceo Artistico. It's a high school for students who want to become professional artists: jewelers, fabric designers, fashion designers, graphic artists, and architects. It's amazing to see what these students create, and it's so good for my students to see all that teenagers can do when given the tools. That is actually a huge thread throughout all schools. Students are given earlier and more access to tools and responsibility.

We also went to see my friend Laida and her olive orchard. We learned how to make pizza and pasta:


We also went back to the archives to see and touch books from the 1200s:
Schools do this tour to learn more about the history of the community, and my students took back so many ideas about how to partner and utilize the community as classroom.

One of my students also captured this:
I'm so grateful. I love sharing places and spaces I love, and I love that they wanted to learn. This group was intensely curious, and they spent far more time in each place than any other group I have taken.

The most meaningful moment for me, though, was at St. Peter's. This is a Jubilee year, which means the Holy Door is open for the first time in 25 years. The morning we were there, the Pope started a new pilgrim's walk from the edge of the square through the door. Every 40 or so people, a monk carrying a cross lead a group in responsive prayer. We had prayer books, and it was an invitation and a call to unity across denominations. It truly was a Holy walk.

We put our feet in the sea, ate a ton of amazing food, and laughed so much. I have written a 45 page journal about the experience, and I can't wait to go back again.

 

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Celebrations

We have a lot to celebrate around our house!

Saturday, we moved Issa home for the summer. She had done so much packing and bringing home that we were completely finished moving her out in less than an hour. We still have a lot of unpacking and sorting to do at home, but it's good to have her home. 

Sunday we also started celebrating Evan's big sixteenth birthday. Mom and Shannon came over for steaks and Brad's new layered oreo dessert. This year, he rounded out the usual clothes and video games with some of his favorite snacks:
He is so easy to celebrate:

 The big news and biggest reason for his smile is our new family member:

Evan has been stalking the animal shelter websites for a few months. We lost Neela almost 10 months ago, and he has been more than ready to add a puppy to the family. We realized this is kind of the sweet spot when we would all be home, so we went just to look on Saturday. Issa was all too happy to push move out to the afternoon for the chance of a puppy.

We went to see a pup that had actually already been adopted, but we fell in love with Bella. She is only four months old, so we couldn't do a dog meet at the shelter, so we were banking on Buddy's positive reaction to her scent on us as a good omen. We also had hoped to bring her home after a couple of days to prep, but they are so crowded they are only doing same day adoptions, so Bella came home Saturday. Thankfully, she and Buddy and fast friends:

And she has definitely claimed Evan:


It has been fun watching Buddy teach her how to be a dog:

And she is incredibly smart. She has come and sit down, and she is getting the whole house training incredibly quickly. She even sleeps through the night! She also got her first bath last night when she discovered our frog pond. We are all trying to find new routines, but I'm so glad she joined our family!

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Book 14

I think this is the last workish book I am reading for a while:

 My new provost recommended this one, and it is really good. We are about to launch a new strategic plan, and I have a gut feeling this will be the guide book. While I really enjoy learning, I'm ready for a little fiction again.