Graduation and Goodbyes

Monday night was a time of celebration at Convocation (Graduation) for Regent College students. Bronwyn and Claire both graduated with the Diploma in Christian Studies. In addition, Bronwyn was awarded "The Board of Governors' Prize for Proficiency in the Diploma of Christian Studies". This is a very high honour; it basically means she was the top student of all those students graduating with the Diploma in Christian Studies. After the ceremony, Don Lewis, who is the Academic Dean at Regent College, came up to me and said: "You and I have something in common, Nathan." "What's that?" I replied. "We both married women who are smarter than we are!" I smiled; and heartily agreed! (Don's wife, Lindi, who is a gifted linguist, attends the same church as we do).

Claire - Bron and I are very proud of you! Congratulations! And Bron - "The Board of Governors' Prize for Proficiency in the Diploma of Christian Studies" is a reflection of your intelligence, creativity and innovation, hard work, and determination. I'm very, very, very proud of you!

The morning following Graduation, we drove down to Seattle to take April to the airport, so she could fly to Denver. We consider April to be part of our family, and we love her dearly, so we will miss her during the next couple of months while she is working in Wyoming.

Claire, Bron and I stayed down in Seattle over night. We spent Wednesday morning exploring Borders Bookshop, Pike Market, the surrounding shops, and the water front. We also enjoyed some scrummy crumpets and fish and chips. We drove back to Vancouver that afternoon. It was great to spend time with Claire before she returns to NZ. We're glad she's part of our family, too!

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The following are our plans for the next couple of months:

* Nathan returns to NZ this Friday to work at the NZ Treasury for about 6 weeks.

* Bronwyn returns to NZ mid-May, after completing the "Food Course" with Loren and Mary-Ruth Wilkinson on Galiano Island.

* Attend Alastair and Kim's wedding on 21 June.

* Fly back home to Vancouver on 23 June in time for Nathan to start Summer School Hebrew (aka "Suicide Hebrew").

P.S. We hope to update our web album in the next couple of days with pictures from Graduation and our trip to Seattle. You may notice that Nathan's pupils are quite dilated in these pictures. This is owing to the cold medication he was taking. The study hasn't made him crazy, yet! :0