Ha, Ha...Funny, God

[Play game show loser music.}

Robby is sick. Home.

My prayer

My prayer continues to be that God will provide time for everything needing to be done.

We're taking Robby to his first Packer game Thursday, then to the County Fair on Friday, then to his Summer Reading program awards event Sat, then to the 150th Campus Kick-off Sunday.

Whew!

Day One

Convocation takes place at 11. Heckler gave us a preview of his speech yesterday at staff meeting. He asks himself each day how he will serve Valpo's mission. Each word is precious in the statement. This guy gets Valpo. We welcomed our new student employee Christiana. She is a freshman (can we keep her 4 years?).

In personal news, I taught Robby a game. I say, "I one the goldfish." He replies, "I two the goldfish." We go back and forth adding numbers until he ends with "I eight [ate] the goldfish." This makes us giggle. I also asked him "Why did seven get in trouble?" The answer "because seven eight [ate] nine." It is great to have an innocent audience.

this and that

First, I had a great time at the Academic Overture! There were more people there than usual...or maybe I have just left too early in the past. This annual event gets administrators and faculty together. Music, food, catching up...a great time. The rest of the weekend was pretty good. I'm feeling a little foggy - stress? lack of sleep? If you have a chance, check out Valpo's new homepage!

Meetings

Had four meetings on Thursday - three related to the Inauguration. The third of three included President Heckler to give him a run down on the plans to date. So far, so good! The fourth meeting was about the University's new web design. So many people have worked SO HARD on this. It should be launching any day (hour?) now. I also saw a preview of a new online community for Valpo folks (which, will be cool!) and learned more about online registration. The online component is being utilized more than ever by the 2009 CWC committee. It looks like all the stars will align.

Today 0 official meetings - which feels weird. Linda and I need to touch base on a bazillion details. At the end of the day, I'll attend the Academic Overture - which I consider the official pre-kickoff to the academic year (with Convocation on Tuesday being the "official" kick-off).

Over to to Old LaPointe

Our vacation to Lake Superior is still on our minds. We attended a show at the Big Top - a "Praire Home Companion" style theater. We have purchased a few of the CDs of past performances - including "Riding the Wind" a show we saw performed during vacation. One song is about ferrying over to LaPointe - the main village on Madeline Island. The words are something like "Over to Old LaPointe..." Robby knows most of the words, but will sing "Over to all the points." It cracks us up! Robby thinks we should start a band. He will play guitar, Dad will play drums and I get to play banjo!

Last night the Guild hosted its Making Dinner Fun fundraiser. I'm thankful for those who attended, however we have room for more! They said the economy is holding people back. I plan to host another in October. We're also getting geared up for football stand, cakes & care packages, pecans. Here we go again!

Details, Details

The inauguration planning is in full swing. I'm involved with hospitality and logistics - a fitting and exciting role. Now, if I could only find time to finish those summer projects. The campus is a buzz as the students have already started to return. They are finding a new football field, the Union landscaped (ready to open in January), new parking lots and generally a beautiful campus. The faculty and staff are all shaking our heads and wondering how fall arrived so soon, but overall we're excited to officially begin Valpo's 150th year. The campus kick-off on August 31 will be the first official 150th celebration.

Vacation

"Shark Boy" and his Amazing Parents are back from a much needed and much enjoyed vacation. Robby chose our new title. In every way did we have fun: kayaking, canoing, swimming, exploring, hiking, touring, ferrying, eating, napping, reading, etc. It was good to get back in touch with myself, my family and my dreams.