Over the Hill!!! Sarah Huffman's 30th bday party

Sarah Huffman threw herself a 30th birthday party on Friday night, March 28, 2008! Here we are posing with her in her "reception line" as the theme was a quasi-reception. Shaun Printers was the star w/ his silly antics, as usual. :)

The Thesis

So, my master's thesis is about the influence of Savonarola on the Dominican Nuns. Savonarola was a preacher in Florence from 1494-1498, who challenged the corruption of the Pope and the Catholic Church and got burned at the stake for it - May 13, 1498. He pounded the pulpit and drew hundreds of followers with his millenarism sermons and calls for reform. He wrote songs for nuns, although we're attempting to measure his impact on women overall. We'll probably have to narrow the topic to fit into 100 pages. My thesis advisor specializes in women's spirituality in the Middle Ages and she's done a lot of work in Germany on this topic; my focus is on Italy. Currently, I'm translating a prayerbook from Lawrence, Kansas that we found in their special collections - its attributed to followers of Savonarola. Its 140 pages total and written mostly in medieval Italian w/ some latin. Yikes!!! So, I'll be comparing that to stuff from the archives in Florence. Its incredibly overwhelming and stimulating all at the same time... I absolutely HAVE to be done and graduated by next May because Peter is leaving the state then... with or without me!

What's my wife doin' in Ittly?

Its true, I'm abandoning Peter for SEVEN weeks this summer to go to Italy. The separation will be difficult, but somehow we'll get through this. :) Why and how am I doing this? First of all, I teach Italian at the University of Nebraska at Omaha part-time; this past year was my first and I felt rather rusty with my language skills, seeing as how I've been home from my mission for 12 years!!! Yes, I'm adequately fluent, but I'd like to take my skills up a notch. So, a good dose of immersion is necessary. Plus, I have a free place to stay with my dear friend Sara Tonon in Torino, so the couch is waiting for me there. I also have a former companion from Brescia that I want to visit and other friends, Ruben & Cecilia Marsegno, in Biella. Sara and I might take a trip to the island of Sardegna - she served five months of her mission there. The second purpose of my trip is to conduct researh for my thesis in Florence (see post on thesis for details). I can get reimbursed for airfare, food and hotel stays in Florence for the week or two I'm there. The Department of History at UNO has generous donors that fund "worthy" research opportunities and apparently this qualifies! The goal is to generate original research that could be turned into a professional journal article. So, I'm dieting now in anticipation of yummy gelato and pizza. Viva l'Italia!!!

Dental School Daze - the official timeline for dental school and beyond

Aren't we done yet!? Not so much. Peter's much too ambitious. He's finishing up his 3rd year of dental school and next year, his fourth and final year, he wants to apply to an oral surgery program. So, we'll hopefully get matched up next January. A year internship before we enter the residency will give Peter more experience, so we're looking at another 7+ year of bliss!!! This picture is of me with friends Jackie and Chanda - we're ditching Sunday School, but promise to repent and start attending soon...