Docotor!

 When Ben defended 6 weeks ago, he texted a friend to tell him and wrote accidentally, "I'm a docotor!" He immediately caught his mistake but it made us laugh so much and has become our silly joke with each other. Ah, Docotor...

Our family came in town yesterday afternoon and our home went from quiet to filled with love and laughter within minutes!! We had dinner together and strawberry shortcake and then all the tired peeps (everyone over the age of 35!) went back to their hotel for some shut-eye and we settled in for a restless and nervous sleep!

We were up and out of the house by 7:30 morning! We got all gussied up and headed down to campus with Ben's mom. Ben had to line up at 8:15 so we had him put on his gown, posed for a quick picture and left him with hugs and a prayer!

They were handing out the programs (a half an inch thick book!) in bags with fans and ponchos, as the forecast was pretty dim. We found some seats under a tree where we were mostly protected and settled down to wait. At 9:15, just as a light rain began to fall, the bagpipes sounded and everyone stood to watch the procession file in!

It was a very formal convocation, with flags, singers, the bag pipes and about 20,000 people, faculty and graduates! Wow. It was a long 2 hours but the kiddos (who begged to come to the whole thing!) were SO good and well-behaved. Eliana ate a snack, hung out in her stroller taking her shoes off and playing with Baby Anna and the boys looked at the program, put on their ponchos and watched everything with interest. They were a bit bored when there was an hour left (as were B's mom and I) but it was exciting when the president of the university started conferring degrees on the different schools. That was my first round of tears/lump in my throat!

We waited on the corner of a street for the rest of our family to arrive and to meet Ben, looking quite regal in his doctoral regalia! Our family had a bit of trouble with the one-way and blocked off streets but finally made it in time for the luncheon. I had all of the invalids get out of the car (which was everyone!) and I took the van and parked it in a reserved parking spot. Thanks to my grandpa's handicapped parking permit, we were able to get help reserving a spot, which helped SO much. I parked and walked back to find everyone having a great time under the tent, eating lunch!

My beautiful Grandma and Mom!

The happy candidate and daughter!

The very proud Mama and her son!!

 

After a bit, Ben had to leave with all of the other graduates (in his area of study) for the second ceremony. All of the schools had individual ceremonies throughout the afternoon to give diplomas. We took lots of pictures while waiting for the doors to open. Here's Mugga with a few of her grandbabies:)

 

We made it through the crush of people and sat down to await THE big moment! The bag pipers came down the aisle with the Division of Humanities banner and all the graduates receiving Masters and Doctorates followed.

The faculty helping to hood the doctoral students sat on stage. Each professor wears the robes of his/her school that they graduated from.

They went through the Master's graduates very quickly (thankfully!) and then the doctoral students lined up. Ben is the tall one:) I kept trying to point out to Eliana where Daddy was and she didn't see him at first until he started waving. Her face lit up and she yelled, "There's Daddy!!!" and started waving frantically! She kept saying really loudly, "Do you see Daddy?!" which cause several people near us to turn around and smile:)

I started blinking back tears as I watch Ben get closer and closer and lost it when it was his turn. My sister took pictures for me while I tried to take a video but my hands started shaking so bad that the video is awful! It must've just been all of the emotion of eight years coming out:)

Here he is being hooded by his academic advisor. They said, "Benjamin David Thomas. Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Dissertation titled, 'Hezekiah and the Compositional History of the Book of Kings', committee comprised of x,y,z, being hooded by Dennis Pardee."

The blue velvet of his hood stands for Doctorate of Philosophy. Different fields get different colors. We rented his gown and hat since to buy it is costs....are you ready? $800!! We didn't know he got to keep the hood until he went to return the gown. We were really glad he got to keep that!

He looks so regal!! We did a lot of clapping and cheering and then I burst into tears:) Samuel kept looking at me and then much later he said to me, "I just don't get how people cry happy tears! I thought you only cried when you were sad!"

We made our way through the throngs and found our newly minted Doctor waiting with lots of hugs. Enter more tears on my part and lots of smiles!! We posed for lots of pics. I'm not sure that any of us were looking in the same direction since 3 people were taking pictures at the same time!

Ah, what an amazing day!!! So honored and blessed that so many people supported us with prayers and love along this whole way, including the amazing family that came to celebrate with us this weekend!

It's official! No more hoops to jump through! Ever again!

Thank you, God, is all I have to say for this day! As Ben's mom texted me this morning, "This is the day which the Lord hath made. Rejoice and be glad in it!"

Our Day!

What a day yesterday! It was almost too much to take in and process. I mean, we've been waiting eight years for this. That's a long time! It feels exciting and surreal all at the same time. I woke up at 4am because I heard E cry out and ended up going to get Zakkai up to go to the bathroom and I couldn't go back to sleep. My head was just swirling, thinking about yesterday and next thing I knew, Ben and I realized we were both awake! We spent the next hour just talking about everything, rehashing, marveling, thanking God. Then we fell back asleep until the munchkins decided to wake up. We celebrated with strawberry shortcake for breakfast!!!

So yesterday Ben left at 6:30am and took the train down to the university. He had to get there early to set up, test a Skype call with one of his committee (who lives in KY and couldn't travel for the defense) and other things. Eliana and I got there just after 11 but by the time we found parking and walked through the drizzle to the OI (Oriental Institute), we were only 8 minutes away from his starting time! Just enough time to say hello and give him a big hug.

Some of his good friends, who came in the program a year after B did, came to hear him and I got to say hello to each of them and also one of Ben's professors, who was on his reading committee. He was really nice and asked if I was excited. I said yes, but nervous, too! He said not to be, which was a good sign:) Generally speaking, they won't allow you to get all the way to your defense if they aren't going to pass you. That would make them bad faculty advisors, however, it's really nervewracking and a BIG deal!!

So, E and I gave Ben and hug and told him we'd be praying and left as people were filing in. The advisor, the other professors on B's reading committee, the chair of the department and a representative of the Dean of Humanities were all there to reside over the defense and to ask the questions. Actually just the committee asked questions; the chair has to be there and the representative has to be there to make sure it's a "fair" defense with no weird dealings going on. Ben's defense was in a room in the basement so Eliana and I hung out upstairs by the Oriental Museum. She was such a good girl! We drew pictures, watched people, talked, she ate her lunch. And on and on it dragged!

I was not expecting it to take so long. Ben had 25 minutes to present his dissertation and findings and then he would be asked questions, in which he would have to "defend" his position. That took forever! Finally at about 10 til 1pm, Eliana and I went downstairs to wait because I was sure it would be done any minute. One of Ben's friends had to leave early for a meeting but he told me it was going well and not to worry! The whole defense took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Wow!

Then all of the sudden, the doors opened and Ben and all the non-faculty left the room. Eliana shouted, "Daddy!!!!" and went running to him, which really made him happy. He was caught in a conversation with a scholar lady (who was very strange!) so I couldn't even say anything to him, which stunk. I was standing nearby waiting and one of Ben's fellow students said everything was good and they should be out soon.

Next thing I knew, the doors opened and Ben's advisor came out with an outstretched hand and shook Ben's hand saying, "Congratulations to the newest Dr in the dept!" Whoa. It was hard to take in! They told him to come back in the room and when Eliana and I finally made our way into the room, they were popping a bottle of champagne and handing out glasses so everyone could toast Ben!!! How cool is that?

The chair of the department handing me a glass and even though I absolutely loathe the taste of alcohol, I, too raised my glass (of course!!) when Dr Pardee, Ben's advisor, said, "Everyone raise your glass and toast the newest Dr!" I took a teeny sip and Ben made a corny joke about me not liking alcohol and everyone drank in Ben's honor!

It was so fun! People were congratulating him and I could tell he was overwhelmed and just kind of in shock. The professors and students said the nicest compliments! One of Ben's professors who was on his committee stopped at the door on the way out and told me that it was the best defense he's ever been to!! That is a really high compliment.  The professors do not hand out compliments easily, which has been hard for him going through this entire process. I kept hearing over and over how well he presented, how clear and how well he answered the questions and just how interesting the discussion was.

It was an answer to prayer. I prayed specifically for those things, for his presentation and for him being able to clearly and effectively answer the questions. The fact that people specifically named off those things without me even asking really made it feel like God was saying, "See? I heard your prayers. I was here and I am good!" And He is.

I got to meet people that I've heard about for 8 years now and never have met! Everyone was really nice and Ben was just beaming the whole time:) After people left, two of Ben's good friends took us out to a quick lunch nearby! They were so sweet and just enjoyed the moment with Ben. I'm sure it gives them hope and encouragement for their own day a year or two from now.

Then we had to rush back to pick up the boys from school. We were running very late and got caught in terrible Friday traffic so a friend of mine, whose kids are in the same schools, took the boys home with her. Eliana fell sound asleep in the car and after Ben and I both called our anxiously awaiting mothers to celebrate, we spent the rest of the hour and a half long car ride, just talking and tearing up and being so amazed.

We got home to let Ben change so we could go out to celebrate and he was already getting emails from some of his professors congratulating him and giving him high compliments!! We went out, at Ben's request, to Giordano's, a famous Chicago pizza chain, and celebrated with some deep dish pizza. We don't go out to eat very often so it was a real treat!!

Sometimes soon, maybe I'll be able to express what it has been like over these years and what this is like. For now though, we are just so incredibly thankful and riding high on the emotions of a huge accomplishment and the amazement of what God has done!!!

Drum Roll!!!

 Presenting the new Dr Benjamin D. Thomas!!

I'll have to write the story of the defense later, as we are on our way out to celebrate!!

Here is the dissertation in all it's glory, all 618 pages of it (double sided!) We are one proud family tonight!!

It's finally come!

My dearest friends and family, tonight and tomorrow I am asking you to pray! After 8 long (very long) years of hard work, Ben is finally defending for his Ph.D tomorrow at 11:30am!!! This is such a huge, huge day for us and will only be topped by watching him get hooded at graduation next month! We are both a little nervous and would appreciate prayers for peace and celebration!

Also, I am feeling very sick tonight with a cold or a flu and I really want to feel better so I can be there with him tomorrow! I won't go in the room with him for his defense because a) I have Eliana and that would be totally distracting for him:) and b) I'm too nervous to be there and I'd probably make him nervous! But E and I will be in the building and as soon as he comes out to wait for the "verdict", we will go down to join him.

Can't wait to share the good news tomorrow! Thank you!