17 February 2013 - Valentine's Day and Big News!

This week, everyone was sick.  We had plans for Valentine's Day but canceled them to try and get well.  Some of you may not have been introduced to Madeline's eel from SeaWorld yet.  This is Mahonri Moray-ancumer.  We just call him Mahonri.  He's 4 feet long, although you can't really tell from this picture.  He's been helping Madeline get over her wicked cough.

Emily made us a heart cake, and despite being down sick herself, Joanne made sure that everybody got a Valentine's present.

Now for the big news.  This fall, I'm going to be working here:

Where is here?  It's...

I have accepted a professorship and this summer our family will relocate to the Caldwell area for me to begin teaching here.  The College of Idaho was founded in 1891, and if you know anything about my earliest years, you may know that I was born in Caldwell, ID, sometime after 1891.

If the Maryland experience two years ago taught me anything it is that I love teaching in a small Liberal Arts college environment, and The College of Idaho provides just that, only a lot closer to many members of our family.  While we will be sad to leave those who are here in the east with us, we are excited to be much closer to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  We are in the early stages of planning the move, so we don't have many details yet, but Joanne has been busy communicating with Aunt Kathy and Eric and Laura who all live in Nampa right near C of I's campus.

Some of you may also know that I have been offered a Fulbright appointment for this summer in Argentina.  We are planning on spending the early part of our summer there before our move to Idaho.  So it will be a busy summer, and there are plenty of bridges to cross between now and fall.