Thank Heaven for Little Boys: A Major Accomplishment!

Kris has finally successfully defended his dissertation in Civil Engineering (Environmental Emphasis) at MSU! Whoo-Hoo! This day has been seven years in the making...Seriously! After graduating with a B.S. in Ag and Bio Engineering at MSU in May, 2004, he didn't immediately see any job openings, so we decided that he enter the doctoral program in Civil Engineering at State. He was the ginney pig for that program in that he was the first one to "skip" the Master's degree and go straight for the doctorate. It was supposed to be a shorter route! After several years of having met the Master's requirements with no degree, they let him apply for the Master's degree, so he could at least have that piece of paper in his hands!

He began constructing his reactors in the labratory, handled many toxic chemicals, and mixed many jugs of "feed" for his sludge! This was one real pain for several years. Every 17 hours the feed to his precious project had to be changed. That meant heading up to the lab at 10:30 at night if need be. That meant not being able to make a trip home for the weekend if one of his undergraduate assistants couldn't be there to change the feed for him. That meant....lots of frustrations!

He went through many, many undergraduate assistants working in the lab with him...some very dependable, and some...not so much. I believe he finished his coursework on the PhD sometime in 2006...so since then, it has strictly been research, data analysis, and writing! At some point along the way, he taught a few courses at MSU in the Engineering department. It seemed as though he would never finish this monumental task, but he kept persevering!

Kris missed many outings here and there (and everywhere) because he was working on his research and paper. It was always some big cloud hanging over his head. If anything leisurly was going on, he would feel guilty about doing it because he knew he had a lot of school work that needed his attention. Did I add that he even endured two surgeries during this process? One surgery was in 2007 to repair a torn ACL (his 3rd ACL reconstruction actually) and another surgery in April 2011 to repair herniated disks in his back. He is a real trooper, and I admire his dedication and perseverance.

The trip to Starkville was very sentimental to both of us. We began our life together as a couple in that town. We lost a baby in that town, and God gave us two beautiful boys in that town. We met the man who gave me a job and income for 6 years. We became close with he and his family, and we still are. We found an awesome church family, whom we are still missing. We met several close friends and developed some great friendships. On every corner, there is a memory that we can recall. Sure, we always were anxious to get home....because we missed family. And now, family is the only thing that keeps us from returning to the place our married life and journey together began!

We stayed at Rock Hill at Mickey's cabin at the lake on Tuesday night. We ate at some of our favorite restaurants Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Walking into the hallway the morning of the presentation, I almost lost it. I sure did not want to be so sentimental and emotional, but this was a day that had been so long in the making. I pulled it together! I recalled the many nights we made midnight runs to that stinkin lab! I recalled taking Karsen up there with us as he was a tiny baby.....he even pooed everywhere while we were in Kris's office late one night while Kris was working. I recalled waddling down those hallways checking on Kris, when I was very pregnant with Kooper. I remember supplying Kris with those precious first newborn pics of his boys to place in his office at school! Lots of good times....lots of frustrating times....and great memories!

Kris was a little nervous, but so many people were praying for him, and God gave him an awesome sense of calmness and clarity of thought as he presented his dissertation. On Tuesday, he told his advising professor that my presence during the presentation would make him too nervous, so I would probably sit out. That was totally fine with me because I did not want to do anything to make this more difficult for him than it would already be. I had just planned to camp out somewhere and pray for him as he presented. But, he was so calm the morning of the presentation that he thought he would be fine with me in there. We agreed that it would be good because I could pray specifically for his needs as he presented! And that I did!

Kris did awesome during the presentation! Praise God for all His many blessings! When it was over, the committee came out with outstretched hands for a handshake as they said, "Congratulations, Doctor!" It was amazing! It did take Kris about two hours before he could actually smile about it! We were caught up in a whirlwind of paperwork, signature hunting, and document approvals the rest of the morning! Now, he just has to complete a little bit more paperwork and submit everything by next Friday. Then, he will have to deal with the library on formatting issues. If all is worked out, he will walk at graduation on December 9th!

As you can tell, I am so very proud of my husband! He is amazing, and he has accomplished a task that at so many times he thought was impossible!