Welcome Home, Joseph

Photography by Emily the evening Joseph got home.


That last shout out to Joseph was aimed at Washington DC, where Joseph spent the last four days. He was gone from 5:30 am on Monday until about 6:30 pm on Thursday for a workshop with a bunch of researchers who are all funded by the National Science Foundation. I think this is the first time Joseph has been gone for more than just a long day at school since he defended his thesis back in November of 2007. Yes, we have been a little bit spoiled, but we are pretty grateful to have Joseph around as much as he is. I expect he will start taking more trips to conferences soon, so this time was sort of a practice run.
Things actually went a lot more smoothly than I had anticipated, but I can't really take full credit for that. Our neighbors helped out a lot, babysitting Emily when I had a doctor's appointment and watching Caleb when Emily had gymnastics. Another neighbor invited us over for dinner when she and another friend were both husbandless for the evening. We are so lucky to have so many good friends living nearby! The kids were really good and I was careful to pack the days full of activities so they would sleep well for me.
As smoothly as things went, we are so glad to have Joseph back home with us.