Toddlers and Scholars

We enjoyed a fun day of variety: helping a friend paint his house, changing the oil in our car, and working on Jared and Rebekah’s wedding photography. We also took a long walk over to campus to eat a picnic dinner and to help David move to his new office.

While looking through photo albums of themselves as infants, Andrew and Jonathan have always called themselves “Baby Ben.” But today Jonathan paused, and with a look of delight, said “Baby Me!” He then proceeded to correctly identify each photo as “Baby Drew” and “Baby Me.” That’s something we have trouble doing!

Here’s a photo of all the guys hauling stones to the end of the street.

This morning I went to my first faculty orientation. The dean discussed the honor code, how to turn in grades, attendance policies, and many other issues. The most interesting part was her portrait of the ND student body. Among the highlights:

• 80% of undergraduates live in dorms–usually the same dorm for all four years.
• 85% are Catholic.
• ND students are very deferential, almost obsequious. When they try out for prestigious fellowships like the Fullbright, Marshall, or Rhodes, they most often stumble during the interview component. They tend to back down to verbal challenge. The dean told us to work on making them “talk back” in a more direct manner.
• ND students have gender issues. There’s quite a bit of male-female hostility, the dean said. Male students, for example, sit on one side of the room in a clump and female students on the other side of the room in a clump.

Big news: Lisa successfully defended her thesis this morning. What an amazing accomplishment while being a wonderful wife and a nurturing mother to three young boys. Congratulations, Lisa!

–David

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins: “Obama is not the antichrist.”