LA Part One (a.k.a. Jake becomes Dr. Gross!)

At the beginning of January, we headed out to LA for Jake's graduation and great time with great friends! We spent the first part of our time staying with our former neighbors, the Strawns, who also have graciously hosted Jake when he's been on campus at Azusa. While Jake was busy defending his dissertation, our girls were busy playing with the Strawn girls! Mihret is 10 months older than Abby Jane, and she was Abby Jane's first friend. They spent countless hours together as infants and toddlers! It was really fun to reunite them AND for us to meet fabulous Zinash, the big sister in the Strawn family! Chuck and Carrie are really special friends, and it was delightful to get to spend time with them those first few days.

Abby Jane surprised us by suddenly leaping from her swing at the playground one morning. Turns out she loves jumping from swings at their full height!

Blythe being Blythe.

Then came the night of Jake's formal presentation! There are few words to adequately describe the depth of our emotions upon arriving at this evening. After five and a half years of hard work, this evening was the grand finale of Jake's doctoral process.

I was 10 weeks along with this little nugget when her daddy went to his very first doctoral class, so we thought it would only be appropriate for her to come be a part of his big night. She was beside herself with pride.

Jake's parents and my mom flew in for the weekend, so we all got to enjoy and celebrate together. After all, for all the folks who give me a lot of credit in this whole process, there was a big set of involved grandparents who have had my back all these years, too.

Then suddenly it was Jake's turn to present the results of years of work in 15 minutes. I am not biased in saying he did a fabulous job, and none of us could have been prouder.

Drs. Chris and Kristy Collins are wonderful friends of ours on all kinds of levels, but one of those is that Chris was on Jake's dissertation committee and a great help to him throughout the process.

Wearing his new hood!

Jake and Alex, his committee chair, advisor, mentor, and huge blessing to Jake! Alex came to APU in Jake's second year, and we are so grateful for the impact he has made on Jake's life and for all that he has taught Jake these last several years.

Jake with his wonderful faculty at APU.

Mitch is an old family friend who lives in LA and was able to join us. He's known Jake since high school, so it's fun to share such a milestone evening with such a longtime friend.

Proud, proud mama!

Dr. and Mrs. Jake Gross!

Chuck and Carrie Strawn!

These parents were about to pop. It was a great night for the Gross family!

Jake and Lesley Roberts got stuck in epic traffic and drove for two hours to make it for the special night.She's pregnant and ended up missing dinner- they're rock stars for making it!

Maybe she'll hold this up when she's 16, too.

Abby Jane and Mihret when it was time to say goodbye. The girls played nonstop with dolls and dress-up, and they had slumber parties every night.

Zinash was a mega star to all of our girls. The twins especially thought she hung the moon. She was very gracious and kind to them. So thankful for our time with these sweet friends!