Family update & prayer requests

Many people have been asking us lately about the adoption plan we posted about back in September. I now realize I have not kept people updated as I should. So here's the news: our adoption plan is still in place, and our baby is due in 2 months! We are starting to freak out a little bit, but we know we have many people to help us make this dramatic transition.

However, I do want to ask for your prayers, because this last week we learned that our baby's birthmother is dealing with some pregnancy-related health issues, including high blood pressure and gestational diabetes. The baby is doing fine though. Our attorney says the birthmother is in good spirits, but of course we feel bad for her having to go through this. We did not end up going to a doctor visit with her yet, but are planning to meet her and her husband for lunch this coming Saturday, just to touch base and get a chance to see them again in person (which we haven't done since we met them in September). I'm really looking forward to it, and I think it will help me kick it into high gear when I get home -- somehow I imagine it will be a great reality check to see her at this stage in the pregnancy.

Speaking of kicking it into high gear, this is also what needs to be done with my research projects at work. I have been realizing over the past few months that very few people are aware of the career path of an academic, or my location on that path....so I thought I'd summarize for you. The job I have is on the "tenure track," which means that I am on a path with the potential to lead to tenure. Having tenure is basically very strong job security, so of course I would like to get it. The tenure track is typically 7 years at UF, at which point one is evaluated for his or her excellence in teaching, serving the university, and advancing knowledge in their field of expertise through publications (with emphasis on that last one). Along with most universities, UF allows an extra year if a child arrives while someone is on the tenure track, so I got an extra year added on. This means I will turn in my packet of materials -- sort of an "application" for tenure -- in August 2011. While this is 18 months away, it is right around the corner in terms of publication, because the time that elapses between submitting an article to a journal for the first time and ultimately publishing it (often at a different journal, after several rounds of rejections and revisions) can easily take this long. I need to send out all of the articles I am working on very, very soon if they are to be part of my record when I am being evaluated. If I do not pass the tenure evaluation, I will have a year to find another job. Obviously, this isn't ideal.

Let me make a note about this - people outside an academic environment are often horrified to hear that I could be fired if I don't have enough publications. I want to put in my two cents here...I actually think it is a reasonably fair system. It gives me strong incentives to work hard while living out my dream job. I am paid to both teach and do relevant, important research that is valuable to society and brings recognition to the university as a place that promotes scholarship. In principle, it's a fair system. The downside is that there is always some risk that publication takes an extra-long time due to circumstances beyond my control, such as having an article sit for 13 months at a journal only to be rejected, or revising something according to an editor's instructions but then finding he is no longer interested in publishing it. This happens, and it does not seem fair. But seemingly random things also work in my favor sometimes, and so I am trying to keep a positive perspective. In all of this, God is going to accomplish his will.

So there are two big prayer requests:
* for the health of our baby and birthmother
* for my diligence in getting some more of my nearly-finished articles out the door to journals before the baby arrives and life gets crazy again

Thanks to all you pray-ers out there :)