Day on the Lake!

We spent Sunday on Center Hill Lake with our old Sunday School class. Bobby & Patrice have a WONDERFUL houseboat on the lake!

I've also discovered I'm not very skilled at laying out pictures on the blog! I think if you click on them, you can see them full size!

Citizenship

This is Maryan, who was born in Somalia... she's one of my girls from the community center. She became a US citizen on Friday and I went to her naturalization ceremony.

Richmond Times Article

It’s by Larry Hincker who is the VP for University Relations at Tech….

Tech Will Prevail: The Phenomenon of the Hokie Spirit

Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 12:09 AM

Blacksburg . Literally thousands of stories and broadcasts have been written about the tragic events that befell our bucolic hamlet, our academic sanctuary we call Virginia Tech. All of us close to this will be profoundly changed forever. In my own case, it's knowing that hard as these past two weeks have been -- a two-week sprint at breathtaking speed -- there remains a marathon in our future.

I am stealing a few hours from work on this magnificent spring Sunday morning, knowing that I likely will not find time again for several more weeks to reflect. There will be the endless meetings, more media briefings, and -- this may sound odd -- the monumental task of thanking the world for its extraordinary caring and support. It will take months to appropriately acknowledge and thank the hundreds of schools, cities, agencies, and companies and the tens of thousands of people who have in their own special ways helped us cope.

We all continue to mourn each in our own ways. We can only imagine the pain and suffering of so many families contemplating a future without precious loved ones. We wish for some divine wisdom to explain the pain.

Through all the tragedy, through the pain, through the endless questioning, something unexpected appeared. The world saw, indeed it experienced the intangible, yet very real, Hokie Spirit.

The national media descended upon the 'Burg in unprecedented numbers. Grizzled and tested correspondents volunteered that they have never before observed a scene quite like this. We were besieged with more than 140 satellite trucks -- a swarming, snarling, briefing room of 250 reporters, correspondents, producers, and cameramen -- all trying to tell a story that defied even the most macabre imagination.

And although I walked that gantlet several times each day to face the tough and probing questions, I tip my hat to our local and national media, who had to tell this oh-so-terrible story. The media are composed of folks like you and me many have or have had children and relatives at Virginia Tech or schools like ours. Don't be too tough on them for asking the tough questions. They grieve with us. They, like us, wanted answers in order to make rational sense of irrational violence.

BUT SOMEWHERE along the way, the story line changed. Slowly, these grizzled veterans of war coverage, national politics, and international intrigue began to sense something different about Virginia Tech.

Maybe it was the fact that our leadership willingly faced the harsh questions and welcomed the many inquiries certainly yet to come. Maybe it was their surprise that we willingly volunteered so much information early on, even as we were just learning the news ourselves.

Maybe it was the fact that our alumni office made its magnificent new facility open 24 hours per day, while it was literally overrun with hundreds of people, cables, lights, vehicles, and all the appurtenances of modern broadcasting. Our alumni office kept the coffee going around the clock. Good heavens . . . they even fed them. Crusty old newsmen said that never have they been treated with such respect, let alone when a campus community was grieving unimaginable losses.

Maybe it was the spontaneous applause and continuing support for our President Charles Steger or Chief Wendell Flinchum. While looking for scapegoats, the media instead found heroes.

Maybe it was desire of our almost 200,000 alumni worldwide who flooded the university with offers of support, words of admiration, or interviews that took the media by surprise. Without exception, our alums love this place . . . and so now do many in the media.

More than anything, though, it must have been the character and resilience of the Virginia Tech student. Hordes of reporters combed the campus accosting students looking for the downside. "Do you think this is still a safe place? Why would you come back to school now? Wouldn't you rather be home?" Time and again, they answered: "I love this place. You won't find a friendlier campus in America . We are all close. We are like a family."

When one national news correspondent asked a student why he returned to class on the Monday of last week, he responded simply, "Because I think my professors needed me."

His heartfelt and poignant one-liner still takes my breath away.

ODDLY, MUCH of this has been a revelation for me. I am a rational, orderly kind of guy. Oddly, for a fellow in my line of business, while a student I enjoyed physics more than metaphysics. I prefer history to novels. I am not normally a touchy-feely sort of person. Ideas are more real to me than feelings. Yet, I have always known, if only on a rational rather than visceral level, that Virginia Tech was different.

We are a little city: On any given day about 35,000-40,000 people work, teach, and study here. Over the years, we have been told that we act smaller than our size. People greet each other on the streets. Our faculty has an intense interest in the students' well-being. There is a caring here that belies the university size.

Our ranks are large. Including our students and alumni around the nation and world, we approach a quarter-million people. How can this be a family? Yet, it is that and more -- a family of indomitable spirit, a family with deep affection for each other and the place we call Virginia Tech.

The Tech family will not be defined by tragic events and the senseless loss of precious lives of innocents. It will find a way to prevail and again return to the noble role of the academy. Our responsibilities are manifested in doing what we do best. We are a university. We are Virginia Tech. We are immersed in a special sphere of American society -- the sphere of learning, discovery, and engagement. These are more than mere words. This is what defines us. This is what drives our spirit. This is what drives our quest for knowledge -- knowledge for knowledge's sake, knowledge to understand ourselves and the world around us, knowledge to improve our own well-being, and knowledge to improve every facet of life on the planet.

Virginia Tech ranks among the nation's great academies. April 16 cannot change that. However, in addition to our traditional role, the world has now seen this phenomenon that sets us apart from other large American universities. Call it the Hokie Spirit. Call it a deep sense of caring -- call it a love for each other. It is real. It has, it does, and it will forever sustain us.

Larry Hincker is the associate vice president for university relations at Virginia Tech .