Annual Christmas Letter (for 2004)
January
Normally a quiet month, January decided to behave differently this year. We had spent Christmas and New Years with family in Oregon and literally the day after we returned back to Colorado Springs, Twila was supposed to fly out to Africa. A slight hiccup in the weather cause a one-day delay, but then she was off to Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso. While there, an event we had been expecting for some time finally occurred: Tracy's mother passed away. The timing worked out such that her funeral could be held the day after Twila returned. So less than twelve hours after Twila got back from Africa, we were on a plane to Oregon again. While death is a tragic consequence of The Curse, we counted our blessings that we had such a wonderful Christmas with Tracy's mom [picture], and that Twila was able to make it home in time for the funeral.
Spring Semester
Tracy's final semester (in theory) involved attempting to finish his thesis, and finishing his coursework by taking CS 584 (Computer Vision), and CS 535 (Software Project Management). It turns out that the class on computer vision turned out to be the hardest class he's ever taken. It also was among the most interesting and engrossing. To see some of what I did, look at my class web pages.

In a surprise twist, Tracy was nominated for the 2004 "Outstanding Graduate Student" award for the computer science department. He didn't even know such an award existed. Even better, he actually won the award! Here's a picture with Dr. Boult, the instructor from CS 584 who has become an incredible mentor for Tracy.
Summer
At the end of May, we went to the C&MA's "General Council" annual gathering for our denomination where Twila finished her six intense years as the Secretary for the National Executive Committee of the Alliance Women. A "part-time" ministry, it required a full month exemption from her work at the National Office every year (in addition to all the time spent the rest of the year). Following on the heels of her work for the Alliance Women at the local and district levels, that's about twelve years given to this organization. It will be strange to have that part of her life over with (for now).

After Council, held in Sacramento, California, we headed up to Oregon to catch a play at Ashland's Shakespeare festival, dip our feet in the ocean, and spend an all-too-brief amount of time with friends and family in Hillsboro and Canby. See Twila's award-winning coast photo here.
Fall
In the fall, Tracy was offered a chance to co-teach CS 316 (Concepts of Programming Languages) with his mentor, Dr. Boult. Originally, he was the "secondary" teacher but another section filled up for Dr. Boult so Tracy moved into the "principle" lecturer mode. What a tremendous opportunity! What a hefty workload! To see what he put the students through, click here. In addition, he was offered a chance to help do research (and get paid!) on a very hot topic: steganalysis. To see what that is, click here.

Meanwhile, Twila was off building relationship with missions fields for the office she manages (the C&MA's Short Term Missions office). She visited countries in Central America, the Balkans, and Russia. Go back to the "personal" page to see links to pictures of those trips.