Reintroducing Myself

Well, it’s been a few years of casual neglect of the old blog here at Learning, Teaching, and Laughing. Part of the challenge has been, I think, that there’s been a dearth of laughter around here. Not that any one thing has gone wrong—though at some point this year, you’ll probably be subjected to public introspection about ministry and what happens in the less than stellar moments of life.

Today, though, we’ll leave that aside. Instead, I’m going to start off as if I were introducing myself for the first time. Does all of this perfectly match the bio or about page here? Probably not yet. I need to deal with the setup on the page and such, update the biography. After all, I started this blog with a seven-year-old, a five-year-old, and a two-year-old. They’re all teenagers now, and one of them has moved out…

So who am I?

My name is Doug Hibbard. My SSN is…just kidding, I’m not that dense. I’m married to Ann, and we’ve been married since December of 1998, so as of right now, we’ve been married 22 years. That means I’ve been married longer than I was single, and I’m not bothered by this. I graduated from high school in 1995, college in 1999, and finished my master’s degree in 2014, so the rate of graduation has definitely slowed down. Although hopefully the current pursuit, PhD, will take a bit less time, since I’m at the stage where I should be writing a dissertation and not a blog.

Nothing motivates me to do something else, though, like an assignment with a deadline. I’m more motivated to blog now than I have been in years.

What else should you know about me?

I’m middle-aged and stereotypical: I need to exercise more than I do, and lose weight. I tell what are now affectionately (or derisively) known as “Dad jokes” and don’t think twice about it. I am constantly amazed at my children’s growth, learning, and resiliency, and cannot put into words how awesome my wife is.

I’m also going to try and build up this year by writing here about what I know, while I write in school about what I am researching.

I will get back to my series of Through the Whole Bible. I hope to get back to doing book reviews, though I’ll probably just review books I own. I’ll share some of the third party ministry work Ann and I are working on—hopefully we’ll get a webpage going soon as we develop our plans.

That’s about it for today. It’s January 1, 2021, and we’re going to make this year into something. I think, personally, I let too much of 2020 (and 2019) happen to me instead of addressing it and taking action. That will be different this year.