It's done

Yesterday I had a meeting with the kind folks at Rackham Graduate Studies. They reviewed my dissertation page by page to make sure it conformed to all of their formatting requirements. And it did.



My dissertation - Motivation for Religious Literacy Practices of Religious Youth: Examining the Practices of Latter-day Saint and Methodist Youth in One Community - is done!

At the end of our meeting the kind woman handed me a small envelope and extended her hand. She smiled and said, "Congratulations. You're finished." And just like that, it's Dr. Rackley now.


This is what a 337-page dissertation looks like. The kids called it my book. One day Joshua asked how many chapters it had. When I told him that it had 9, he said, "Oh, that's not very many."

Here's the inscription of the dedication page:

To my wife, Michelle, for inspiration and support.

To my children, Josie, Joshua, Adam, Isaac, Jacob, and Jared, for filling our home with joy.

Hey, you guys, we did it!