Burdened for Childen

Tonight I had the privilege of approaching the throne of God with two of my team sisters, and one of the things I love about doing that is how it knits our hearts together and aligns our hearts with the same burdens AND enables us to do something about those burdens together.  And there’s just nothing like praying in the kingdom of God with your brothers and sisters in Christ—knowing that He is there with us propelling our prayers and fueling our passion.

One of the themes of our prayers tonight was for children and young people around us who are struggling.  My heart breaks for those who experience such great oppression daily in their schools.  Institutions which should feed the soul and cultivate a passion for life, are places of such great anguish for many here.

Special needs children in Cusco often cannot afford to go to a school with any sort of services designed for them, so they end up in schools where they not only struggle to keep up academically but are taunted mercilessly by classmates.  Teenagers who love the Lord and seek to live for Him are ostracized by classmates who are literally having sex and taking drugs DURING CLASS. 

I long so much to be able to offer a better educational option for these families!  It really just can’t come soon enough.

- Laura

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When you see construction sights--think of Heaven!

Yesterday I was walking back from the mall listening to Celtic Woman’s song, “Someday” which really is a beautiful song in my opinion.  And I was thinking about how even the beautiful hopes expressed in this song fall short of what will really be one day. 

As I passed the large construction site beside the mall where huge cranes tower overhead, I thought about all of the many construction efforts underway here.  Cusco is developing so incredibly fast—all over the city are countless construction sites.  I probably walk past 10 different such sites every single day in and around my neighborhood.

And it made me think about the construction efforts going on in heaven right now.  What an incredible place our Savior must be preparing for us!  He spoke our entire universe into being in a mere week, and yet He’s been preparing the new heaven and new earth for at least 2000 years!

I’m enjoying studying all that the Bible says about heaven with the kids in my missionary kid Bible study and just this past week we were reading about the dimensions of the New Jerusalem—which is apparently just one of many cities which will exist on the new earth.  This new capitol city will not only be 14,000 miles wide and long—big enough to cover over half of the USA; but it will also be 14,000 miles high!  A quick google search told me that a rocket reaches outer space after covering a distance of only 62 miles.  It was fun imagining with the kids what a city with this height might entail (vertical roads perhaps?)

- Laura

Theology, the Integration Point for all Knowledge

I’ve really enjoyed reading “Repairing the Ruins,” which is a compilation of talks given at the national conferences of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools.

These are a few of my favorite quotes from the first several chapters:

“Christian education is really the task of relating the biblical faith to the world around us.” (13)

“Theology is the integration point for all knowledge.” (17)

“In not mentioning God, my public school teachers preached a thundering sermon every day.  By implication, they taught that God is not relevant to most areas of my life…  daily I was taught that two and two are four, the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and that frogs breathe in water, regardless of whether Jesus Christ is Lord over such matters…  in every class period, all day every day for twelve years, I was being taught to think like an atheist in the academic realm.” (48)

“Whatever might rightly be called an education must teach the lordship of Christ.  Any subject treated apart from Christ fails to meet the basic goal of education: to impart knowledge.  Apart from Christ there is no education, for without Him knowledge is impossible.  A Christian curriculum must include study in Christ’s lordship and the study must not be restricted to a theology course.  As Lord, His dominion is to be studied in mathematics and logic, the sciences, and the arts.  Falling short of such instruction denies His lordship, which stands against the fundamental purpose of education.”  (57)


These quotes make me think about how unnatural it is for people—even those raised in the church—to bring God into our every day conversations.  Most of us don’t naturally think about how the spiritual world intersects with grocery shopping, driving around town, going to work, etc.  Most of life has been segregated for us such that in our minds there are spiritual conversations and activities and then there is everything else.  When we are in the “everything else” category we certainly must be prudent so that we do not contradict the things we have learned from the Bible, but so long as we don’t blatantly do so, we’re probably ok.

However if all of our education sprung from the belief that “Theology is the integration point for all knowledge,” then perhaps we would naturally see how God relates to literally all of life, we would see all of life as spiritual, and Christ would be the natural focal point of all our conversations and activities—the true cornerstone of our lives.


- Laura

Math Check In

We are about 6 months into Finn’s kindergarten year, his first year of homeschooling, and he’s made some really great progress.  I’ve been employing the constructivist math techniques that I gained from my Kamii class and which has been affirmed in by my study of classical christian education.  Finn is now able to solve addition, subtraction, and simple multiplication word problems… sometimes in his head and other times by drawing pictures with a pencil and paper.  He’s just beginning to “count on” when adding numbers occasionally, and he’s beginning to be able to think a little more abstractly with numbers in his head.  This morning I asked him how many 6’s are in 18, and after thinking for a few seconds a big smile grew on his face and he said, “there’s three!  Because there’s two nines in eighteen with one six in each of the nines and another in the middle from the two threes.”  This made both he and I quite proud. 

Every once in a while I write out an equation such as “7 + 9 = ?” so that he is reminded of how we write problems in math language, and he understand and can solve them.  We practice counting forward and backward most days and sometimes we practice counting by 2s.  Finn especially enjoys problems such as “how many 4s are in 16?” He’ll often use his counting chips to figure these problems out, though he’s beginning to remember many of them.  He sometimes asks me such division problems at random times in the day, attempting to stump me with large numbers.

I’m more and more convinced that focusing primarily on word problems as long as possible is the way to go.  I just need to find the curricula and books to keep me going!

- Laura

My Vision for Cusco

I love the movie, Greatest Showman.  The music, the dancing, the acrobatics, and the passion driving it all.  Watching that movie makes me want to go into the performing arts.  In another lifetime I could even see myself doing that.  There are so many different forms of artistic expression that I could imagine throwing myself into and delighting in it—dancing, figure skating, acting, singing, composing, playing the violin, acrobatics, painting, writing…  were I granted 10 different lifetimes I think I would dedicate one to each of them.  On this earth we’re so hedged in by circumstances, time, resources, physical ability…  but in my minds eye I see a day in which those limitations will all be thrown off and we will finally each be free to fully express the beauty and joy and delight of creative expression bestowed on us by a loving Father—to not only experience incredible passion but also to express it fully to the great pleasure of our creator.  On that day I will do all of those things and excel at them!  I will live up to all of my potential merely to show off the creative genius of He who made me, and it will be pure bliss.

On this earth I’m thankful for little tastes of the glory I was created for.  When I see great passion in a fellow human I am drawn to their craft.  When someone shares the zeal that drives them I find myself wanting to know more, to experience the vigor myself.  The best teachers are not those who are most knowledgeable about their craft, but those who are most passionate about it—because passion is contagious, and once caught it fuels both learning and action. 

I do look forward to the day when I will express the passion of my heavenly Father in perfect measure and innocence, but on this earth I choose to do that in a few feeble, sin-corrupted ways, because He assures us that “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  I will seek to take small steps of faith—to do the uncomfortable things that His word calls me to.  I will seek to live as though “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty [does] rule over all,”(Psalm 103:19). 

Jesus tells us that ”the kingdom of heaven is at hand”(Matthew 4:17), yet when I think about the brokenness of the city He has called me to, it is difficult to recognize.  God’s word also instructs us to “walk by faith, not by sight“(2 Corinthians 5:7), and Jesus Himself said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

So in faith I envision God’s kingdom settling on Cusco. 

I envision faithful subjects being raised up in service of the King who, like Daniel of the Bible, have God-given learning and skill in all literature and wisdom (Daniel 1:17).  Daniel and his friends found themselves in a godless society, yet we read that “in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom” (verse 20). 

I envision Cusceñans who, like Timothy, “from childhood have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus…” and are “complete, equipped for every good work” (2Timothy 3:15-17).

I envision a school that not only equips their students in these ways, but also helps parents learn to “train up a child in the way he should go [so that] even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

This, I believe, is the God-given passion that I must steward for now in this lifetime.  So as difficult and beyond me as this vision seems to be, I will choose to live by faith and not by sight, slowly taking baby steps and fixing my eyes on invisible kingdom that is coming.

“So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day…  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” -2 Corinthians 4:16 & 18

- Laura Dougherty

First Quarter of Homeschool with Finn

We're now a couple months into Finn's first year of doing school at home with me.  He turned 5 in February and we decided to homeschool him for Kindergarten instead of re-enrolling him at his preschool this year (the Peruvian school year starts in March).  I went back and forth about this decision ever since arriving back in Peru last May.  He struggled greatly for his first couple of months back at Peruvian preschool, but then things seemed to get better, and it was SUCH a freeing thing for me to be able to focus on ministry things while Skye was napping in the morning.  It seemed like his Spanish was improving too.  Ultimately, though, we decided in late fall that his character was not being helped any by the lack of structure and discipline at his preschool, and we felt like the frequency of discipline at home was lessened over school breaks when he was just at home.

I am confident now that we made the right decision.  It has certainly required more of me in the mornings to homeschool him, but I think it has been a very positive thing.  Finn's behavior and responsiveness to correction has improved dramatically.  His Spanish learning has probably slowed down some, though we do have a Peruvian teacher friend work with him 3 mornings a week on Spanish.  Finn is learning so much in the hour and a half that we spend doing school (during Skye's morning nap).  He has really taken to math magnificently doing addition and subtraction in is head fairly fluidly already.  This week I introduced money and he LOVES it.  I've only introduced pennies, nickels, and dimes so far, but he is able to exchange them and give me the correct amount to pay for imaginary items.  He's beginning to be able to play the role of the cashier and give me correct change when I pay too much for something as well.

He now knows the days of the week in English (starting to learn them in Spanish), has a basic understanding of the calendar and the clock, and is also learning how numbers past 10 work due to our calendar work.  We're working on reading very slowly as well.  It's not something that has come very naturally to Finn like math has, but he's slowly improving.  He always groans a bit when I get our reading curriculum out, but I keep the lessons very short, and have learned to keep it light and simple for him.  I figure a little practice every day will eventually result in reading success.  As much as I long for him to be able to read and enjoy reading, I'm also aware that it make take him a while, and the greatest risk at this point is for me to push him too much and cause him to have negative associations with reading.  This requires a lot of patience of me!

We've also been doing the Five In a Row curriculum where we read a picture book for 5 days (actually we're just doing 4 days) in a row and discuss the geography, math, science, music, etc. that can be learned from the book.  Finn has really enjoyed this and is learned SO SO much from these books.  This week we're reading "The Glorious Flight," by Alice and Martin Provensen, and Finn has enjoyed learning about the invention of the airplane.  We've talked about what inventors do and how they must have much perseverance.  We also watched some Youtube videos today about how airplanes work, and Finn was quite fascinated.  We enjoyed trying out our own paper airplane afterward.

So... I've really enjoyed planning and doing Kindergarten with Finn.  It's been a fun way for me to connect with him besides just playing legos and Uno.  I've been encouraged that he has gone along with school pretty well for the most part, and even seems to enjoy it most of the time.

- Laura

Classical Christian Education and Elementary Math

In the past 5 years I’ve realized more and more that I love learning about education philosophy, and theorizing about better ways of educating.  After the math education course I took at UAB for my masters, elementary math education is something that I’ve become passionate about, as this course completely shifted my view of how math ought to be introduced and taught to children.  I’ve blogged about this some already here and here. 

Another big theme in my educational learning over the past several years has been studying the Charlotte Mason method and subsequently the Classical method of Christian education.  Some key components of these philosophies that I resonate with are the following ideas:

• Children are born human beings with the capability to make sense of the universe and make connections between ideas and truths discovered.
• The world, as God designed it, makes sense and ought to be studied for the sake of knowing Him better.  Education is largely the cultivation of wonder.
• The aim of education ought not only be to create knowledgeable human beings, but human beings with virtue—human beings who care.  If we merely educate students to understand the world but not to care about using this knowledge to glorify God, then we have failed.
• In order to grow in knowledge, wisdom, and virtue, we must study not only the world and humanity as it exists today, but we must study the world and humanity of ages past—this is best done by studying the significant works produced by the deep thinkers of ages past.

Today I have been wondering about whether the things I’ve learned about math education fit within the classical model of education.  I haven’t come across a lot of information on how classical education is fleshed out in elementary mathematics other than the general idea that that math reflects the order of the universe which shows us God’s character and ought to make us wonder at His design.  I think, though, that the things I have learned about elementary math education actually do fall right in line with the principals behind classical education—the principals stated above.  I think these two streams of educational thought that I’ve been mulling over for the past several years actually support each other well.

How so?

Well, if we truly believe that children are born with the ability to make sense of the universe and make connections between ideas, then we ought to encourage this, and in the area of mathematics this means giving them support and opportunities to make connections while refraining from attempting to always make those connections for them.    This requires a lot of patience on the part of teachers, because it is so tempting to give our students the algorithm to figure something out, but when we do this we’ve cheated them of the opportunity to discover how the numbers work together on their own.  We must have faith in the principal that children will discover and make connections, and use our class time and creativity as teachers to provide engaging and stimulating activities in which the children can discover.

When children are given the time and encouragement to work with numbers in a variety of activities, they will not only come to enjoy the logic to the way God created the universe, but also grow in confidence regarding their ability to discover and think deeply about things.  In my masters course I saw many examples of children doing large sums in their heads quite quickly and joyfully because this mental math had been encouraged from early in their education and it had never occurred to them that it wasn’t fun.  I think often when a child has come to the conclusion that they are bad at math or that they dislike math, it is a result of having been pushed to do problems using algorithms that they didn’t understand.  When math is pushed on someone like this, rather than discovered, it becomes a chore… and not just any chore, but a chore that feels pointless.

When we push young children to do rote sums that they're are not ready for, this encourages a disdain for “learning,” because they in fact are not learning, but merely performing.  If we want to grow human beings who are purposeful and who care about the things they do, then we must not inhibit their innate sense of mathematics by giving them algorithms that they do not understand.  On the contrary, we must provide them with age appropriate real-life problems that they can figure out on their own either by developing their own algorithm, or by drawing their own diagram, or counting on their fingers, or whatever means they arrive at on their own.

As for the fourth point above, I think that, as in every subject, there is great value in introducing our students to living books—true stories in which people use the discipline at hand (in this case, math).  Children should regularly be exposed to real life situations in which math is used—both in their own lives and classroom activities, and also in books (both modern and ancient).  These living math encounters will add to their understanding and wonder regarding the way math applies to all of life and points us to an orderly Creator.

- Laura

Missionary Marriages--Not What You Think

3/9/19

I listened to a podcast the other day in which a lady spoke about compatibility in marriage, and how much dying to self is required in marriage, and I realized that so much of what she said would be applicable to foreign missionaries’ relationships with each other.  It’s always said that conflict with teammates is one of the chief things that sends missionaries home from the field, and I think that the reasons for this are somewhat of a mystery to the average church-goer and even missions supporter in the US.


Since moving to Peru three years ago I’ve both experienced and observed in others the intense stress of living in a different country, adjusting to a different culture, learning a different language, and assuming a full-time ministry job which may or may not look anything like the job description you signed up for.  I’ve seen what a life-line your fellow teammates are to you and I’ve appreciate ours so much.  But conflict is inevitable.


When you get married to someone, you learn to rub shoulders with them and all of their flaws on a daily basis.  Your dating relationship may have been amazing and easy, but after moving in together, sharing financial responsibility, and having children together, loving that person must often be a choice that required a lot of dying to self.  I think that relationships between missionaries are very similar.


A typical missionary heads overseas after raising support to make a difference in the world doing a job that they feel passionate about.  They may or may not know the people that they’ll be working alongside very well.  The thing is… missionary co-workers are so much more than just co-workers.  They are also your neighbors, your kids’ best friends’ parents, your pastor, your kids’ teacher, your doctor.  They are also co-parents with you of a ministry that they are every bit as passionate about and are extremely invested in (they too left everything and shipped their family overseas for the sake of this ministry). 


Just as so much marital struggle stems from differing parenting styles, so much missionary conflict stems from different philosophies of ministry (and our ministries are in many ways like our babies).  When you get married to someone you sign your name to a marriage license and make a verbal agreement based on some rather vague vows.  Similarly when you sign up to be a missionary, you may sign a statement of belief and agree that you want to serve alongside said missionary team and help support said ministry.  But it’s incredibly possible and even likely to arrive on the field with a set of expectations that are completely different from those of your teammates.


Missionaries come to the field expecting to give up a lot.  They expect to get by with a lower standard of living.  They expect to go without many conveniences that we are accustomed to in their home country.  They expect to miss friends and family terribly.  They expect to suffer additional sickness.  They expect to deal with emotional struggles in their children as they navigate the new culture/language/friends/school/church.  But they also expect that the joy of doing the ministry and seeing the fruit of people’s lives being changed will outweigh the struggles.  Now, insert the other white guy who's getting in the way of your ministry success.  Maybe he says you're doing it wrong.  Or perhaps he refuses to give you the freedom you need to do the work God’s laid on your heart.  Or it could be that his personal or family struggles are infringing more and more on your precious ministry time and emotional capacity. 


You start to realize that—like a marriage—in order to maintain a healthy relationship with this guy, you’re going to have to devote a lot of time and energy to it--and you’re going to have to give up a lot of your expectations and dreams regarding your ministry.  It may start to feel like your life is consumed by maintaining this relationship.  And you may start to wonder… is this really what God called me here for?


It may be a little bit like the syndrome that moms experience when they realize they are spending their lives—year in and year out—changing diapers, washing dishes, and putting food in front of people.  They hide in the bathroom lamenting the loss of their dreams of business success, or of traveling the world, or of being a fun sporty wife.  The thing is, because of the intense love that God has put inside of them for those little people, they will walk out of that bathroom and lovingly confront them and their messes day in and day out.  The missionary has been endowed with no such intrinsic love for his co-workers.


The weary mom often has a support network closer at hand than the missionary does too.  She may have mom-friends who commiserate with her at the playground.  She may even have parents and family members who have been there themselves, and offer to listen or help out from time to time.  The missionary, on the other hand, has supporting churches and individuals who are financially invested in their “success” as a missionary.  The missionary’s family and friends live plane rides away and may have been confused by or even against their move overseas in the first place.  Even when these people are supportive and available, they probably have no understanding of what it’s really like, or what questions to ask--and they often feel unqualified to offer any true counsel or accountability to a missionary.


So what’s the answer?  Should missionaries only sign up to serve alongside their close friends—like minded people that they already know well and with whom they share a common vision for ministry?  Sadly, I’ve seen that model crash and burn as well.  Working together overseas in a high-stakes environment somehow changes a lot of things and brings things to the surface in your relationship (like in a marriage) that you never could have anticipated.  Even Paul himself was not immune to this reality (Acts 15).

Missionary agencies often provide member care services to help when there is a crisis.  Some even provide some training on conflict management up front for their recruits.  Would-be missionaries are told that team relationships can be difficult, and that a lot of patience and grace is needed.  We tell young engaged couples these things too.  But what actually contributes to a missionary’s ability to last on the field through difficult team conflict?


I wonder if we should take a closer look at what predicts longevity in a marriage?  What preparation or mind-sets help a couple to last through thick and thin? 


For one thing, I think marriage has to be your top priority.  You have to realize that your marriage itself is a ministry that could change the world more than anything else you do--bringing glory to God through sacrificial, covenant love, day in and day out.  I think missionaries need to head to the field with this mindset.  If team conflict is truly one of the primary things sending people home from the field, then clearly these relationships have to be taken very seriously and are deal breakers when it comes to ministry success.  Healthy team relationships are not only vital to keeping missionaries on the field.  The reality is that the people we are reaching may be more convinced of our gospel message (or conversely disillusioned by it) based on how they see us interacting with our teammates. 


At the last moment before Christ was to be arrested and crucified, He was not to be found out preaching to the lost.  He was washing his friends' feet.  He told them, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)


As couples approach marriage they often do pre-marital counseling that covers how to manage finances together, how to work together on parenting, how to navigate times with extended family, and how to prioritize having fun together as a couple.  We talk people through the logistics of life as a married couple, but the thing that prepared me the most for my marriage was the way our premarital counselor forced us to talk through some tough, personal issues ahead of time.  He had us discuss the specific details of our expectations for each other. He exhorted us to begin praying together daily during our engagement.  He encouraged us to hash through our own shortcomings and habitual sins, offering unconditional love and forgiveness, and talking through specific plans for how we would walk with our spouse through these struggles.  Maybe missionaries should do more of this as they prepare for the field. 


Maybe missionary work should have a greater emphasis on ministry through living communally as a missionary team, tackling sin together, praying, and worshiping together.    Maybe new missionary recruits should agree to this type of ministry being their top priority with all other ministry goals being secondary.  Maybe they should agree to vulnerability with their teammates from the very beginning of their missionary journey regarding sin struggles, and at the same time commit to praying with their teammates through theirs.  I realize this is a radical idea. 


Another thing that I think we can take away from the marriage metaphor, is the idea that your spouse cannot be everything for you.  Obviously our relationship with God must take first priority in our lives, but premarital counselors also advise that each person have other trusted people in their lives who will keep them accountable to personal growth and to working on their marriage as a priority.  We all need people who are champions for us in all areas of life and who will ask good questions and empathize with our struggles but also hold us accountable and speak the truth in love.   Missionaries have a hard time finding this, but it is so important.


Missionaries need to have a sponsor back home who agrees to pursue them relentlessly— someone outside of their missionary team bubble who will both listen and pray and ask tough questions.  Someone who will hold them accountable to working tirelessly and sacrificially toward a healthy, redemptive relationship with their co-workers as top priority.  This person doesn’t have to have any experience or knowledge about missions (they certainly don’t need to feel qualified), but they need to care deeply and be incredibly persistent.


I propose a significant commitment to communal practice of spiritual disciplines for all missionary recruits from day one.  The Bible teaches us to confess sin to each other and pray for each other that we may be healed.  It teaches the importance of praying together.  It teaches us to admonish and encourage one another.  So I would think that it should be obvious that any missionary team would do these things quite regularly.


Why is this hard?


Confession
Many Christians have somehow gotten the idea that confession of sin is primarily for the sake of repairing a relationship with an offended person.  This is certainly a valuable reason to confess and relationships should certainly be repaired whenever possible, but so much of our sin is not clearly offensive to another individual.  So much sin is personal (against God and only God), and it is for our own spiritual vitality that we must confess in community regularly.  Yet because the church has done such a poor job of walking through this with people, the average Christians sees it as a nice option for those who “need it.”  Even the average foreign missionary hasn’t likely ever been a part of a Christian community that practices this well.


Prayer
Every Christian values prayer on some level.  But I don’t think the average Christian values prayer in community.  So many prayer times in the US church focus more time and energy (or at least an equal amount) in the sharing of prayer requests—to garner moral support from ones peers—than on the actual act of praying together.  Prayer,  like confession, is seen as something that need not move much beyond one’s personal relationship with God.  If someone isn’t “comfortable” praying out loud in company, there’s no problem with that, and no felt need to work toward becoming comfortable with it (or becoming willing to be uncomfortable).  I think this mentality stunts Christian growth and effectiveness in ministry.


Teach, Admonish, and Encourage
These spiritual disciplines, like those mentioned above, are practiced and preached, but rarely to the extent that would be optimal.  Often the teaching and admonishing parts are left to the preachers, and encouragement is metaphorically checked off with statements about someone’s nice outfit, pleasant children, or valiant effort at goodness.  I think, however, that if confession and prayer are being practiced well in community, it will not be difficult to initiate meaningful teaching, admonishing, and encouraging between believers as well.  The Spirit will prompt hearts toward it, and the trust will already be built to foster it.


One of the difficult aspects of this proposal for missionary teams is how to incorporate those members of the missionary team who are not physically present on the field at any given time.  This includes not only those new recruits who are still in the midst of training and itineration, but also anyone currently on home assignment or traveling for some other reason.  If fostering of this “marriage”—this spiritually tight, spiritually disciplined community—is to be a top ministry priority for missionaries, then it must take priority in all of these phases as well.  Just because a husband is traveling for work does not mean he can check out from his obligation to communicate regularly with his wife, supporting her from a far and allowing her to do the same for him.  But how can this be done between missionary families?


Thanks to modern technology we have lots of options!  The biggest obstacle is really our reluctance to plan and accommodate for it.


Still thinking on this…


- Laura Dougherty