Mallory's graduation!

 Our daughter Mallory graduated from the local high school a few weeks ago. She attended public high school for her final year as she had been home schooled and attended a charter school the other years of high school. She did very well, made some new friends and got really good grades! She enjoyed her teachers and classes. She even graduated Magna Cum Laude! 

We are so proud of her and all that she has overcome in the past few years. She has dealt with some physical and mental illnesses, and had a spiritual crisis at one point. But she came back to God and has been feeling really well. I'm so thankful for her life, her fun personality and her beauty inside & out.

Enjoy the pictures!

Mallory with me and my husband at Baccalaureate 

Showing off her cap with a quote from "Fine, Fine Life" by For King and Country

Pretty dress and shoes

Mallory with her Nana

Mallory with her Auntie

Me, Mallory and Joshua

Me, Mallory, Joshua and Bethany before the ceremony

Being silly with her cousin after the ceremony

Photo by the school district of Mallory signing "I love you," which we were signing to her!

Mallory and a young friend from youth group

Mallory and two friends from school

Mallory and her band teacher

Grandma (my mom), me, Joshua, Mallory, Bethany, Savannah (Caleb's girlfriend) and Caleb after the ceremony. Her Nana and Auntie were there too.

It was a wonderful (but windy) evening, and we enjoyed celebrating our girl with a party a few days before. There was also a graduation Sunday at our church when we celebrated even more! She had a table set up there with memorabilia from her high school years and from younger years too.

Congratulations, Mallory!

Her favorite verse:
Matthew 6:33-34
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Rebekah's college graduation

 The day before our daughter's wedding, she graduated college! She had spent the last semester student teaching and really enjoyed it. She spent 8 weeks at an elementary school and 8 weeks at a middle school teaching music. It was really fun to see her direct most of a concert for the middle school at Christmas!

She not only graduated, but she also graduated with honors, summa cum laude! That means her overall GPA was between 3.9-4.0 for ALL of her college years! We are so proud of her and her success! Enjoy the pictures of her special day!

She is third from the back (with long hair) walking in... she waved to us!

The ex-coach of the football team gave a speech...

Walking across the stage!

Congratulations to the honors graduates...

After we found her, we checked out her tassels that she was wearing... what a scholar!

Our girl and her honey... so happy together!

Her Dad, the graduate, and me!

Our happy family!

Posing with her roomie...

We gave her a nice teacher bag with lots of pockets! (and had Chick-Fil-A for lunch!)

It was an exciting morning and we were glad that we were able to attend and be together!

She has a great future ahead of her and we thank God for her life!

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love, he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Isaiah 50:4
The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

1 Timothy 4:12

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

Caleb's graduation, part 2 (2021)

 We had a wonderful graduation week for Caleb, and we enjoyed a few other graduation parties during the week too. We had some extended family come for Saturday, where we all briefly got to see him pitch in a baseball game that afternoon. We set up for the graduation party outside, and it promptly began to rain! Everyone helped us bring everything back inside and we waited for 15 minutes and then the rain quit. We needed up having nice weather, although a little windy, for the party. 

We were so thankful that lots of friends and family came to celebrate our Caleb with us!

Chatting, lots of chatting...

Kids looking at golf clubs...

Posing for family pictures with our graduate...Caleb with his grandparents...

Our family with my parents...

The cousins (who were there-- we were missing two)...

Love these silly kids!

Caleb with Aunt, Uncle & cousins...

Caleb with Auntie... 

Grandpa and the grandkids...

Nana and the grandkids...

Caleb with Dad and Mom... we are very proud of this guy, we've loved seeing him mature into a fine, young man these past few years. What a blessing he is to our family!

The cousins just had to line up by height, this is not age order! 😁

We loved seeing "the kids" hanging out in different groups. I enjoy his friends a lot! 

It was a really nice party. The food was great (he chose the menu of burgers, hot dogs, coleslaw, slushy fruit salad, chips, drinks, and s'mores for dessert). We were disappointed that it was too windy for a fire. We didn't have s'mores but enjoyed a lot of Mallory's cookies that she made the week before the party.

We enjoyed the party a lot, but it was a little stressful. I slept a lot on Sunday and Monday after... I was tuckered out! 

Do you have any graduation traditions with your kids? We are so glad that our backyard is nice and large enough for a good group of people.

2 Chronicles 30:21
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with resounding instruments dedicated to the Lord.

2 Chronicles 30:23
The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully.

A good verse for graduation time...

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Caleb's Graduation, part 1 (2021)

Seems like just yesterday that my sweet boy was beginning kindergarten...

Before graduation, our church had an open house for the graduates. We set up Caleb's table and sent in a slideshow with some of his favorite music. It was a really nice time!

The five graduates this year... four of them we have known since baby days!

A sweet time of parents praying over their children...

ALL of us were weepy...

Caleb and his gorgeous girlfriend by his table...

He got his cap and gown and tried it on at home. I started crying... how can we already be here?

I was very happy for him that he got an academic award. He worked hard in school this past year, we are proud of him!

All dressed up and ready to go... I loved that he matched his tie to the cord and gown! His cap has a Star Wars quote by Jengo Fett.

Walking in to "Pomp and Circumstance..."

There he is... Wah-Hoo! He did it!

We took photos after the ceremony in his cap and gown...

With Mom and Dad... the bad part about the ceremony was the WIND! You can see in the background how the wind blew the gowns, cords, sashes, caps, and tassels.

With the whole family...

The four kids...

Three generations...

Part of me was sad that he didn't do the homeschool graduations. He went his own way for his senior year. He really enjoyed being in public school. He made some new friends. He did really well in his classes. There was a big load off of me, but I missed him being home. 

We are so thankful for our wonderful son, what a gift from God he is to us. He has always been ALL boy! We pray that he does well as he heads off to our local university in the fall to study Sports Management/ Kinesiology. We thank God for our Caleb, and for helping him reach this milestone!

1 Kings 17:23
Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

Psalm 11:7
For the Lord is righteous,
he loves justice;
the upright will see his face.

Proverbs 10:1
The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.