The graduate

It's taken me a while to edit pics and make sure Grandmas saw these first, but if I wait too much longer to post about this, I'll have another graduate to blog about! A week and a half ago at church, we had a luncheon to honor the two seniors in the congregation who were graduating and moving on to adult life. Jon was one of the two very embarrassed honorees. The other was a very sweet girl who will be attending Abilene Christian University this fall, and completely throwing her poor mother's life into upheaval by putting ALL THAT SPACE between them!



Jon is not one to relish the spotlight (unless it's self-imposed), so this little luncheon was not something he was looking forward to, but he managed to at least survive...and as with any other teenage (ahem...young adult) male, as long as there was food to be had, he was just fine. Besides, there were dorky hats to try on and have pictures taken with, and Jon is all about dorky fashion!

We had a slide show presentation for each of the grads, which turned out to be the most embarrassing part of the day for both Jon and Leeanna, but again, they survived. I may eventually figure out how to add Power Point presentations to my blog, but for now, Pete is just not available enough to be my hired geek and get it uploaded. The other embarrassing part for Jon and Lee were the picture boards that still sit in the foyer of the church building for all to ooh, ahh, and giggle over. I did my level best to keep Jon's as simple as possible, considering that when we take it down next week to do our final packing, it's all going to have to fit well into a suitcase and then transition to a scrapbook when I have all my tools and gadgets and materials (not to mention all those glorious craft stores!!) available to me once again on the other side of the Atlantic. This was by far my most difficult scrapbooking project to date, because I had to blend both the boy Jon was and the man he's become--that's not as easy as it sounds--and it all had to fit on a science-fair presentation board! Here's what the finished product looks like:


The far left side up close:




The middle up close:


The far right side up close:




And last but not least, the whole family--this is the last family picture we'll have taken before we have both a new member in the picture and another one wearing a uniform! I realized after having to resist the temptation to edit myself right out of this picture that I am truly "showing", and that this pregnancy is much like my pregnancy with Kelsey--I am spreading in all directions!!! Lovely...thank goodness the focus that day was on Jon and not his hot-air-blimp-looking mom!


Overall, it was a nice, fitting end to Jon's home school journey. Quiet, simple, to-the-point, and much like we tried to envision our "statement of purpose" for educating our children at home--keeping it all in perspective. Looking toward the future with a clear remembrance of all God has blessed us with in the past. Trying to see the future through His eyes. And no, those eyes were not full of tears--just dreams and hopes and prayers for a blessing on the new life of a new adult.