A God Honoring Graduation

The Graduates descended the stairs in the previous post in alphabetical order....kind of....there were two rows and there was some disorderly orderliness to the order of them, but I didn't get it. They figured it out and it was the way they wanted it so I didn't waste any brain power trying to figure it out further!! Did you understand that?

Anyway, I tried to get my graduate as she came down the aisle, but it was blurry. My camera doesn't do well with movement. I did get the initial ones on the stage as they lined up though. We started relatively on time. There was some difficulty with the programs and their timely arrival. Once they came, we distributed them and began.

We were so excited and honored to have as our guest speaker a young Christian man and homeschooling dad who ran for Congress last year and is once again running in the 2012 primary. Many of our graduates campaigned for him in the previous primary so it meant alot to them to have him come and speak. He touched many of their lives in the last year with his strong Christian character and faith. His topic was on identity and finding it  in Christ. We were very thankful and blessed to have him attend.

Our first graduate was the oldest daughter of 4. They are a navy family and are soon moving after being here for a few years. We don't know them very well, but are glad they were able to participate in the homeschool graduation.

Here, our third graduate, is on stage with his dad. His mom, recently diagnosed with cancer, was unable to attend. She was sorely missed by many. Their time on stage was full of encouragement for all of us as they reminded us that this was about God and what He did for us, not about us and our accomplishments. Their words blessed many and I am not sure there was a dry eye in the place.

Here is our graduate while dad was speaking. I will do a separate blog post to give you more details. Our other girl, Farmer Girl, was able to capture some good shots of us. My camera does not do indoor shots well so I was thankful for that.

This family had two graduates on stage. They didn't think they would use their allotted time since they had double. I tried to bargain for some of it to no avail. I have enjoyed getting to know this family better through both graduation, band, and drama events. They are all very talented.

After seven graduates and their families had spoken, the audience participated in the singing with the graduates of "Be Thou My Vision". After that, they moved to the side of the stage to sing, "Everything to Me". It's a wonderful song and I am glad it was recommended and pursued. There were some reluctant to sing it, but the words were perfect for the event.

The next graduate and first after the singing, was a fairly new member of our group. They have three children and foster others. This was their first graduate and her dad touched all of our hearts with his words.

This young man has had a tough time with some leg problems, but he has persevered through the pain and difficulties. I really enjoyed getting to know this family during our recent trip to DC as well as during this graduation process.

This young lady is two weeks younger than mine. Sharing a December birthday, it has been fun to watch her grow and mature. She has a precious family and we love them all. She is one of 10 and the second oldest daughter!

This young man, one of three boys, is the second son and very talented. He wrote/composed his song for the graduate CD and played the keyboard during graduation. He also plays in jazz band. I really enjoyed  him and his family over the last few months. Although his dad did caution us NOT to go over our five minutes and threatened warning signs to get us off stage in a timely manner. Later, he told me, I did great and they, in fact, went over. They played a funny DVD of their son playing on the piano at the age of three.

One of our favorite graduates, next to ours, this one is very precious to us. This family and their daughter was one of the first to greet and welcome us to this area 9 years ago. It has been a rare privilege to watch her grow and mature into the wonderful Godly woman that she is becoming. Always gentle, loving and peaceful, she is a blessing to us and to my daughter in more ways than one.  It was bittersweet to share the stage with her-one of many memories we hold dear and close in our hearts.

I do not have pictures of each graduate. Some did not come out or I didn't get their photo. There were 14 altogether and, surprisingly, we ended in about two hours!  Before presenting the graduates to the audience and turning the tassels, our graduate, who was doing summaries of Bible books and verses up until nearly the last minute, received her Citation Award from AWANA. She worked really hard over the years trying to achieve this honor and learned over a 1000 verses. This lady, a dear friend and the presenter, has been an awesome teacher and encourager to her over the years at both band, CHOOSE, and through the AWANA Trek program. She is a Godly woman who has blessed so many of us. We thank and appreciate her for being willing to honor our graduate with this award.

The graduating class of 2011 turning their tassels. Before this, the parents of each of the graduates, came on stage and blessed their graduate and covered them in prayer. We did it altogether in one large group, standing behind our daughter or son.

                                          A closer up of our graduate and others.

                                          Presenting the class of 2011!

I love homeshool graduations. There were tears and there was laughter. There were memories, both shared and cherished. There were moments of joy and there were moments of sadness. But, all of it, was our attempt to honor God and I hope we did that in our worship and our thankfulness. We are so very thankful for His grace and mercy extended to us over the years and the strength given to us to prevail. For without it, we could not have accomplished the tast set before us.

Thanks for sharing in this journey over the years and in this commemorating event. We hope you enjoyed it too and saw God's glory exemplified in our actions and in our behavior.

God bless you all, Ellie~