Graduation time!

What a week!

There were tears.

There were a gazillion graduation errands to run.

There was some sweet reminiscing over baby photos of the graduate, pulled out to make into a slide show.

There was a senior dinner to attend. 

There was a party to throw for other grads in our fellowship.

There was homeschooling and end-of-the-year testing and stress...

There was a diploma that arrived in the mail. Oh happy day!

There are still ties to locate, 

packing to do,

a gown to iron, 

and a dog to deliver....

But then we will load up the car and head to Orlando and all the graduation festivities with the other 200+ home educated graduates in our state will begin! 

And so will begin the reflecting,
on the goodness of God to us over all these years.

And I'm sure there will be more tears.

 The thankful kind.

~Becky

Graduations galore

Lots of high school graduations are happening around here!
Hooray!

So, Friday night when all the guys were gone, Joy and I got crafty

 with all these yummy things...

And we made graduation pops! : )

Don't you LOVE when something you see on Pinterest actually works!? : ) I wanted to throw a party just because they didn't melt in this FL heat and slide off the sticks.

These were for Zac's girlfriend's surprise party. We are planning to make them again for some more sweet graduates in our lives.
Here's the link if you want to give them a try for some graduates in your life.

-Note to self, don't use Hersheys with almonds. The nuts will make your hats bumpy and you will have to eat them. Oh rats! ; ) 

The sign behind these was a cute idea too. It said things like 'now that you've graduated it is time to Take 5 (with the candy bar taped in that spot) and 'Enjoy the summer and have Mounds of fun' etc... It was a huge poster and had about every kind of candy bar you can think of. Sooo creative!

Six more days until our second one graduates from high school...
~Becky

Busiest Saturday...

in the history of my world. : )

Joy had her last softball game

and then a softball party in which we had to eat burgers and milkshakes at Steak and Shake. Poor us! ; )

Then we headed to another party we were invited to where our forever friends from Junior Bible Quiz were celebrating the end of their season and riding jet skis.

There was also another prom:

But since this guy didn't attend this girl's high school, he wasn't allowed to go. -Which explains why he didn't spend the big bucks to rent a tux.

They did go out to a nice dinner with this bunch of friends from church and then the two best friends in the middle went together.

Hubby and I missed the fun photo ops because we had free tickets and AMAZING seats to a Rays baseball game and were on a double date to see them play the Padres!

It was a nail biter and the BEST.GAME.EVER! So much fun.
Not to mention that it was '80's Night' at the ball park and there's no one better to hang out with at one of those than Carlos! ; ) We were all too tired to get  footloose and stay for the Kenny Loggins concert which probably proves we are getting old,
 but not as old as Kenny Loggins! ; ) 

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

"If we never have headaches through rebuking our children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grew up." ~Charles Spurgeon

These verses remind me of parenting for some reason. I guess because there is a whole lot of sowing and some times even tears, or as Spurgeon called them 'liquid prayers' (I love that!) and then we start seeing our harvests.
Blessings to all you moms out there who are faithfully sowing!

"Those who sow in tears shall read in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with REJOICING, bringing his SHEAVES with him." ~Psalm 126: 5-6 

~Becky

My Mother's Day

I was blessed with a breakfast in bed of (burnt but yummy) cinnamon and sugar toast and hot chocolate along with and some serenading by a cute guy with a ukulele.
On Mother's Day each year, all of my kiddos sit with me at church. I love it. One of my favorite things. (except that I feel very short and heals would not even begin to help) LOL 
Then it was off to Sweet Tomatoes, which is one of my favorite restaurants.
Thankfully our day included a little time for rest and relaxation because it had been one big weekend.
While we were home, the kids showed me the video they made for me. It was pretty cute. They each took a turn on camera wishing me a Happy Mother's Day and thanking me for things that I do for them etc..
And since Joy wasn't home when the boys made the video, there's an unexpected clip of Andrew dressed up like JOY wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. It was hilarious!!!
-It did conclude a with an actual clip of the real Joy, filmed that very morning. : )  Too cute!

We ended the night with a picnic in the park listening to the Florida Orchestra. Here's the view at sunset with all the picnickers. The orchestra was under a tent near the old water tower.

 It was such a lovely evening! Beautiful weather and beautiful music!

 And my favorite people!

We will definitely attend another one of these!
~Becky

The blahs and the blessings

It is a 'blah' day in my world,
quite literally speaking, because I have some kind of a stomach virus!
And it apparently isn't the 24 hour kind either. Ugh!

It is the kind of day that blessing counting needs to happen lest the 'blahs' swallow me up.

~Instead of thinking about all the Zip-lock bags that have become water balloons and my mixing bowl that headed out the door,
I'm thankful for a water fight among siblings who have the best of times together

~Instead of seeing the messes around the house that four healthy teenagers don't seem to notice or clean,
 I'm thankful for the flowers my hubby brought me that brighten any messes

~Instead of wondering what's for dinner,
I'm thankful for my amazing man, who saw the empty fridge and did the grocery shopping for us before going to work this morning, at an hour when I've never darkened the door of a supermarket

~Instead of freaking out that it sounds like my boys are crashing a wedding,
I'm thankful for the godly friends they choose to hang out with.

~Instead of getting frustrated that I'm in bed and not better yet,
I'm thankful for the sweet girl who wants to risk some germs and watch chick flicks with me

Hope your blahs turn into blessings too.
~Becky




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Wednesdays in the Word

I was struck with the simplicity of these verses and how much they sounded like a 'formula' for godly living to me (and I love formulas).

We live "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation."
Who wants to "shine as lights in the world?" (me, raising my hand)
Who wants to be "blameless, innocent children of God without fault?" (me, raising both hands)
Here's how:
  "Do all things without complaining and arguing." (ouch!)
Philippians 2:14-15

: ) Blessings!
~Becky