Sarah's Graduation

Every year in June our church recognizes the teens who have graduated.  For years I have enjoyed this event, watching the kids grow up, and seeing their slide show, reminding us what they were like as little ones, and how they've grown.  This year my daughter Sarah graduated.  Gary and I spent a day looking through all the cute pictures of her childhood, picking out pictures for the Graduation Sunday slide show.  What a trip down memory lane it was!  My how time flies!

I loved these smiley pictures of Sarah as a baby, so cute!  I loved dressing her up, and she loved her hats and bows!

Here are some pictures of Sarah during her early school years, very sweet, quiet, and inquisitive.

Sarah has always loved music and enjoyed her dance classes very much.

And here she is now, ready to get started on her journey as an adult.

 Graduation week was fun, many of the graduates decorated their caps.  Back when I was in school we were not allowed to decorate our caps, so when I heard what the kids were doing I was a bit hesitant but then I was assured that the principal himself said it was allowed.  Sarah got together with a group of girls and they all went out to Michael's Craft store for supplies and spent a day decorating their caps.  They all turned out great, and at graduation I noticed quite a few kids had done a really creative job decorating their caps.  We live in a small town, and the event is not super formal, so I think it added a really fun element.

Sarah decorated hers with cascading patterned gems.  Here she is all ready to head out to graduation.

Here is a view of her cap, which was very helpful for spotting her in the crowd.

Here is a close up of her cap.  Very sparkly!

The ceremony was fun, it was nice seeing all of the kids, some we have known since kindergarten.  Afterwards there were lots of hugs, and pictures.

We had a nice little celebratory lunch afterward, then Sarah spent the rest of the evening with friends.

Graduation Sunday at church was so nice.  We have attended our small rural church from the time Sarah was just a little baby, so many of our church members have known Sarah for her whole life.  Our pastor had each graduate stand up in front of the congregation, and church members would share words of wisdom, and inspiring bible verses for each graduate.  Then we prayed for each graduate.  The pastor also gave each graduate a beautiful prayer journal.  It was so wonderful to see my daughter and the other graduates loved by our church family, it is so nice to have such a strong and loving community to be a part of our children's lives.  Gary and I also chose a special verse for Sarah.  It was very hard to choose just one, there are so many wonderful verses.

We chose a passage from Psalm 37:3-6

3.Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4.Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5.Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: 6.He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Psalm 37:3-6

I am so very proud of Sarah, and I look forward to being her mom during this next phase of her life.