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| June 1, 2010 | ||||||
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Graduation Day This has been a year of growth for our family. Bryson graduated from high school then turned 18. Gabriel graduated from first grade. So in the last month, we have celebrated a birthday, Mother's Day, my parents' anniversary and two graduations. It has been quite the month! As homeschoolers, there are several options to graduation day. Some choose to walk on stage with a large group. Some get their GED and graduate with a smaller group. Others skip the ceremony altogether. With the personalities in our family, it went something like this - Bryson, not wanting to draw attention to himself, decided to forego the graduation ceremony. He was just thrilled to be finished with school! (We did, however, convince him that a couple of celebration parties would be a good thing - one with his family and one with his church family. After it was all over, he agreed that we were right.) Gabriel, on the other hand, loves attention. Sometime in the Fall, he realized that some of his friends had graduated from kindergarten and years ago his older brother had graduated from kindergarten, but he didn't get to graduate from kindergarten. So he started campaigning for the opportunity to graduate (and especially to get a Bible as a graduation gift.) I'm not sure how it all happened, but somewhere along the way, we convinced him that he would learn a lot more in first grade and he could have a graduation ceremony at the end of this school year. Of course, he did not let us forget. So, the last couple of weeks, he has been practicing. Without a doubt, he sang the "Star Spangled Banner" 50 times - 4 times on the way to his graduation! The day of graduation finally arrived and Gabriel could hardly wait! Throughout the day he did two things - practiced what he was supposed to do that night and asked, "How much longer until graduation?" You could just see the excitement written all over him! (Personally, I can't imagine being excited about getting up in front of people for any reason, but especially not to show them what I know. Oh well, that's just the difference in people.) It was finally time to go and he was ready to do it. We arrived at my parents' house and gathered in the living room. Gabriel walked down the hall with his graduation cap sliding around on his head and grinning from ear to ear. He started his little ceremony reciting a poem - "He was just a little lad, and it was on the Lord's Day".... His voice was a little weak as he began and he had to take a few shallow breaths, but soon he was well on his way. He went from there to counting by 10's and 5's then he gave the chapter topics for the books of Luke, Acts and Romans. He sang "The Fruit of the Spirit". Next he counted by 2's after commenting that this was his least favorite because it was so hard. Last of all, he had audience participation as he sang "The Star Spangled Banner" perfectly. It was a great ceremony and he was thrilled with his diploma, gifts, and new Bible. After telling you all this, do you think I'm more proud of Gabriel than I am of Bryson? I did talk a lot more about him. I gave you more details about Gabriel's graduation day. Of course, I'm not more proud of him. They are both worth celebrating, but different folks like different things. A hug or pat on the back is good enough for Bryson. Jumping up and down is more Gabriel's style. Does that make one better than the other? No way! If we were all as excitable as Gabriel and had to have lots of attention, we would be in big trouble. Thankfully, God knew what He was doing and gave us different personalities. What kind of personality do you have? Do you love all the attention or do want to stay in the background and quietly do what God wants you to do? Do you think God loves you more or less because of your personality? No way! He loves us all the same. You know, we all have another Graduation Day coming? Graduation to Heaven! Have you thought about how you want to graduate from this life to the next? What kind of preparation have you been making? It's time get ready because it will come sooner than you think! God bless you all on your special Graduation Day! |
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Sonny
Childs P.O. Box 131 Paragould, AR 72451 |
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