Up and Down

Dear Family and Friends,

A BIG thank you to those of you who made it to our son's graduation party! It was so fun to see everyone, and yet, we feel like we missed out a bit because we couldn't get around to talk to everyone. The Boy has been incredibly blessed by all of you, not just with the cards you left for him, but for your input in his life. I know that someday he will look back and see just how you played a role in his growing.  Thank you.

To those of you who could not make it, I totally understand. I didn't make it to some friends' parties this weekend either. And so for you, I have pictures of what you missed:

Good friends,

Good food,

Good family,

I must say, having company over is quite an impetus to clean up the house and yard! It was sparkling on Sunday after days of 'spring cleaning'. The kids all pitched in to help ... ok, maybe it was more like mandatory volunteering, but we worked on it as a family, and then got to enjoy it as a family. 

Seeing the people from our church mingle with family members mingle with school friends mingle with neighbors was a little surreal, but yet really cool. The Boy has lived here basically his whole life, gone to the same church his whole life, and only attended one school besides homeschool. That makes for a lot of people he has known for a long time. And because The Boy is pretty outgoing, he also has a lot of people he knows for a short time. It's one of the things I admire about him - like his dad and uncle, he can talk to anybody easily. For some of us it takes a bit of effort. 

The party wound down and the seniors were making plans. But then some tragic news was communicated to us, and plans changed. 

A friend of our kids' - a student at their school, a running partner of my daughter - was killed in an accident yesterday. Every parent's nightmare became a reality for her parents. My heart is hurting for them, and for her friends, and even more so for the friend who was with her at the time. It's going to be a hard week for our school, balancing the pain and grief, and finding the balance with graduation celebrations at the end of the week. This school is small enough, that it is like extended family (- my siblings know what I'm talking about because of the high school we went to). Please pray the kids, the staff, teachers, and the family as we grieve this week. I have a feeling cross country season in the fall is going to be kind of difficult for our team.