Man, what a wild Sabbath we had today! It was full of good stuff, though. We started the day, as we do most Sundays, with 3 hours of church...followed by a lunch of chicken-udon noodle soup and rolls, which I prepared while also whipping up a batch of our famous Stuart brownies for later.
Then, it was off to Troy's baccalaureate ceremony. Now, I know I had one of these as a Sr. (back in the dark ages), and I do have a vague memory of attending, but nothing else about it comes to mind.
Today's ceremony was pretty special, though. Since it is a religious (though non-denominational) service, it is not school-sponsored, it's parent directed and attendance is not mandatory. Still, half of our graduates came, and most of those brought their families. What an awesome sight!
Loved this procession. Troy was one of the readers, so that's why he's up front. (Trivia: It's no coincidence that most of the kids involved in the program have moms on the committee. They had sign up sheets, which came back empty, and we promptly filled with our own children's names. Membership has its "privileges". You're welcome, Troy.)
It was so wonderful to have our principal, a man of faith, participate. He's a devout Catholic, and he and his family add so much to our community.
Here's Troy doing the responsive reading. I think he has a pretty nice voice, no? I cut it short to try and get a still shot...but missed the mark...
And got this action shot instead.
Our show choir did two awesome numbers. I wish I had taped them. One was in Spanish, and the other one involved clapping in a round-style, so it had a great sound to it. (Trivia: Patrick auditioned and is going to be in this show choir next year and I'm SO excited!)
Then Josh did a scripture reading as well. So did Savannah, but I didn't get her picture. These are great kids!
Chaplain Phillips gave an excellent sermon that I hope these kids will remember. (Like I remember so much of mine, right? Ha!) He was using analogies which I thought would keep them listening. THEN he even told a story about Drew Brees, and I thought to myself, "Wow, now he's even got Cliff's attention!" (teehee) Anyhoo, hopefully they will take the message and make their communities a better place, whether it be the world, their city or just their own families.
Then they passed out flowers for the graduates to give to their moms. (So sweet!) And we were dismissed to the fellowship hall to enjoy some refreshments.
Two handsome boys!
And two beautiful, awesome women who I am lucky to call friends.
Speaking of friends...
I was having fun eavesdropping on these friends...
Until Troy caught me.
Then, I saw these three administrators standing here and couldn't resist the photo op. (I overheard one of the ladies telling Troy this better not end up on Facebook or MySpace. She didn't say anything about my blog, though. Hopefully none of my 14 readers will tell her.) I am so grateful to these people and all that they do for my boys. I'm sure they weren't particularly grateful for me at this moment, since this set off a chain-reaction of parents thinking this was a great idea and inserting their own children into the formation. You're welcome.
Then Josh piled on Brandon, and Troy couldn't resist being the cherry on top. Brandon nearly died. I pulled Troy off, just in time.
It was a particularly drizzly, steamy day...so the camera kept fogging up. This was the best shot out of the bunch, though. LOVE this family!
Well, if all that excitement wasn't enough, we headed over to Melene's for our semi-annual piano recital! She had timed it so that we could come right over to her place following the ceremony, since it was close by. The Jones' kids take lessons from her, too...so it was like we were headed to the "after party" together.
I didn't take video (as not to make my kids more nervous...of all the things they have to do in front of people, they like playing piano the least) but here they are, introducing themselves and their pieces. (Trivia: The Stuarts made up 1/3 of the performers.)
Jake the pillow snake.
Coreena-jellybeena
Patrick "I can never play it straight" Stuart, entertaining everyone with his wit and charm.
Finally, Troy "Can we get my last recital EVER over with now?" Stuart
Then we ate ourselves into comas with the delicious spread that Melene ALWAYS puts on (including my contribution, the world-famous Stuart brownies).
And THAT was our Sabbath day.
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