Milestones and Celebrations

The past week has seemed like one big party! For days on end, we've been celebrating and commemorating and rejoicing! It started with our annual Prom Alternative on Friday night...then being with our precious friends as they graduated from seminary on Saturday...Mother's Day on Sunday...you get the idea. I'm so thankful for these special days...these markers along our family's journey. They continually point back to God's grace and faithfulness in our lives.

The party has continued into this week. Tuesday night was our homeschool ministry's annual End of Year Program. Each of the kids are invited to give a presentation of something they learned this year...possibly a musical number, a recitation, a juggling act, hoola hoop demonstration...the lessons learned come in all varieties! Two of our boys wrote papers about missionaries we learned about in school this year.

Yesterday was another milestone day. My very young dad (58) retired! Our youngest son made him a card that said something like, "Just because you're retired doesn't mean you're old!" Our middle son, the more sensitive one of the three, made Grandpa a card that excitedly talked about all the things they could do together now that he's retired. Trips to Cabela's, sleeping in the tent, fishing...he's got Grandpa's free time all planned out! We're all so proud of my dad, as well as my mom (who retired a year ago). Now that they're both "free," we hope they'll take full advantage of the many opportunities that await them!

Our boys look forward to more days like these with Grandpa.

Last evening was also a milestone night for our family. Each of our three boys received awards at the AWANA Grand Finale. Oh, the trophies are nice...the boys are so excited. But more than any trophy that will gather dust and someday be boxed up or even thrown away, we're praising God that our boys are hiding His Word in their hearts.

Our oldest son received the Timothy Trophy (memorizing & reciting 433 verses, reading 37 Scripture passages and answering the accompanying questions, attending club approximately 120 times, completing 33 activity sections in missions, patriotism, health, and service).

Our middle son received the Excellence Award (memorizing & reciting 185 verses, reading 16 Scripture passages and answering the accompanying questions, attending club approximately 60 times, and completing 16 activity sections in missions, patriotism, health, and service).

Our youngest son received the Sparky Plaque (memorizing 166 verses, the books of the Old & New Testaments, and completing 37 activity sections on missions, witnessing, patriotism, prayer, and creation).

Believe it or not, our full week of milestones and celebrations isn't over yet! My husband and my dad will be running their second marathon together this weekend. This is a huge occasion for our family, and we're eagerly anticipating cheering on our favorite guys. More on that next week...

As we celebrate each of these sweet marks on our family timeline, we declare with gladness,

"To God be the glory for the things He has done!"