Baccalaureate

Today was Rebekah's Baccalaureate. Before we went, some of he kids had asked what it was. Bill told them it was basically a NON-Denominational religious ceremony to help encourage the Graduates as they go on their way.

They had one speaker today. He was a Youth and Family Minister from Madison Church of Christ. He gave a good speech on life lessons.

One of the stories he told, was of when he was a kid, and had broken a table at someones home where his parents were visiting. He tried to 'fix' it and when he was on the way home in the back seat of the car... the guilt became so big that he couldn't stand it any more. So, he spilled his guts, and his parents did a u-turn, and took him back to make him apologize and tell the family what he had done. The family informed him that the table was already broken, and they regularly have to prop the table leg back up, just like he had done. He made the point, that his parents taught him a valuable lesson, even though it turned out that it really wasn't a big deal, and he hadn't really broken the table... but they helped him learn that you need to take responsibility for your actions.

Another time he had done some things he was supposed to get in trouble for, but his parents sort of 'forgot' and when he arrived home, they told him to get ready for bed, and he got ready faster, than ever before, and went right to sleep. However... at 4 a.m. his mom opened the bedroom door, and he got the punishment for the earlier 'crime'! He said that taught him that, there will always be a day of reckoning. You will have to pay for your actions, eventually.
It was pretty good.

We were talking about it, and thinking about how each of our own Baccalaureate ceremony's were probably a bit different. Bill's was held at the Post Chapel on the Military Base he was at in Germany during his High School years. Mine, was held at the Stake Center of the Church, in a very small mostly LDS community. Bill commented that he remembers the music being fairly traditional probably Hymns. I would think the same of mine.

This one? a 5 piece rock band on guitars/both electric and acoustic, and an electric keyboard, and drums, and a woman singer who clapped her hands to encourage the crowd. It was definitely not traditional Hymns. They had the words to all the songs printed in the program, and I sang along to most of the songs, as they had pretty easy tunes to pick up...
Something I thought was interesting, was watching the youth minister up on stage. He didn't try to sing along with any of the songs... and he just watched as the band rocked out to all the songs.

Well, that is one more step down... Graduation is Tuesday! Rebekah has some plans to go out of town for parts of the summer, and then will be leaving mid July to go to New York... Life sure will be different with her gone from home.

Happy Birthday to my newest teenager...

Yesterday, Sat. May 9th was Sariah's birthday. It is official now, she is a teenager. Thirteen years ago, this amazing bundle of joy that has helped me grow so much, came into our lives.

You can read her birth story if you'd like, by following this link. http://wendyrful.blogspot.com/2008/05/birth-story.html

Sariah is growing into a beautiful young woman, inside and out. It is a joy to see the person she is becoming. She has grown so much. She has overcome a lot to be able to stand in front of others, and lead things she is asked to do in Young Women's.

She has been reaching out and trying new things this past year.

She attended a Volley Ball Camp during spring break, at UAH. She has also been on a soccer team this spring. She hasn't played as much as she might otherwise have, due to swine flu scares, and closing of schools and public parks, etc... and then there has been so much rain, that even on the days when it was not raining, the fields have been so wet, that she was unable to play... I have been proud of her for stretching herself outside of her comfort zone.

She is a very compassionate person. Particularly when it comes to young children, and to others in need. She was always willing to help with the younger Primary Children and even today, a year later, felt a little sad that she wasn't able to go up and help the young primary children when they went up to sing in Sacrament meeting. She just spent the past several days helping out a new mother with her children, and was even willing to forgo a birthday party/time for herself to help another. (So now we are trying to figure out when we can have her birthday party...) :-)

She has grown physically as well over the past year. Not that she hasn't always been tall. As a baby, she was in the 5% in weight, and 95% in Height. They were always so worried about her, and wanted me to force feed her. It was a long first year! Even then, I said, she was just going to be tall... well, I was correct. She is 5 ft. 7 now, and only her dad is taller at our house. Obviously her dad is tall, but my side of the family was tall as well. My mother was 5 ft. 9 in tall, and her family was tall. My dad himself wasn't all that tall at 5 ft. 10 in., but his dad and several of his brothers were over 6 ft. his mother however, was a somewhat short person. I don't know how tall, but even as a kid I didn't feel like she was very tall. I think I got my height, or lack thereof, from her. :-)

Today being Mother's Day, also give me a chance to think back and remember her birth, just before the day that celebrates mothers. Sariah actually attended Sacrament mtg. as a new 2 day old baby girl, so that we could be there to hear the primary children sing.

Happy Birthday Sariah! Keep learning and growing in the Gospel. You have a wonderful spirit, if you will only continue to listen and learn. We love you!

We Have Locks...

But obviously need something more!!!

Liam has gotten out, BY HIMSELF several times in the past week! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He got out a couple of months ago, and actually went around the corner and a neighbor had seen him escape, (I had the door locked, and chained), and she went after him and headed him back home!

Since then we haven't had too much trouble, until recently. The kids go in and out the door so many times a day, and I try to keep the door locked and chained, but he has figured out how to get out anyway... Last week on Saturday, some of us had gone to help with the day of Service, and Bill was helping a sister move, and that afternoon, when it was just the three younger kids and myself, the girls were playing with the neighbors out front. Liam wanted to go out too, but they didn't want to watch him...
Eventually I sent him into the backyard to play... before too long I heard the neighbors saying Hi to Liam, etc. I went out back and realized he was IN the neighbors yard! I was sort of going crazy trying to figure out how he'd gotten OVER the fence, then realized he'd gone out the gate and the neighbor boy had gotten him and taken him to play in the other neighbors (right next door, through the fence) backyard, where the girls were all playing slip and slide and water fights...

I brought him back in, and reprimanded him, but tried to be nice, and so I took my laptop out in the backyard so I could continue working on what I was doing, as well as keep him company while he played. He still tried to escape the backyard through the gate, but... I tried to tie it closed. After a little bit, he was playing happily, then he went in the house. By the time I got up from where I was at, and tried to get in, the little stinker had locked the back screen door, and I was locked out... and he was was dragging a chair toward the front door so that he could reach to unlock the chain, and make his escape! I called out to him through the screen, and he stopped dragging the chair, and just stood there and grinned at his genius!

Oh MY Goodness!!!!!

Well, I got him to unlock the screen door and let me in, but we have had multiple other exiting moments lately!

One day this past week he was wearing underwear (we're trying... and he's getting better and better at going in the potty... yay!), and we were in the backyard, but he wet his pants. I took them off of him, and went inside to put them in the laundry, and get new pants for him, and before I could get back outside, he had come in the front door! Shirt, shoes and socks, and nothing else! He had gotten out the gate and gone to see Marissa across the street playing with friends, she got him and brought him home to get on some underwear at least...