Sarah's Graduation

My one and only daughter, Sarah, graduated at the end of May this year.












Sarah loved this school, a local community college
where she earned an AA in Early
Childhood Education. She graduated with High Honors.
(Joel calls the Phi Theta Kappa stoll on her neck "your smart thing.") She has since moved on to a state university, continuing her "education education".

A most special email from a professor in her last semester at HCC said something like, "Dear Sarah, You
are the only person in all my years of teaching who has received a 100% on both the final research paper and the
final presentation .Congratulations! If you ever want to interview with Baltimore County Public Schools, please call me. I'd be more than happy to recommend you."

When she read the email to me, I cried. As a mom, and especially a homeschooling mom of 15 years, it was like being lifted up in a hot air balloon (minus the nausea) and carried along on clouds. Confirmation of something I had wrestled with (probably from the Enemy), thoughts such as "Will homeschooling ruin my kids? Will anything really good come from all this? Will she hate me for making her write and rewrite until her papers are as good as they can be? Is it worth it?" Yes, it's so worth it! Thank You, God. Thank You for this moment of blessing. I thought of the verse, "A man's gifts make room for him. " My girl has had doors open wide for her because of how she has used God's gifts to her.

It's no surprise she chose this major; from the
time she was two I could tell that her love for
children, books, and learning would probably
lead her to become a teacher . 'Tis her God-given
"bent," and "when she was old, she did not depart
from it."

As a child Sarah was always lining up baby dolls and stuffed animals on her
bed, sticking pencils in their hands or paws, making them pay attention. Often a bit bossy, her
tone sounded scarily like mine. "It's not 'nack time, Fweddie. It's yisten time. You 'post to yisten to me now, kay?"




What the heck? Yes, I meant to include this picture. It's the back
of Ed and Lisa G, and Bob K, parents
and grandpa to Jessy, who graduated with Sarah. Jessy's two grandmas were also there. Blast from the past: Ed's sister-in-law, Ina, was in the same freshman class with me when I attended Seton Hill. I got to see current pictures of Ina--beautiful as ever--and thanked God for redeeming the two of us.

Ed took out paper and pen and calculated what time we'd get out of there, based on each candidate's 13 seconds of fame plus all the yada-yada. We were famished by the end .



My parents attended with delight. They were so proud of their granddaughter. Love her to pieces. This school was also where my mom got her nursing degree at age
57 ! She is degreed in poli sci, religious ed, and Jewish studies as well (LOVES to study!) but the nursing was something she had dreamed of and begun to pursue at age 19. She dropped out to major in mothering--a lifelong course, eh? My dad, a KU alum (Mechanical Engineering) and MDiv (Midwestern Baptist Theol. Sem.) has always shared a love for living near colleges and family.



















Ben, 22 --accounting major
Sarah, 21- Early Ch. Ed major
Joel, 8 -- trouble major
Stephen, 18-- computer science major








And here we are. Happy, proud, and hungry.