Seniors Day at Church

Today at the early service they held a Seniors Walk for those in the graduating class of 2012. As soon as our service started they opened by playing the commencement music - okay - I didn't bring tissues with me to church today and so badly needed them. LUMP right in the throat and it just all hit me - Austin is about to graduate!

They had all of the Seniors march in and take a seat and then after one of the Seniors gave a very thoughtful and well said Invocation then we all sat. A teen choir group sang a beautiful song and they showed all the Seniors pictures (baby and Sr. photo) Not such a great photo - taken with a phone - urgh!

Anyway, then our Youth Pastor called each Senior up on stage, called their name and told where they were attending college and then our Pastor gave them a brand new (& very nice) bible.

Thought it was a great message especially for these Seniors about to embark on a new stage in their lives.

He encouraged them to strive for an Excellent Life ~ not to just settle!

He reminded them to keep the Faith and more importantly the Christian Faith! 

Encouraged them to seek real Friends that they click with and share the same values with.

Encouraged them to build trust in all relationships.

Talked about forgiveness and how important that was in life and ended with the fact that there is no perfection but striving for excellence and doing their best at all things in life was so important.

He then prayed and as usual invites people to the alter if they'd like to come up and pray and right as I was telling my husband to let's go get Austin ~ Austin turned around and looked at us (we were several rows behind him) and asked us to come up there with him to pray! As soon as we knelt down ~ let's just say the waterworks opened up! Again, no tissue!

Just so incredibly proud of this young man I've been blessed with and have had the honor to raise! Such a proud momma! Also loved hearing my husband tell our son how incredibly proud he is of him!

Gonna be a good week full of lots of emotions I'm sure! Lots of crying and I've gotten my little packs of tissues to carry around with me cause I'm not sure what will trigger the tears!

I have LOVED going through tons and tons of pictures these last few days and I still have many more to go through for a project I'm working on for his graduation celebrations with my family and my In-LOVEs.

All the memories from birth to present day and floods of memories coming with each photo! Lots of laughter and lots of fun and I'm excited about this week and all the memories we'll make leading up to graduation! 

Excited that my grandmother, parents and sister (&kids) are able to make it for the graduation and look forward to seeing my older sister later in the weekend to celebrate Austin and all his accomplishments! Then we'll celebrate with the McTiers and sadly won't be able to see a few that will be out of town but I know they are super proud of Austin!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Sandy

Gerber Daisy Class
Yesterday in paint class we painted this very large (18x18 canvas) with a fun gerber daisy on it!
Everyone did such an awesome job and loved all the layering of colors to paint our project.

Roz

Janis

Glo

Beverlyn

Tara ~  a new student that had never painted before! Just love it when they walk in and think there is "no way" they can do that but leave with a finished project and amazed that they painted it!


Kari ~ my blog friend that finally lives in Georgia and because we are both so busy don't get to see each other that much! I love when she comes to class though - great humor and she has one of those smiles that is contagious! She brought Tara to class and they both doubted themselves so much but at the end of class were so happy with their paintings!

So love my classes and blessed that these students and all my other students love to come out and paint with me!

I'm excited about tomorrow ~ our middle and youngest sons have their end of year awards ceremony and I hear they are getting several awards! Hoping I remember to take my camera this time - forgot it last week when my oldest had his awards ceremony as well as when he received his Rotary Scholarship - urgh!

Smiles,

Sandy

Painting Names & Clay Bouquets

Last week my middle sons girlfriend and her twin sister had a milestone birthday ~ "18" years old! He asked me to paint her a big "A" for Alabama (on a 30x40 gallery wrapped canvas ) and her name so I did that on a 12x24 gallery wrapped canvas. Kendall didn't want to leave her twin sister out so he asked me to also do one for Jordan so I found out what colors her room is decorated in and painted her one too. 

Clay Bouquets ~
So for years now I've so LOVED creating with clay and flowers seemed the most natural to me since that is what I really love to paint. I've been so inspired by Diane Katsuyoshi-Phillips for years now and her amazing floral bouquets! I saw her on Martha Stewart showing how to do these amazing hydrangeas - you can see it on youtube - again - amazing!
So, I've taught many flowers and projects over the years and decided it was time we did an arrangement and many flowers so ~ inspired by Diane - we created these clay bouquets in a cute ceramic teapot.

Sherry brought this gorgeous Rose Lily to class! Such a beautiful flower and the room smelled so good!

Vicky

Lanelle

Sherry


Have a great day!
Sandy

 Teacup with Pansies in wOils
Had a great time in paint class yesterday! I taught this teacup with pansies that I designed and we painted it with wOils (water mixable oils by Martin F. Weber).
Some ladies didn't quite finish so they said they'd send me a picture when they do and I'll post those later.

Shari & Karen

Shari was in town visiting her friend Karen so they decided to come spend the morning painting with us! They both did an awesome job!

Beverly

Patty

Sue

Barb

Pat

Cyndee

Ann

Roz

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Sandy

BRAG TIME!!

Today our oldest son had his last awards ceremony for High School and I sat there wondering as I'm sure many moms and dads did when did this child of ours grow up to now be a Senior in High School, with graduation around the corner, and a new season in his (& our) lives about to begin.

It seems like yesterday he was five years old and had memorized all the Presidents of the United States - something we used to get him to recite when we were with family and friends we hadn't seen in a while as if he were a side show act or something ~ we were just so impressed with his memory skills.

Seems like yesterday he was attending a Prep School in England where he had to wear a coat and tie, belonged to some kind of a "Harry Potterish House" and couldn't take his lunch to school because they had to provide it! All of which he wasn't too fond of, however, he grew to love the lunches and wondered why his mother didn't make lamb with mint sauce and wanted to see if the school cook could give me cooking lessons. 

Seems like yesterday I got a call from the Principal telling me that Austin won the Geography Bee for the Middle School - he was in the 6th grade.

Seems like yesterday he was learning to drive and usually drove us to church every Sunday, then he got his license and I for sure thought he'd go go go but was surprised when he wasn't in any hurry to go go go.

He got many honors today ~ graduated 9th in his class, graduating with honors with distinction those words really do need to be capitalized huh? Honors & Distinction! He worked really hard for those and today was awarded for all that hard work! He received a certificate for Dual Enrollment from Macon State College and actually leaves HS with college credits already which is an awesome program that is offered at his school! He received his National Beta Club pin and tassels, plus received high honors for his academy in Social Studies (Current Issues) as well as in Engineering.  He also received a Rotary Scholarship which he'll attend a breakfast for next week.

1 week old

18 Yrs. old























I'm not sure that it's completely hit me yet (just a few tears and sadness that he is about to graduate) and I'm sure there will be many more tears between now and when he starts college this fall. It's gonna be hard. Not only do I love this kid of mine I LIKE him too and I like when he is home, I enjoy being around him!! Gonna be difficult but I'm also excited for the new path and future our son has ahead of him!

I'm proud of all he's accomplished but most of all I'm proud that he's my SON! Love ya Austin!

Have a great day!
Sandy