She did it, Keegan is officially an International Baccalaureate (IB) high school graduate.
She took her final IB test the morning during graduation practice. None of the IB students were able to attend the practice, so they had to just follow the group during the ceremony. It wasn't too difficult since there were over 500 students in her class. In the IB group there were 77 students.
The program took a long time with each graduate going across the stage, but it was very organized, so it wasn't too bad. I was glad that we didn't have a party and expect our guest to sit through the long program. It was held in the stadium at Wichita State University. It was packed and loud. I couldn't hear for quite awhile. We must have sat in the area where there were a bunch of high school kids. They were {{{Screaming}}} every time their friends walked across the stage. At least a hundred times or more!
Afterwards we met our graduates outside. Trying to find Keegan amongst all those students was not easy. Later we went out for ice cream along with Keegan's best friend and her family.
I have attached many pictures. Some pictures are of Keegan's IB ceremony, where they received their stoles (the blue sash they wore over their shoulders). Only the IB students wore stoles, so they were easy to pick out. Then I have pictures at graduation where they received their diplomas. The high school will have better pictures for us down the road since no one could get close to the stage. They had photographers taking close up pictures the entire time.
I'm so glad Keegan is finished with high school. We can all breath now. Her last week with exams was painful.
Dawson is also ecstatic! His last day was Friday. Next week he doesn't have to go back the last 3 days to take any exams because he has straight A's. His school rewards the kids who do well. I think that is such a great idea. It really helps the students to do their very best in school.
We are ready for an exciting summer. I wish I could take off this summer to be with the kids. I know they are probably happy that I have to go to work so they can sleep in and hang out with their friends, right?
God truly blessed Keegan with a great high school and excellent teachers. She will have so many fond memories and friends forever.
Remember God loves you and is with you every single day.
Love,
Marjie
Salt Lake City, Utah
Picture taken on Thanksgiving weekend 2013.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Happy Mother's Day
Good Morning,
Happy Mother's Day to those of you women who have children, pets or feel like you have taken on the role of a mother at some time in your lifetime. I love Mother's Day. It is one of my favorite days of all. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful children and to think that "only" God knew how much I would love being a mom. I remember there was a time that I was totally content knowing I would not have any children. Now I honestly believe that being a mom is my most favorite thing I have ever done.
I am also blessed to have a beautiful mother. She is beautiful from the inside to the outside. Maybe one year I will make it home on Mother's day so we can celebrate the day together, "I love you Mom".
Today is also Dad's 80th birthday. "Happy Birthday Dad, I love you too." Needless to say I'm feeling pretty homesick today. It would have been a great day to be in Wisconsin to help celebrate this double event. Thank goodness for telephones, right?
We had some excitement this week in our family. Keegan came home from their annual high school Thespian awards banquet with 4 trophies. (Thespian simple means anything to do with theatre on or off stage.) She was nominated in 5 categories. She won 4 of them. "Best Actress" in a leading role. (This was from the last play she was in where her character had leukemia.) She also won "Best Actress in a One-Act" and "Best Student Writer", (she wrote and directed a play that was performed in front of an audience, I thought it was excellent). The award she is most proud of is for "Best Senior Thespian". All of the nominations and awards were voted on by her peers. We are so happy for her, she worked very hard this past year in theatre. Actually all 4 years of high school, especially since she has been in Wichita. I have attached several pictures.
The other excitement this week was that yesterday our whole family decided to travel to Oklahoma to watch Dawson play in his last lacrosse game/tournament for the season. Because it is a traveling league, half of the games were out of state. Keegan and I have not yet traveled with the boys. I could tell Dawson was so happy that his sister and I were going along with them.
They played 2 games. The first game was good, the second game was a nightmare. The other team was so mean, just flat out mean. A couple of times I think David had to hold me down so I wouldn't run out on the field to beat the crap out of the player who kept knocking Dawson flat on the ground. I was getting mad and I was afraid that someone was going to get hurt. Sure enough one of our players got hit so hard that they had to call 911 for an ambulance/EMT. Shortly after his friend was hit. The same kid who hurt his friend, then hit Dawson right across his chest with the stick while he was running. Dawson flew up and fell backwards on his back. It knocked the wind out of him. We watched him walk off the field very slowly. When he got over to the other side of the field I saw him take off his helmet and he was walking around really weird. I told David to go over there to see if he was okay. A few minutes later I saw Dawson laying down and a bunch of people were around him. When I got over there he was shaking and having a hard time breathing. He kept saying his fingers and arms felt numb and tingly. At this point I was scared. Some of the men from the EMT and the firefighters that showed up for the 1st boy came over to help Dawson. He had about 4-5 paramedics trying to calm his breathing down. They even had to put an oxygen tube in his nose to help his breathing back to normal. He was fine after they calmed him down. One of the paramedics told me that he believed that Dawson was hyperventilating and possibly had an anxiety attack. I didn't know this, but I guess when you hyperventilate it affects your neck and head, it also makes your extremities start to tingle and feel numb. Here is my medical opinion, I think Dawson got scared when the wind was knocked out of him, he said he was very dizzy when he walked off the field. I think he started freaking out thinking something was very wrong with how he felt, then his mind took over and he started to hyperventilate. I also don't think it helped him when he saw his closest friend being worked on by the EMT. I found out later that another friend of Dawson's had a concussion in the 1st half of that game. I hope they do something about that other team. Someday they are going to severely hurt someone. By the way, after that kid hit Dawson the referee threw him out of the game. Too bad he wasn't thrown out when he hurt the 1st kid. I'm sorry if that was all very hard to understand. We had a safe trip home. I am also glad I was there. I told Dawson "no more lacrosse", he just laughed at me. Whaaa.....!
This Thursday we will watch Keegan graduate from high school. There are almost 550 students in her class, so it will be a long program. The 4 of us will probably go out for dinner or ice cream afterwards. The following weekend Keegan has been invited to several graduation parties. I just can't believe it is even possible that my baby girl is graduating from high school.
May God bless you always.
Love,
Marjie
Happy Mother's Day to those of you women who have children, pets or feel like you have taken on the role of a mother at some time in your lifetime. I love Mother's Day. It is one of my favorite days of all. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful children and to think that "only" God knew how much I would love being a mom. I remember there was a time that I was totally content knowing I would not have any children. Now I honestly believe that being a mom is my most favorite thing I have ever done.
I am also blessed to have a beautiful mother. She is beautiful from the inside to the outside. Maybe one year I will make it home on Mother's day so we can celebrate the day together, "I love you Mom".
Today is also Dad's 80th birthday. "Happy Birthday Dad, I love you too." Needless to say I'm feeling pretty homesick today. It would have been a great day to be in Wisconsin to help celebrate this double event. Thank goodness for telephones, right?
We had some excitement this week in our family. Keegan came home from their annual high school Thespian awards banquet with 4 trophies. (Thespian simple means anything to do with theatre on or off stage.) She was nominated in 5 categories. She won 4 of them. "Best Actress" in a leading role. (This was from the last play she was in where her character had leukemia.) She also won "Best Actress in a One-Act" and "Best Student Writer", (she wrote and directed a play that was performed in front of an audience, I thought it was excellent). The award she is most proud of is for "Best Senior Thespian". All of the nominations and awards were voted on by her peers. We are so happy for her, she worked very hard this past year in theatre. Actually all 4 years of high school, especially since she has been in Wichita. I have attached several pictures.
The other excitement this week was that yesterday our whole family decided to travel to Oklahoma to watch Dawson play in his last lacrosse game/tournament for the season. Because it is a traveling league, half of the games were out of state. Keegan and I have not yet traveled with the boys. I could tell Dawson was so happy that his sister and I were going along with them.
They played 2 games. The first game was good, the second game was a nightmare. The other team was so mean, just flat out mean. A couple of times I think David had to hold me down so I wouldn't run out on the field to beat the crap out of the player who kept knocking Dawson flat on the ground. I was getting mad and I was afraid that someone was going to get hurt. Sure enough one of our players got hit so hard that they had to call 911 for an ambulance/EMT. Shortly after his friend was hit. The same kid who hurt his friend, then hit Dawson right across his chest with the stick while he was running. Dawson flew up and fell backwards on his back. It knocked the wind out of him. We watched him walk off the field very slowly. When he got over to the other side of the field I saw him take off his helmet and he was walking around really weird. I told David to go over there to see if he was okay. A few minutes later I saw Dawson laying down and a bunch of people were around him. When I got over there he was shaking and having a hard time breathing. He kept saying his fingers and arms felt numb and tingly. At this point I was scared. Some of the men from the EMT and the firefighters that showed up for the 1st boy came over to help Dawson. He had about 4-5 paramedics trying to calm his breathing down. They even had to put an oxygen tube in his nose to help his breathing back to normal. He was fine after they calmed him down. One of the paramedics told me that he believed that Dawson was hyperventilating and possibly had an anxiety attack. I didn't know this, but I guess when you hyperventilate it affects your neck and head, it also makes your extremities start to tingle and feel numb. Here is my medical opinion, I think Dawson got scared when the wind was knocked out of him, he said he was very dizzy when he walked off the field. I think he started freaking out thinking something was very wrong with how he felt, then his mind took over and he started to hyperventilate. I also don't think it helped him when he saw his closest friend being worked on by the EMT. I found out later that another friend of Dawson's had a concussion in the 1st half of that game. I hope they do something about that other team. Someday they are going to severely hurt someone. By the way, after that kid hit Dawson the referee threw him out of the game. Too bad he wasn't thrown out when he hurt the 1st kid. I'm sorry if that was all very hard to understand. We had a safe trip home. I am also glad I was there. I told Dawson "no more lacrosse", he just laughed at me. Whaaa.....!
This Thursday we will watch Keegan graduate from high school. There are almost 550 students in her class, so it will be a long program. The 4 of us will probably go out for dinner or ice cream afterwards. The following weekend Keegan has been invited to several graduation parties. I just can't believe it is even possible that my baby girl is graduating from high school.
May God bless you always.
Love,
Marjie
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