First and Final Choice

Hi Everyone,

I know it seems too soon to hear from me already, but I had to let you know our exciting news.

Keegan has made her final decision on where she will be attending college in the fall. Washington University in St. Louis will be her new home for at least the next 4 years. Last night she made the final commitment in writing and we paid her "non-refundable" deposits. It's a done deal. No more looking and no more waiting. I know that David and I are so relieved, so I'm sure Keegan is. Dawson is happy too. He was just as involved and encouraging his sister every step of the way.

It seems very ironic to me how this was the very first university she looked at a year ago during Spring break and it just happens to be her final choice. She fell in love with WashU back then and all year long kept thinking about her 1st love. In less then a year we visited 14 colleges in a total of 7 states. She applied at 5 colleges and loved all of them. Each of them had something unique that she liked. She kept wishing she could find one college that had everything. It finally had to come done to what school would give her the best scholarship. WashU (nickname from now on) has offered her an extremely generous financial award for the next 4 years.

Keegan worked her tail off throughout her high school years, she is now going to reap the rewards. We are so unbelievably proud of her accomplishments. In the meantime she has encouraged Dawson to work just as hard through his high school years so he can hopefully benefit too. He is already reading about certain colleges and making big goals for himself.

Her plan is to take the summer off and do a lot of reading and writing. She will continue to apply for more scholarships and she wants to enter some of her stories and poems into several contests. Hopefully she will keep making money to put towards her cost of living. Every little bit of money helps, right? I think she needs a break before she starts the whole school thing all over again. She will be in another honors program at WashU, it is considered to be very rigorous. Yikes, here we go again! :b

It's kind of exciting to think of all the things we need to do now to prepare her to be on her own. I get a little nervous when I think about how much she depends on me for doing probably too much for her, but I know Keegan, she is very mature and ready for the challenge. She has already grown up so much. Plus we will do a lot this summer to get her ready. I too didn't know how to cook, do laundry or a million other things when I left to be on my own. Huh, I guess I still don't know how to cook very well!!

I only hope she calls us and still will find time to keep in touch. Did that sound pathetic? Yes, I'm going to miss her like crazy, but not so much that I would want to keep her from her dreams and goals. I know it will be hard and I'm sure there will be lots of tears on my part. I just wouldn't have it any other way.

Not much more to tell except Dawson is going back to his lacrosse practice today for the 1st time after hurting his tailbone. He is doing so much better. I'm sure he will be sore tomorrow after being out of the game for so long. This summer he plans on playing on the lacrosse team, high school soccer starts up again. I'm sure he will be spending a lot of time at the gym and hanging out with his friends. Oh, and driving a bunch so he can get his drivers license next year.

Sorry, I didn't think this blog would be so long. I'm just so happy the college search is over, at least for a couple of years!! :/

The kids are almost out of school for the summer. Dawson has about 17 days left of school and counting down. Keegan only has like 7 days left, but in those 7 days she will be taking 4 very hard IB test. The day before the test date, the school gives the IB students the day off to study. She will even miss her graduation practice because one her IB test is scheduled during the same time and can not be changed. She said the only reason IB would reschedule a test, is if the country/world went into war!! No kidding. She will just have to follow the person in front of her on graduation evening!

Love to all of you. Thank you again for all of your prayers.
God Bless you,

Marjie