We tried to keep graduation from coming, but it came anyway...

We have three seniors at Whitworth this year who hold very special places in our hearts.  We met all three of them as freshmen, four years ago, when we volunteered to lead a small group in Kent McDonald's "Foundations for Christian Leadership" class.  They were in our group and we got to spend time with them once a week, talking about God and life and leadership.  And when the class ended, they still liked us!  Kaitlyn and Christina asked if I would mentor them (aka, continue to hang out once a week) and Linnea kept in touch with us less formally--living with us here and there and showing up whenever the wind blew her in this direction.

Jeff and I look back on our year of volunteering--Wednesday evenings of Auntie Cassie staying with our two little rugrats, ages 3 and 1, wondering if we had the energy or expertise to give to energetic college students, reading responses to read through and check off--and are completely humbled by the gifts of these relationships.  God is like that, we're finding--when we obey just a little bit, he knocks your socks off with blessing.

That being said, we were kind of sad to see this chapter of our life coming to an end.  We tried to keep graduation from coming, but it came anyway.  :)  And when it came, I realized that it was not an ending, just a really important day in these ladies' lives that we got to be part of...  

Kaitlyn was asked to pray at Baccalaureate the day of graduation, so she saved us front row family seats!  Micah was very well behaved for MOST of the ceremony.

And Christina's parents had reserved seats at graduation that they shared with us, so we got a close up view of the graduates walking by with their diplomas!

Christina

Linnea

Kaitlyn