Awards Ceremony

This past Saturday was the annual eighth grade "banquet" and middle school awards ceremony. It's a time to honor the eighth graders and send them off to high school, and also to recognize top scholars in 6th and 7th grade. The fun begins at dinner, where the eighth graders arrive in their finest, and some look as though they've experienced an extreme makeover!!

Who are you, and what have you done with my boys?

The boys wear suits and ties, and the girls don colorful, beautiful dresses and *gasp* eye makeup. Then they all stand around awkwardly, the boys making fun of each others' ties and the girls chattering over each other's dresses and shoes and jewelry and hair and makeup and nails and... well, you get the idea.

Oh, and the parents (and teachers, of course!!) do the paparazzi thing and take a bazillion pictures of the kids squinting into the harsh afternoon sun. Hold that pose, just one more! Oh wait, your eyes were closed. One more! To the passersby, we are a sight to behold.

Now, excuse me for a moment while I go into "proud mama" mode...

As if it weren't awkward enough, the boys have an opportunity to ask a girl to sit by him at dinner. The parents of those children then take special pictures of the "dates," while their friends look on and giggle.

D'awww!!

Then, after half an hour of controlled mayhem, we herd the cats -- I mean, students -- into the restaurant while their parents get all teary-eyed and watch their babies say bye-bye to childhood. Once inside, things settle down as the students dine on schnitzel and fries and return to their usual topics of conversation.

Yep, I play with my food, too.

When dinner is over we walk together to the school, where we meet up with the parents as well as the sixth and seventh grade families. As I said before, the main point of the ceremony is to honor the eighth graders. Each of the middle school teachers writes tributes for two or three eighth grade students. We then read the tributes to the students at the ceremony, leaving them with a scriptural challenge or prayer. I, of course, cried through my tributes. Talking through tears is becoming an art for me!

This class of eighth graders is so special to me. So, I'm very sad to send them off to high school. On the other hand, I'm so proud of the young men and women they are becoming. I've had them for two years and some of them have come a looong way since that first day of seventh grade when we first met. I, too, have come a long way since that day, and I owe that partly to these students.

My dear supporters, from the bottom of my heart: thank you so much for your prayers, support, and encouragement that enable me to be here, experiencing life with these children, serving them, and learning from them. I could not do this without you!