Graduation TIme

We celebrated a graduation on Saturday!  Mike finished his master's degree.  I am so proud of him!   He did it in a little less than two years while working full time.  It wasn't always easy, but now it's finished.


This was us before the ceremony.  He looks so happy.  This picture really lets me know I need to stay serious about my exercising.  Gotta get rid or at least reduce that double chin of mine.


Since he was a graduate student, he got to sit on the front row.  He never did see me during the ceremony, but I was able to get pictures with the big zoom lens.  When you're one of the first in line, you have to sit a while and wait for the rest of the graduates to file in.  This gave lots of time for looking around and talking to neighbors/classmates.


Waiting in line to go across the stage.  I was thinking what a journey it has been to get to this point.  Then, in a blink of an eye it's all over.  While this journey is ending, we are beginning a new one.


Mike getting "hooded."  I don't know if that is the correct terminology, but they did put his hood on him.  The purple and grey were the school colors and the light blue is for the field of education.  We now have matching gowns.  That is the same thing I wore 8 years ago when I got my master's degree.  That is something we can show our children one day.


After the ceremony, I was able to snap this picture before the cap and gown came off.  It was hot that day.  It was a very nice commencement ceremony.  Not too long, but a celebration of the transition all the students were getting ready to make.  Commencement really means the beginning.  For us it's the beginning of the job search for a teaching job in Northwest Arkansas.  It's the beginning of a career for Mike.  It's the beginning of a new phase of life.


This is the picture I saw when I looked in mom's newspaper the next day.  Mike and a couple of others made the front page of the paper.  The president of the university asked all the graduates to write a thank-you note to someone who helped them during their time as a student.  They were busy writing when this was snapped.

What a blessing this graduation was!