Master Derek!

I thought Derek would appreciate that title! Haha!

I am so very proud to say that Derek has completed his Masters of Business Administration degree- with honors!

What a great feeling it is! This is the first time that Derek is “class- free.” I know that he’s feeling so much better now that the stress of classes are off his back.

Derek graduated on Saturday morning at 10 am.

I went on early so that we could get a good seat. When I sat down I realized that my blog friend Whitney was graduating Saturday morning too! We sat right behind her husband and daughter and their family! Congrats Whitney!

Anna-Kate enjoyed playing with Eden while we waited on things to start. Eden even shared her goldfish!

It's hard to see, but Derek is in the row behind all the guys with the "bare" heads. He's sitting next to a girl with long hair. 

Finally a picture of me and Thomas! It's hard being the one who takes all the pictures! 

Walking out! Derek is the last graduate you can see. He's walking right next to the seats. Derek said walking in and out was his favorite part. I didn't get a picture of him walking in, so here you go Derek! 

It's about time we had a family picture! 

So proud of you!! 

You're done!! 

After graduation, we had an hour for lunch before Derek had to be back on campus to officiate a wedding!  While he was up there, he ran into some friends that he went to high school with, Ashley and Josh.

Ashley and Josh have a daughter, Addison who is about 3 weeks older than Thomas! She’s quite a cutie. I enjoy reading about her on their blog too! I was so sad that I didn’t get to see them!

I went home and let Anna-Kate and Thomas get an hour or so long nap and then changed Anna-Kate since she got her dress dirty at lunch. We headed to the wedding after that.

Derek got the wonderful honor of marrying Megan and Brandon Bennett. Megan is the sister to one of his best friends. It was a beautiful wedding! I wish I had gotten more pictures of it!  Megan was an absolutely beautiful bride! We felt so blessed to have gotten to participate is such a special event.

I wish I had gotten more pictures of the wedding! I seemed to be taking more pictures of Anna-Kate and Kristen than anything, but that was probably because they were a bit wild! 

One of the only times the girls actually sat down... 

The girls had several pieces of chocolate which probably accounted for their crazy behavior. I was a tad embarrassed because they ran all over the place! 

The girls tried to catch the bouquet, haha. 

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of our family!! 

After the wedding we all went home and rested!  I was so tired from rushing around all day that I didn’t feel up to cooking and so we decided to go out with Derek’s family and some friend that are visiting from New Jersey. They have two little girls, so Anna-Kate and Kristen enjoyed getting to play with them!

Even though we were in Lepanto, we spent most of the day just relaxing and resting up! Our week is looking busy already. Seems like Derek’s wanting to get a lot done now that he’s got a little bit more free time! I don’t blame him!

Pomp and Circumstance

Last week, I walked out of Dr. Alan Frazier's Comerical Banking class. In a short few moments I realized that I had just finished my last undergraduate class EVER!!! My first class at Harding was Dr. Ireland's New Testament Survey in the fall of 2004. I met my wife in that class. The last few years have been a wild ride.

We certainly didn't choose the easiest path. Marriage at a young age, having a baby a year later, a second by 23. Not the way I ever thought it would be, but better than I could have planned. The fact that in a few days we will be college graduates is a big source of pride.

Of course, we couldn't have done it without a lot of encouragement and support from our families. I personally am thankful for my family making personal and professional sacrifices to send me to Harding from Kindergarden through college (and Master's degree hopefully). It is a unique and rare blessing. I hope I am as good a parent.

The past week hasn't been without it's tough moments. Last Friday an email went out regarding a friend of mine, Micah (Rine) Pate. She was reported missing by her husband after she didn't come home from a jog the previous night. Micah was a few years older than me but at a school as small as Harding Academy, it's hard not to know someone. Her dad was a teacher and coach there as well. I had just seen Coach Rine and his wife earlier in the week and it was hard to imagine their fear and pain. The situation went from bad to worse Friday night when her husband, Thomas, confessed to accedentally shooting her in the back of the head. He lead police to the body, was charged with 2nd degree murder and plead not guilty. He is out on bond at the moment and is with his parents in Atlanta.

This situation has really hit the Harding family hard. The funeral was held at the Academy and over 2000 people showed up. I hope that the coming weeks provide answers and closure, the Rines are good people and I hurt for them.

Main thing I keep thinking is this. We never know what the future holds. Be it life or death, as in the Rine's case. Or our post college plans, as in my graduation this week. It's simply a series of decisions we must make. If we make the right choices, we get the desired results. God is the only one who knows for sure...seems like a good idea to ask his opinion every now and then