Graduating!!

I graduated from highschool Thursday night. Did I really just say that? I'm not that old, am I? I'm only... 18. Maybe I am that old. Wow.

What can I say about the last 18 years of homeschool? For me, this journey of school was much more than a list of subjects and grades that I had to accomplish. It has made me who I am. It was my life. My parents incorporated my schooling into the training they we already doing to make me a Jesus follower. It was “when you get up, when you walk along the way and when you lie down" (Deut. 6:7). My parents taught me that “learning” is not confined to desks and textbooks. The true Teacher is God and the true classroom is life. They taught me to LOVE to learn. They taught me to think for myself and decide whether I wanted to believe what they believe. They showed me that my faith had to be mine.

I've realized that I’m not always going to remember every detail of Algebra or every date in History, but what I WILL remember will be Daddy sitting beside me at the kitchen table still in his work clothes quizzing me on my multiplication tables. It’ll be sunlight shinning through the window on Mama as she read to us from our History books with an elevated voice, excited about the stories. It’ll be Daddy stopping by a tree in the woods to explain why it’s an oak tree. It’ll be getting my first red journal from Dad and realizing as I wrote in it that I loved to write. Explosions in the kitchen from science experiments. Music practice when I didn’t want to practice. Lunches of peanut butter, corndogs, hot pockets, summer tomatoes, and ice cream sandwiches. Every Bible verse uttered in our house. Every prayer. And even…. Love Lifted Me sang before bedtime.

Those are things I'm going to remember. I can't buy those days back. I look back and don't regret the way I did school. I can't thank my parents enough. They were with me not just in word, but in their actions.

There I stood with my cousin at our graduation ceremony we had together. We've been together in so much of what we've done in our lives, so we graduated together too. See, I love Taylor. She really has been my best friend (outside of my immediate family) all of my life. We've been side by side for 17 years. There have been busy times, but no matter what, we can pick up right where we left off. Just like old times.

So there I stood in front of many friends and family and spoke words I've wanted to say for years, words I wanted someone to tell me when I was young.

"It is possible to make it through homeschool. It's worth it. Stay strong."

We were handed our diplomas. It was a strange and yet wonderful feeling. But it's like I told those at my graduation, "This is only the beginning." The Lord has such great plans and I look forward to the next year and every year, day and moment till I breath my last or till Jesus calls for me in the air.


How blessed I am.