Recitals, Graduation, and Camp, Oh My!

So, hello everyone! How ya been?

Enjoying a fast-paced summer like we are, I'm sure!

Before I start on the family events of the last month, I want to give a quick His Chase update!

1. We leave in THIRTY ONE DAYS! Our whole house is SO excited and we can hardly wait! The girls got their shots today, so it's feeling REALLY real that they are joining us this time. By the way, your prayers are greatly appreciated for this little family of ours. We know God will take care of us and will use this experience to show more of Himself to our kids...but we'd also love the prayers for health, safety, and protection. :)

2. From now on, be checking the His Chase blog for updates. I'm trying my best to get my blog back to family business only. Although, how do you really separate the two when His Chase IS a part of our family as well? Anyway, I'm going to try.

3. There is still time to get your own His Chase Summer shirt! Click HERE for ordering details and order today! Our next order is being placed THIS Wednesday, so hurry, hurry! And, let me just tell you that they're going to be AWESOME shirts. The printer is doing these by hand, even mixing the ink to be exactly the distressed look we were hoping for. You're going to want one of these, I promise!

4. As of this very hour, we are up to 131 donations for our FIFTY dollars for FIFTY days campaign! We need 169 more to reach our goal of 300, and we are on very good pace to get there before we leave on July 22nd! If you want to read more about the campaign, go HERE or HERE. To join the campaign click HERE to donate, and help us take care of sweet kids like this one, who is covered in bandages and an intense rash like I have never seen before.

They really, really need this medical attention. Please consider being a part of the restoration going on in this place.

Okay! So, on with the blog title! The last month has been full to the brim with "end of school year" celebrations and events!

The girls had their piano recital after many months of practicing.

Kendyll had decided long ago to have a Sound of Music theme for her songs, and she played My Favorite Things, The Sound of Music, and Do, A Deer . Then, she also played Amazing Grace and---my favorite part of all---her OWN original piece!!

She wrote her own song, which was beautiful, and so creative. It was called Water Dance, inspired by a book we have, and she composed different parts for each part of a rain fall... I was so proud of my big girl. She loves making up her own music and I hope she always keeps this creative part of her piano playing...because I didn't get that kind of musical talent at all. I could play what was in the book, and that's where it ended for me. :)

And, of course...if you know Kendyll, you're not surprised AT ALL that she dressed the part for her recital.

Our awesome Gammy did what she always does. She whipped up a Liesl costume from Sound of Music for the recital just days before. And, Kendyll was so proud of how it all turned out. :) Personally, I love that she still wants to dress like Liesl. Besides the fact that she was SO cute, Sound of Music happens to be my very favorite movie of all time. Hmm...I foresee a Halloween theme.

I was also so proud of Little Miss Carlie, who chose to play "Tale as Old as Time" from Beauty and the Beast. She had thought about wearing a costume too, but decided that she wasn't crazy about the attention that might bring to her. So, she decided to go with blue and white instead, just like Belle wore, only a little more "normal". The girl makes me smile. She also played Jesus Loves Me and Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.

As soon as we arrived, Carlie found our she was FIRST in the lineup! This was a big deal for my little one who does not like attention of any kind. But, she did great under pressure, and played beautifully.

This was her first year in piano, and she got the award for the Most Improved Student because of how quickly she has learned this year. I love this picture of her teacher announcing her award, and Carlie's big eyes looking up with such pride.

The funniest part of the recital was looking around the room. Every child there had parents, and maybe a sister or brother or two in attendance. But, our family took up two whole ROWS, and everyone wasn't even able to be there!

I so appreciate that our family is always there to cheer our kids on in any event they are a part of. What a crowd of cuties we have!

And, just a couple of weeks later was ANOTHER recital! The girls missed their spring ballet recital (due to a wonderful Disney trip that I STILL haven't blogged about) but Kendyll was still able to be in her jazz performance.

This performance begins AFTER the older girls perform a full ballet, so it didn't even start until after 8:30 at night. Needless to say, our family picture, shows only the backside of AK as she is snoozing away on Daddy. It was a long night. But, we were proud of our little Spanish dancer.

And, Papa Ron actually stuck it out with us through the hours of recital, to support Kendyll too.

It is really fun to see Kendyll's personality come out in her dancing. Let's just say jazz is right up her alley. Along with bright colored costumes, maracas, makeup, and a good drum beat.

She did great, and we cheered hard. Partly because of the great performance, and partly because we can check "dance" off for the next three months in our life. Ha.

And, of course, during all of this fun, we also finished SCHOOL for this year!! (This is going to be our annual "end of school" celebratory picture!)

May 27th was our last day of school, and we had such a great time reliving our year during our last week. The girls reviewed all of their scripture memory work, and we made a grandiose plan for a Family Day where the girls would show their work, sing our hymns, and share our experiences from the year.

Unfortunately, due to our own busy schedules and the traveling schedule of all the grandparents, we still haven't had that happen. And, it might not happen at all. But, I guess we can always try for next year!

The last day of school consisted of several little tests for each of them in Language Arts, Math, Science, History, Bible, Art & Music, as well as a little questionaire about school this year. They did really well on their tests and it was fun to see what they remembered (and what they didn't!) from the year!

Carlie was SO proud to be finishing first grade, and I have just been amazed at her progress this year. To be able to read her own test and respond by herself at the end of this year just made her light up with pride.

After finishing their tests, I told them they had the afternoon free. And, guess what they did?

Yes, on their first afternoon of summer break, they READ?!

Don't worry. This is not always the case. I think this was only because we had bought a few new books at Half Price Bookstore the night before, so there was new exciting material. AND, because they are completing a reading challenge this summer of 1,000 minutes each for a BIG end of summer surprise. But, it was so funny that I had to take a picture.

After work was done for Mark that day, we surprised them with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory for an end-of-school treat. Here are my little students in our end of school picture.

And, a picture with the principal too. :)

We told Carlie that she got to have a kindergarten/first grade graduation like Kendyll did, which meant her first charm from James Avery.

She was beside herself with excitement. And, she spent a LONG time deciding on the perfect thing!

After that, each of the girls got to pick an outfit for camp...which somehow turned into more than one outfit.

And, NOT because of me. Daddy was a softy, and somehow ended up with a bag full of summer stuff! He definitely has a hard time resisting his girls. I mean, he even wore a pink cowgirl hat for AK. :)

After shopping, we all got ice cream desserts for their hard work! Abby Kate surprised the girls with some hard work of her own.

A mosaic she picked out and finished for each of them. :)

The teacher of this school sure was proud of all of her students, and presented them with certificates and fun little ice cream treat graduation tags.

They presented me with the best hugs and thank you's in the world (thanks to Daddy's encouragement!). And, I might have presented myself with a teacher appreciation gift of new summer dresses from Target. :) I am one lucky teacher mommy, that's for sure.

Since school has been out, we've been busy swimming, playing with friends, reading, and going to CAMP!!! This was Kendyll's third year at New Beginnings Christian Camp, and it was Carlie's first year. Everyone was very excited about the week, and the countdown had been going on for well over a month.

As it came closer, Carlie got a little bit more nervous about going without friends and staying away from home all week. But, she is such a strong girl, and refused to give in to her feelings. I talked with her about it and asked her if she was nervous. She said "Well, I'm going to cry. I already know it. But, that's okay." I said "Well, you might not! You're probably going to have so much fun once you're there, that you won't be as sad as you think." Her response, with the Carlie look: "MOM. I'm not going to have any friends. AND I'll miss you. I'm GOING to cry. But, that's okay. I'll just cry in my pillow at night and I won't tell my counselors." Now, this sounds weird, but it's so "her way" of dealing. I told her it was okay to be sad and it was OKAY for others to know!

But, even as I dropped her off, I could see the nervous look in her eyes, and could tell she wasn't feeling great.

But, she just pressed on, making her bed, meeting her cabin-mates and counselors, and putting her swimsuit on. She hugged me hard and said goodbye, and was being strong. Which actually made me melt even more. I teared up more than once and just prayed and prayed for her to have an awesome week. And, she DID!!! She had such a wonderful week, and even though she said "her eyes watered two times", she met lots of new friends and had INCREDIBLE counselors and teachers who took amazing care of her. Now, when I picked her up on Saturday, she ran to my arms and just crumbled. She was sobbing so hard and smiling so big. And, all she could say was "I missed you, Mommy." Oh my goodness. My heart.

Now, Kendyll on the other hand, barely had time to say goodbye to me, or hello to me when I returned. She had things to do, people to see, places to go. I don't think she missed me for a minute (although she wrote me the sweetest note EVER!) and hit the ground running with all of her old friends, and the good group of girlfriends that came with her too.

What a great week they ALL had. I'm still hearing stories daily about their adventures.

I was a crying mess when I picked them up, between Carlie's tearful greeting, and listening to my amazing friend Dava Lynn, speak about what they learned that week in Bible class. They sang their songs and she talked about how THIS group of children is the Kingdom of God here on earth. I thought about my camp experiences and how much they shaped my spiritual faith. And, I'm just so thankful my girls get to be a part of something like this. So many people worked SO hard to make this week happen, and I'm so so thankful.

Well, I may not update this blog as often as I should, but when I do, I don't mess around! That was a month's worth of updates all wrapped in one!