Sunday, May 9, 2010

Project 365, Week 19

I'm just not feeling the photo love these days. Even when I make sure we have the camera with us, most of the time we still don't take any pictures. What's up with that?! But never fear! This week's Project 365 will not be lacking in photos, no it will not. Because as most of you know, my daughter graduated yesterday! And I'm totally stealing photos from her facebook to share with my little corner of the bloggy world :-)

This is not to say I don't have any photos of my own for the week. Just not many. Most of what I have are of houses and property we checked out during two separate drives to look at real estate. Not sure when, or even if, we'll be able to buy a place of our own but it doesn't hurt to look. Finding one place turned into quite an adventure that lasted 2 hours (the house was only 11 km from where we live but we got totally and completely lost trying to find it). Felt a little silly when we finally did get there, since it's barely 1 km off the highway.  Loved, loved, loved the setting by the river...
The house on this property has a foundation and a few walls but not much else. No windows, no roof, and half the walls are missing. But that setting... *sigh*  Location is everything, as they say in the real estate business. And this place is in a great location...except for what we need. It's too far out from where we're working to establish a church, and there's no public transport out that way, what with it being between two towns.

But on to a happier, MUCH HAPPIER, topic!

I'm sharing LOTS of photos from Tina's graduation and festivities, so just sit back and enjoy the tour :-)  First up is a photo of Tina with her brother and sister-in-law on Friday night at the Presidential Dessert.
Tina and Kyle:
Not sure what to call him. Boyfriend? Good friend? Anyway, they're spending a lot of time together these days and he helped make this weekend special with a number of extra touches, like making sure there were flower arrangements on the tables at the celebratory lunch on Saturday -- in red and white, the school colors.
How thoughtful is that?! And that's just one of the things he did.

Speaking of thoughtful, I mentioned the women who traveled down from Michigan for the graduation. One of them had to leave immediately after, in order to get back to Michigan for Hillsdale College's graduation. But Katie and Lois were able to stick around and have lunch with the crowd.
There was quite the group that descended on Cerulean's for sushi and bento boxes after graduation. Looks like they're enjoying it!
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Right after graduation Tina had some photos taken with special people, like her grandma:
And one of her best girlfriends and fellow graduates, Toni:
Lots of fun and great memories!

For those who asked, no there was no way to skype during the graduation nor were they doing live streaming like we hoped. BUT they did videotape it and Tina ordered the DVD for us!

Our son tried to take photos during the program but unfortunately a bald man was sitting directly in front of them and the camera flash kept bouncing off his shiny pate so none of those pictures came out. LOL  I do think we'll get more professional prints from the college.

And before I leave the subject of my daughter I wanted to share that she already has a job! They offered her the position on April 30th and she started work on Monday, the 3rd! She's the project coordinator for a large marketing campaign for her alma mater as they make some pretty big changes in their programs and what they offer. The college hired Brandpoet, who in turn hired Tina as the project coordinator. I'm sure I'll be blabbing on and on about some of the things she'll be doing in the coming months :-)  We're very proud of both her accomplishments in college AND for getting the new job!

She's been feeling rather overwhelmed, what with working her new job and her old one (two week notice will take her to the end of this coming week), with graduation in the middle, and an open house in Michigan next weekend. Once she gets through all of that and things calm down, she might start to breathe again. LOL

Breathing is not something I do much of on Saturday nights. I'm too busy laughing at our young people; they keep me in stitches and make it hard to breathe. We are blessed with a GREAT group of young men and women who are growing in the Lord, and having a good time doing it!
Have you ever tried to play ping pong with more than one paddle?!

After the ping pong tournament we sang. The youngest girl in our group had taken time this week to put our choruses together in little booklets. No more loose papers floating around and trying to find the right one.
Some of the kids are taking guitar lessons and learning the new choruses so they can accompany us as we sing.
We announced tonight an upcoming long weekend retreat at the house in Sta. Rosa and the kids are pretty excited! It looks like we'll have three couples and 15 kids going. I think we might end up feeling like the Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe :-)

This week we'll have our co-worker's two youngest daughters while they get away for a bit of a break. They've been doing all the paperwork and preparing to leave on furlough in July and it's just been nuts all they've had to do. I'll enjoy cooking for more than just us, and anticipate they'll get lots of fodder for their annual skit spoofing us. Honestly, those two girls have nailed me and Ivan and they're just hysterical when playing their (our) parts!

18 comments:

Skoots1moM said...

i so enjoyed your pics and hearing all about your stuff...
congrats, Tina! well done.
that property picture looks like a Van Gogh painting...absolutely gorgeous.
i'd like to meet your youth, they enjoy learning from ya'll

have a great week :)
tomorrow is senior day @ church and i'm sure i'll shed a few tears...can't believe all my 'babies' are grown.

JonMagic said...

Great post! The property looks very intriguing and I loved experiencing the graduation first and second hand :-) (btw, was very impressed by Kyle's attention to detail. +1 for Kyle, lol)...

Betty W said...

I´m so glad you at least get a DVD from the graduation. It will make you feel like you were there. I can hear/read how proud you are of your daughter. Congrats on her new job! That is such an accomplishment.
It sounds like you´re keeping busy with your youth and I´m sure that will keep you feeling young.

Mary said...

Congrats to Tina! As for having a job already: BRAVO! She must've wowed them in her college career for them to hire her right off the bat! She sounds like an amazing young woman; I know you're proud of her! Happy Mother's Day!

Cristina Elizabeth said...

Thanks for bragging on me mama :)
Love you SOOOOO much and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Lisa said...

Your daughter is so pretty and what a blessing to have a job! A man who thinks of the details...hmm...maybe a keeper. :)

Beautiful spot by the river. So peaceful!

Happy Mother's Day!

sara said...

yea for Tina!!! and wow, very cool about the job!! I know you and Ivan are so proud of her!

Happy Mother's day, my friend!

Willys and Elizabeth (Lizzie) said...

I love the picture of Tina and Grandma!

The Bug said...

I love to play ping pong, but I'm pretty sure that trying to play with more than one paddle is just asking for trouble LOL.

Congrats to Tina on the graduation & job. One more week of insanity & then she can settle into her new life. P.S. I love how her eyes disappear when she smiles.

Mari said...

You've got plenty of great pictures here, so don't worry about not feeling the camera love this week!
Congrats to Tina! This is a big accomplishment and better yet, to have a job already. Hopefully that video will come soon so you can see the graduation!

riTa Koch said...

I do not tire of seeing the lovely grad over and over :)
Youth making you laugh and growing in the LOrd--that is soooooooooo exciting! Do you understand them any better when they speak?
SR retreat will be soooooooooooo much fun!

RaD said...

Wow! Seems there are two very common themes in the 365 project lately, graduates and sports.

Congratulations to your recent graduate!

Tori said...

Congrats to Tina! (she is beautiful!) What a thoughtful "friend" taking care of the little touches and the sushi boxes are so fun.
Ping pong with more than one paddle...I'm not sure if that would help or hinder me. :)
Have a super week!!

Robin Lambright said...

What a proud mamma you must be!

Lots of graduation stuff going on this week!

Good luck on the real estate front! That property looked amazing!

Blessings for a great week.

Oh and just for the record I usually miss at least one day each week on my P365, this week I missed two!

Angie said...

Proud Mama! Thanks for sharing your daughter with us this week! She's lovely and I wish her well in her new job.

Thanks, Kim, for your sacrifice. To be in Argentina ministering to others and looking for a place to build a church can often mean you have to give up many things. I know your daughter is proud of you and I'm glad you'll be able to see the ceremony via DVD.

Thanks for stopping by...until next week.

Lhoyt said...

I'm so glad you're looking for a place of your own. Too bad SR is not close enough... you'd have a place already!!
Interesting how each child is different, but if allowed to excel in his/her own field, he/she can be a real source of joy and (hopefully righteous) pride!

Lavonda Pflug said...

Graduation is a time of mixed emotions. Everyone in your photos looked like they were happy and that life is good! You did a great job.

The Davidson Den said...

Oh, I'm with you!! The setting by the river?? BIG *sigh*!

Loved all the graduation pics. Your daughter is so beautiful. What a smile!

I also think that's one good-looking group of young kids you guys get to hang out with. How cool that they come fellowship regularly and are learning so much at the same time. Wonderful Kingdom stuff.