Happy Apple Graduation

We had a big weekend this past weekend. We enjoyed the nice weather, which is good because now it's cold and rainy. We may even have a tropical storm come through mid-week. But, back to the weekend, it was great! On Friday night, we attended the Happy Appple graduation celebration. We were so proud of our little Mary Grace, who was awarded the "Tenderheart" award from her teacher. She did a great job standing up on the stage and waiting her turn to get her award and medal. She was the last one to go and, as one teacher told us, you know you're child's well-behaved when she's chosen to be the last one; that means the teacher trusts her to be patient and not afraid to be up there by herself! Her little class sang "The Lord's Army", which is one of our favorite songs at home. It was such a sweet celebration and we are so blessed to have such a loving, warm place for her to attend preschool. It's a little bittersweet, since this is the end of her first year at preschool, but we are excited to go back next year and for both girls to be in school together!
At first, I was a little sad and felt kind of sorry for our little family because, I thought, it was just us there for Mary Grace: no grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. But then I looked around the sanctuary and realized that we were not the only ones there for Mary Grace. Miss Julie was there and Blake even came and sat with us. He came just to see Mary Grace! I also realized that there we were in our home church sanctuary surrounded by people who love us and our children, even if they are not "family" in the truest sense of the word. And after awhile, it felt like home.