We had our first graduation open house of the year today. This year we will attend 5 of them. These kids were all preschoolers when I arrived here in Tiny Village. It's hard to believe that they are now graduating from high school. Around here graduation is a really big thing. For two of the five this year they will be in barns. They move the equipment out, pressure wash the floor, rent some tables and put out a feast. We were at the one tonight for a couple of hours, just sitting and talking. It got hot today, but it was cool in the barn. They had good food, and of course all the church people were there. It was an older crowd today. The graduate is developmentally handicapped and painfully shy. My goal is to get her to say one word to me anytime I see her. The past few weeks I've been asking her what the countdown is until she graduates.
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Her brother was saying she was really going to miss youth group-- that it's all she talks about at home. I'm glad she's enjoyed it so much. She never says anything at youth group, but she is always there, taking it in and smiling. As I've said before, we have a great group of kids, and they are so patient and loving with all of our special needs kids. It's wonderful to see the way they take care of them. The adult I work with on youth group told her she could keep coming next year. It will be interesting to see if she actually does.
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Daughter was running around talking to different people at the open house. Again, they are all so good to her. At one point she was ready to leave, but then she saw some people come in she wanted to talk to, and she was off to visit them. Next weekend we have open houses on Friday and Saturday, and then graduation is on Sunday. One of my kids will be giving a speech as salutatorian, so if it's not too hot, we'll go. This year they have a big class-- 67 are graduating. I suspect that means that graduation will last a little longer than usual. Two of the kids who are graduating this year were real challenges when they were young and I was working with them in an after school program we had. Both have grown up into fine young men.
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It has been such a blessing, watching these kids grow up. Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?
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