Making the Dean's List

Elizabeth discovered yesterday that she made the Dean's List at school this year! While we are so proud of her academic accomplishments, she was a little disappointed. Why? Because her GPA came within .2 of making the President's List!

My Cute Chef-in-Training--and Her Amazing Food!

In her uniform!

Roasted Red Pepper soup garnished with basil and a toasted slice of homemade bread.

Green salad with cucumbers, carrots, walnuts, and a homemade dijon vinaigrette dressing.

Blue Cheese stuffed tenderloin with a balsamic vinegar glaze and blackberry butter, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. 

Chocolate Molton cake with white chocolate and raspberry sauces and fresh whipped cream.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

I really missed Elizabeth this weekend! Last night we went to our school's production of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. For the past four years, I've loved the weekend of the play. Costumes and makeup and kids hanging out at our house between the matinee and evening performances. From that freshman year "coup" of landing the part of Bloody Mary in South Pacific to last year's wonderful portrayal of Aunt March in Little Women, I had a ball watching Elizabeth and her friends perform.

At least this year I had a few ties to the cast. My niece Sarah was in the chorus, as was Nathan's girlfriend. Aaron's girlfriend had the lead role (Millie) and one of Elizabeth's good friends had the humorous supporting role, the kind Elizabeth often played. They did a great job. I loved it all. But it made me miss my drama girl!

Elizabeth in Africa

Just a few images of Elizabeth and her friends in Africa. This first is of Elizabeth and Ibrahim, a little boy she met four years ago, on her first trip. She has visited with him every year since.

This is Elizabeth with Pastor Mohammed's son, Saleem, who is 2. Apparently he follows his father everywhere!

This is Pastor Mohammed, a man who loves God and his people--and Elizabeth and Mrs. Read!

Elizabeth and her good friend Leah, who went for the first time this year.

This is Elizabeth's translator, Abucardo. He has been her translator on the past three trips.

She's Home

Elizabeth got home this afternoon. It was a long trip home and started with some confusion at the airport in Ghana because the computers for the airline were down. But they all made it on the plane, finally, and arrived here this afternoon. She had a great time, as usual, especially enjoying her time at two different orphanages and doing hut to hut evangelism in the villages. She gets a couple of days to recover, then she's off to work on Monday. I'll post some pictures soon.

And She's Off . . .

We got Elizabeth off to Ghana for the fourth time in four years. We're old hat at this now!

If you want to keep up with the team over there you can check out the mission team's blog. They'll arrive in Ghana tomorrow night and will be there through July 3.

CELEBRATE!

What an amazing day! A day of rejoicing, not a tear shed among us. We are so proud of our girl. So proud that she has made it through high school. So proud that she finished strong. So proud that she is excited about her future and ready for a new adventure. For those of you who couldn't be here, the following is a sampling of the day in pictures.

Elizabeth and the amazing graduation cake, made by the mother of another student at her school. It not only looked great, it tasted great!

Elizabeth with her good friends, Jordan, Lauren, and Jenna. They are all jun--oops, I mean seniors--so they will be staying behind to finish high school while she goes off to college. But I think there are already plans in the works for visiting Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth's memorabilia table at the reception at the school. She had quite a varied array of things to display from her growing up years.

Elizabeth with her diploma, with her senior picture on the screen in the background. This is the pose she chose for the yearbook, although I chose a more traditional picture for the one I sent to friends and family!

The happy graduate. Being on the school's Board of Trustees gave Jeff the privilege of handing the diploma to her. What a special moment. We are truly thankful for the young lady she has become and are excited to watch her grow up even more in the next few years. 

Over and Done

It's official. Her high school career is over and done. Her last class was yesterday. She turns in her last paper and project this morning. We still have a week until graduation, but she is finished. It's been an amazing ride--sometimes harrowing, sometimes smooth and peaceful, but always driving us to our knees in prayer. We are so proud of her, of who she is becoming. We can't wait to celebrate the actual event!

Off with her . . . Cast

The cast came off today. That was the good news. The bad news is that the doc said she still couldn't play basketball until he sees her again and makes sure the break is completely healed. (It's at 80% now.) Originally he said that would be two weeks. Then, when he heard the situation, that almost half her senior season of basketball would be over by then, he said he'd see her in 10 days and maybe he would release her to play then. That means she will miss two games next week but could hopefully be back by the third game. In the meantime, he said she could dribble and shoot, but without any contact from others. Those hands are important to her cooking career, so she needs to heed his advice!