GRADUATION

Our first child started kindergarten in 1987 in the OLD Red Rock building (with the caterpillar on the wall).  Our last child started kindergarten in 2003 in the new Red Rock building.  Things have certainly changed over the 29 years that we have had children in the Royal School District.  Our children have had some great teachers and principals.

Thank you to all who helped teach and instruct and encourage our children to learn and grow and progress through this life.  "It takes a village..."  or a community like ours.  THANK YOU!

Our final graduation - the finale
Anthony Keith Hebdon

It started with the National Anthem that Anthony participated in.

It was a nice ceremony, and then they walked the walk to receive their diplomas.

The sun was shining brightly, but it wasn't too miserable.  Maybe it felt normal or welcome to me because it was matching the feeling of my heart.

We had a nice weekend with a few members of our family visiting and enjoying each others company.

There was a lot of helping going on.  Mostly them helping me.  As has been the case for so many occasions throughout my life I have been the recipient of thoughtful service and kind deeds.  I thank you all for those tender moments that have touched and filled my heart ..., our hearts.

I'm not going to mention all of the things that took place this weekend, but I will show one thing that remains to brighten my day - a new top for my bird bath.  The old was cracked and broken.  The new is beautiful and ready to take on the sun and the wind and even the rain we had last night.  My parents gave this bird bath to us several years ago and we have loved it.  It has always been one of my favorite things in my yard.

Now, back to the graduate ...
Anthony is out of school and helping on the farm.
He has sent in his mission papers and hopes to receive his call in a couple weeks.
Where will he be heading next?  We will let you know when we find out.  There are some places that sound exciting and adventure filled, but we know that there is much more to a mission than that, so we will remember this - "I'll go where you want me to go!"

Today is an adventure in itself, as he is heading in to get his wisdom teeth removed.  Yip, number nine for that too.

Graduation!

Now the main event - GRADUATION!

The beginning of the evening - Mr. Ellis (HS Principal) and the high school band - do you see Anthony?  He is center of the three standing in the drum line.

Here she comes ...  BrittanyJo

The Class ... BJo is sitting in the second row, first person on this side.

Receiving her diploma (cover).  (Camera lady was in my way ..., Oh Bother!)

OUR GIRL ...

We love her!

We are going to miss her, but we are not going to think about that right now.  We have a few months before she heads off to BYU-Idaho ..., but it's a busy few months so I hope we get to have some time together.

By the way - the weather was wonderful so Terry was able to stay through to the end.  It was one of the best graduation events we have been to. 

Graduation Party!

We had a luncheon/dinner just before graduation and enjoyed the company - thanks to all who came to share in BrittanyJo's special occasion.  And we send a loving THANK YOU to all who helped with our preparations for this event and to those who checked in on us to see if there was something we needed.  We are so blessed to have such awesome family and friends ..., we truly are, and we know it and feel it.  It is because of family and friends that we were able to pull this off.  THANK YOU!


Here is the look ...  (pictures are from BJo's phone, Elaine's camera, Anthony's camera)
We set up our tent again - it is so fun to use - and here is the overall look.

 

The tables were fun to create.

 

 

The books were fun to create ...

Everything was fun to create ...

The tablecloths and bunting were created from vintage sheets I had purchased from thrift stores over the past couple years.

 

 

The bunting was fun to create too, but it took me all day to serge tablecloths and bunting edges and sew the bunting together.  I guess I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.  The cloths and bunting triangles were already cut and I thought it was going to take a few hours ..., it took a few more than a few hours.   I was pleased with the overall look when we got it completed, so I guess it was worth it.

 

 

 

 

THANKS to all who helped and attended! 

 

 

 

 

 WE LOVE YOU!

 

 



Wonderful Weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend!
Terry started with a few more red blood cells due to an extra transfusion on Thursday, so Friday was a pretty good day for him, though his energy was still low.  He was able to get around okay and be with family and friends on our only daughter's special graduation day.

I'll begin with the project we had in the front yard when I posted the last post.  

 

 

 Did you see the object or color behind Dana in that photo?  Here it is in finished form.

Some of our older boys will recognize this bike before it was this bright color.  It was a fun bike many years ago.   ;)

This was a favorite quote we found for BJo's graduation announcements and we had the perfect bike to create a centerpiece for graduation.  I posted this quote before on this blog, HERE.  I really like it!

 

 

I was planning on making this a longer post, but I'm out of time, so more about our weekend will have to come later.  Sorry!  There is more to come - another day another time ...

BMB and GRAD

Terry had a bone marrow biopsy at 8:00 Thursday morning and the dreaded procedure went quite well for what it is.   It was one of the easiest he's had, but remember that doesn't mean it was painless, just not as difficult as some have been.  That was a tender mercy!

We went straight from the biopsy to the third floor for a blood transfusion where Terry received a bag of platelets and two units of red blood cells.  We got out of there shortly after 5:00pm ..., happy to leave that bed and hard chair behind - two out of three days on those things makes a body ache too much. 

They took blood for labs, but we didn't get to see the results and they aren't on MyChart yet, so we don't know anything that way, except that his calcium levels continue to drop.  That's strange and curious at the same time.  It doesn't seem to be alarming, just something I've been noticing the last few weeks.


When we got home we had some special visitors - my mom and dad were here!   It was really good to see them!

My dad had a project in mind, which was working on the swings, but he quickly switched gears and helped Anthony fix a broken lawn mower.  (Actually, I was instructed to go to bed, so I'm not sure if they got it working last night or not. If you see the lawn mowed when you come today for BJo's grad luncheon/dinner then you'll know it got fixed.  If it's still tall grass then you'll know we might be in the market for a new part or a new lawn mower.  :)

 

 We had another project in the front yard ... but you'll have to wait to see what it is.

 

Now ... on to graduation!      Today is the day!  
BJo will officially be a high school graduate by the end of the night.  Where has the time gone?

This is the view I had at the kitchen window this morning, welcoming the new day!  It was beautiful.  We are hoping for beautiful weather tonight!

Graduation

Skyler graduated from BYU-I this last weekend.

His major was in chemistry.

 

Terry and I were able to attend, but after making sure I took my camera with me on the trip, I left it in the motel.  There was just so much going on ... Oh Bother!

 

However, I did steal a few photos from Skyler and Lisa's blog

(where you will find a few more)

 

Here he is receiving his diploma cover! 

Don't ya just love how they receive only the cover at graduations!  ;)  It was really cute how they made it a fun moment at this departments Convocation Ceremony, as they announced how exciting it was going to be for each of these students who had spent 4 to 6 or even 7 years to arrive at this special moment of receiving their diploma cover.   (Diplomas will be mailed of course.)

 

 

Here is Skyler and his sweetheart, Lisa

 

 

Now, Skyler and his parents ..., us!

 

 

Graduations always seem long to me, and when there is a Commencement and a Convocation ceremony on the same evening it makes for a long evening.  But, there were wonderful messages given and beautiful musical presentations that have touched our hearts and minds.

 

I'll share a very shortened version with you as I highlight a few of my favorite parts.  They were excellent messages, but I will not expound on them.  Part of what makes a message so special is how each one receives it, so hopefully you can each receive something personal as you read these short quotes.

 

- "In all thy getting get understanding" and "lean not unto thine own understanding but trust in the Lord"   (two scriptures that fit so well together)

 

- "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it" (quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

- "How we react to our failures can be more important than how we react to our successes"

 

There was a beautiful musical number that touched my heart so deeply.  It was "Come thou Fount", sung by a friend of Skyler's, Parker Crandall (also in chemistry), accompanied on the piano by Lindsey Pruden (also in chemistry) and another special addition of a cellist (I don't have his name) - it was amazingly beautiful. Very well done - couldn't have been better ..., well, unless I'd have taped it.  The next photo (from Lisa) is of this trio (the three most left persons on the stage).

 

 

Now, here comes the news that really gives me mixed emotions. 

I love that Skyler is following his dream and desire, going on to grad school and furthering his education ..., I should stop there, because that is really great,

..., but it's so far away! 

They will be heading out to the University of Oklahoma sometime the middle of next month. They are looking forward to it with great excitement. 

My excitement is wavering - sometimes I'm very excited for them and other times I get overpowered with selfish feelings and wish they could be closer.  I guess those are the times when I will "lean not unto mine own understanding, but trust in the Lord".  I am so grateful for the Lord, and that He allows us, even invites us, to lean on Him!

 

Lucky for us they are here in Royal and Moses Lake visiting for the week.  We'll post pictures sometime this week when we get them (I did bring my camera home).

 

We know Skyler will do great with his ongoing schooling, and are proud of his accomplishments thus far.  Oh, I'd better mention - he got an award at their Chemistry dpt luncheon for most Outstanding Overall Performance.  There were a couple other awards given and the professors had a hard time choosing who to give those to, but when it came to this award, there was no question who should receive it.  (just a little Proud Parent Moment!)

 

Happy Graduation!

Connor has graduated!

Congratulations!

He will stick around for awhile, but plans on college in January.


















Here is a collage of pictures of the luncheon we had before graduation. 

(Graduation photos will have to come later!)

Did You Know?

I haven't done so well at blogging and feel the need to inform you of a few things I might have neglected to share:


DID YOU KNOW that Chase is the RHS assistant tennis coach.
He is really looking forward to a great mission. Did you see that post earlier? He's goin' to Reno!




DID YOU KNOW that BJo is statistician for girls softball. She likes that, but would probably rather be going to stake dances or conferences.





DID YOU KNOW that we have been doing some moving and cleaning, and cleaning and moving lately. We (finally) got Keith and Idris' home cleaned. DID YOU KNOW that Thomas and Dana have moved their family into that home. (FYI - did you know that as per dad/Keith's request, we bought that home after he passed away.)
DID YOU KNOW that Michael and Tawnee just arrived today. They are back to Royal for a few months - going to live in our "log cabin" home that Thomas and Dana moved out of.

DID YOU KNOW that Skyler and Lisa are anxiously ... wait, we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of their daughter - next week hopefully. DID YOU KNOW that Lisa just graduated from college. Skyler is continuing his schooling at BYU-I.
DID YOU KNOW that Gregory & Adena are due in May and Brandon & Megan are expecting a baby in June.



DID YOU KNOW that Connor is graduating from RHS in ... oh wow! ... he has less than 2 months.
He is working after school at 21st Century.








DID YOU KNOW that Anthony has been helping his dad after school for several hours changing water and digging corrugates. It's been a great help. Terry has been trying to fix the lawn mower for the last couple weeks and he's done it! So, today Anthony got to mow the lawn. YEA!




DID YOU KNOW that today, April 21st is supposed to be a celebration day???? Yip! Today is T-731 ... though really, we've stopped counting. Two years ago today Terry got his stem cell transplant. We wish we could say that we are celebrating a "new birth" on this day, but the only way that will happen is if one of our children has a baby today. Transplant was not a success, so we'll have to find success some other way, place, time, etc.





There is probably something I forgot to mention...,
but mostly want to say that we believe ...


(FYI - all visuals are from google or HERE)

We are at day 45 today!

First, we apologize for not posting about being able to go home for graduation before we left. We are so sorry! We intended to, but when we got the call we just got ready and left without posting about it. We were told that Terry's lab work looked good, and we were free to go for the night, and to enjoy graduation. There wasn't anything more we needed to hear. We didn't even find out the numbers/blood counts. We just left. The escape plan was already in place, so it didn't take us long. We did call home to let them know, but that was once we were on our way because the phone was busy when we tried the first time.

We got home about 1:30 and had a wonderful day. Adena had planned and prepared a great meal - one of Chase's favorites. There were many others who helped her, even with cleaning. Thank you Ellen, Shawna, Idris, Shelly, Marla, Dana, Ariel, BrittanyJo and anyone else that helped. I shouldn't have started giving names, because I don't want to forget anyone, and there may be some that I'm not even aware of. Thanks to all.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for dinner and graduation, and thanks to everyone that helped make Chase's day a great day. We got to see a few of his gifts last night and this morning, and they are pretty awesome. Thanks for all of those too! We are certainly aware of all of the kindnesses shown our family and to Chase personally. Thank you! In fact, he mentioned this morning that he should do this more often, cause he made more money for graduation than he did in a full weeks work. I guess this was really 13 years of hard work. :)

Here is Chase and his great friend, Ryan.

It was a good feeling to drive down highway 26 again and to turn into our yard and then to walk into our house. We enjoyed being home and visiting with family and friends, and we were so glad to be with Chase at graduation. We didn't have the best seats in the house, but we were in out of the wind and cold (until we got out to give him a hug). Thanks again to all who helped make his day special, for the love and attention, and the gifts, and the photos, etc.

We visited a bit more this morning before we left, and finally pulled ourselves away. We really do like being parents and having such wonderful children. We feel the desire to be there with those that are still at home, who still need parents to teach, love, and support them daily. We want to be there with them. We recognize the difficulty in this separation, but we are so grateful that it is temporary and that it will provide for us all, a better way - a quality of life that we haven't enjoyed for awhile now.

We also recognize the difficulty in stepping in and taking responsibility for the family, and we are grateful for the willingness (and availability) of those doing that. We really love our family. We have gone from 2 to 19 (counting the two that will join our family in August).

We knew we needed to get back to SCCA and continue to take care of Terry's health and get his hydration for the day. It was a tricky escape for us and we enjoyed it, though we worried about it. Things turned out well though. The traveling was even pretty good. Traffic got worse the closer to Seattle / SCCA we got, but it was a fairly easy drive this time.

We were experiencing a lot of different feelings during the last couple days, but probably the strangest feeling was after we stopped at the clinic for Terry's hydration and then started back to the apartment. It actually felt good to be back. I guess we knew we are where we are supposed to be at this time. There was a feeling of comfort and peace. We were so worried that we were going to get too cold or somehow cause a problem. We tried to be so careful, not wanting to undo or set back what we have worked so hard for for the last 2 months. We do remember signing the papers promising to do as our doctors instruct and require of us and staying within the limits they set. Even though we were given permission, we were still taking a chance that was concerning. We continue to pray for good reports and no ill effects of this trip.

We also continue to pray for our family - each person, individually. We know that our Heavenly Father is aware of you. He loves you. Remember Him. Remember to pray. He will help you through it all. and Be happy!

Coming up!

Chase will graduate this Friday! WOW! 8:00 pm at the RHS football field.
He has had a full week already as he was asked to speak at seminary graduation Sunday night and also for baccalaureate Monday night. We have heard good reports about each. Suppose we better ask if he has to do something for Friday, but we're just assuming not.
We do however, have plans for a graduation dinner at 5:00 that evening, to help celebrate this special event with him.
We hope to be there, but will not know until after our appointment tomorrow (at the earliest). If you would like to join the family, with :) or without :( us, then please let us know ASAP so we can plan accordingly. (To do so you may comment to this post, send us an email, or give us or the kids at our house a call.) We hope to see you! If we do not, then please celebrate for us! We'll do our own here in some way. They do not usually allow people to leave in the middle of their treatment, but are considering special exceptions for us.
Special thanks to Adena for the help she is giving us with this and with everything in general!

WHAT HAPPENED?

Much has happened this past week, and without time to post each separately. Sorry it is such a long post. (I can't just leave it out!)

HEALTH:
Terry had a doctor visit Monday, a CAT scan Tuesday, and another doctor visit Wednesday. The report is that he starts a new chemo treatment Monday the 15th of Dec. This set of treatments is called fludarabine, will be given once a day for five days in a row, every 4 weeks, for about 6 rotations. They say that this should be easier on him than the last chemo he had, so we are anxious to find out if that is the case. Each treatment should take no more than an hour, where the last kind took him anywhere from 9 hours to about 5 hours each. We will have to drive every day for this kind, and that isn't too exciting if there is snow. These treatments can be done in Wenatchee or in Moses Lake, depending upon our request and their availability at the time. Moses Lake is more limited, with only 3 chairs, but Wenatchee has at least 18. Nothing new about the stem cell transplant, except that we plan to have a consultation set up for sometime this spring.

WOW!
Elaine got her hair cut. Not too newsworthy, because the style didn't change too much, but it is quite a change since she got about 12 inches taken off. It still lays slightly over or at the shoulder, and used to be to her waist.

TRAVEL / COLLEGE / COUNSEL / FAMILY:
We left for Rexburg after school Thursday, spent the night in Ontario, and went the rest of the way Friday. Friday night we attended BYU-I graduation. It was very satisfying to have our children there among the graduates. Megan - Political Science, and Brandon - Construction Management/Architecture? Megan is done, Brandon will continue until Spring. The ceremony was beautiful, not in decor, but in Spirit. Such wonderful advice was given, I had to write it down. I'll share just a bit here, cause it's important for us all, and I want to remember it.

President Clark - 1. Do not let the world get into your heart, pay a full tithe and a generous fast offerings..., 2. Always accept and always magnify callings, and always volunteer (be the first to say "Here am I, send me!")...., 3. Keep the Spirit with you, don't drive it away.... You have a marvelous destiny.

President Uchtdorf - Don't be guided by your fears, be guided by the Lord. 1. Draw near unto Him. You need Him, He wants to help you..., 2. Continue learning, by study and by faith..., 3. Organize yourselves and prepare every needful thing. Establish a house of order.... Establish divine priorities. Never compromise your devotion to the Lord. Eliminate all unessential. You sow what you reap. Make your life an eternal success story. You have the potential to raise a righteous, eternal posterity. You can do this. GO FORWARD AND BE GOOD!

I really enjoyed the graduation and the goodness that we felt there.
Equally satisfying was the fact that we saw family. Of course, we saw Brandon and Megan. Gregory and Adena and their kids came too, so we enjoyed being with them for a short while before they move to Blythe, California the end of this month. We were able to meet more of Megan's family and see her parents again. And, we got to visit with Bryan and Sherri and their children for about an hour before heading home. Family is where it's at! Another thing they said at graduation was - don't focus on money, family is most important! We agree!

We left Rexburg Saturday afternoon because of the snow storms, but got out of the snow about a couple hours or so out of Idaho Falls. We had good roads then the rest of the day, and stopped at Mountain Home for the night. It snowed that night and we had snowy roads all the way to our home, taking us about and hour and a half longer than normal to get here, but we had no problems of our own, though we saw a few other vehicles with some issues. It was a great visit, and we are glad we were able to go, but we are happy to be in the comfort and warmth and safety of our own home.

PATRIARCHS:
Elaine's father has been released from the Stake Presidency in Longview, and is now called as the Stake Patriarch. This has brought with it a great feeling, one almost of rejoicing. It is so satisfying to know that our father / grandfather is worthy and willing to accept such a responsibility. We know that our Heavenly Father loves him and trusts him to fulfil this calling well. We too, know that he will. This call makes us want to be a bit better, and someone that he can be pleased to call his daughter, his son, his grandchild. We are certainly pleased to call him our father / grandfather. We do not want to tarnish his name. We love him. We hope to rise to the occasion, and we ask for forgiveness for our weaknesses and short comings.
Now, equally important is our mother / grandmother who is at his side and supporting him in this new responsibility, just as she has been for over 50 years now. Much will be required of her with this calling, and we know that she will be an angel at his side, still.

GREETINGS:
We are loving the Christmas greetings that have been sent our way. We are finding a few more family and friends with blogs and are enjoying checking in on them occasionally. Blogging is awesome! It is one of my favorite ways to send and receive greetings, even if it is somewhat limited in audience. I don't require much for an audience :) It's probably best to have only a few :) And, it only has to be viewed by those who want to view it. Our newsletter this year was quite simple and not so informative of what happened for the year, but we have been blogging for most of the year now and hope that others can keep updated thru that venue. We do enjoy sending Christmas greetings, and hope that our newsletter did or does accomplish that.

FRIENDS:
We were happy to attend Jake and Portia's ward last week for Conner's blessing. We are so excited for their family. We went to their house for lunch after church and found a pleasant surprise. As we were all introducing ourselves a familiar name was said, one that is not very common, so it tugged on Elaine's heart and reminded her of a good friend in school - all twelve or thirteen years of school. It was the same name, and surprise - even the same person - Dee Dee was there with her husband and couple children. What a welcome reunion it was. She is still a wonderful person (of course), and she has a great family. We hope that life continues to treat them well.

Michael has graduated!

Graduation this year was held outside in the wind and the cold. We did survive and Michael did graduate.
The other kids are finally all out of school too. The Summer vacation has begun, but we have not filled it with any fun yet. We'll see what it brings (other than work).