My Beautiful Firstborn (AMY)

Wow! My baby Amy (yes she's 18, but still my baby, just all grown up, graduated and ready to continue serving her Lord and Saviour) We just recently, May 2nd, celebrated her graduation at a C.H.E.C. ( Christian Home Educators of Colorado) graduation ceremony. I wanted to share with you all what I said at her graduation on behalf of Ann and myself.

Amy, in addition to your hard work on your academics, we (your mother and I) want you to know how grateful we are that.....
when your peers [ I guess the kids told me I pronounced this 'pears' with my Bahamian accent, so I hope the audience understood what I was sayng. :-) ] were out chasing their self-fulfillment, you, sweetheart, were working full-time with Daddy to help save our family's business. Thank you!
Amy, when your peers were out and about chasing the world, building worldly, non-Godly relationships, you were at home building Christ-centered relationships with your siblings. Thank you!
Amy, when your peers were on their computers chatting about last night's party, you were at home writing pro-life, anti-abortion blogs, boldly proclaiming Christ. In addition, you were at home on the computer making marketing flyers for Daddy; again, helping to try save our family's business. Thank you Amy!
Amy, [AND THIS WAS PROBABLY OUR MOST IMPORTANT THANK YOU TO HER] when all your peers were out seeking worldly fulfillment by finding boyfriends, you were content to keep yourself pure. You were at home being schooled, serving God, preparing yourself to one day be a Godly wife and mother, learning from Mommy, not the world, and being protected by me, your father. Thank you Amy!
Amy, your heart is in the right place. For these are right and good and pleasing to God. Your Mom and I and all your siblings are proud of you. Thank you, sweetheart, for all this. We love you!

Oh me oh my! It was so hard to fight back the tears. I ws so proud of my little baby Amy. Thank you God, for this bundle of joy. I like what someone at church told me the day after. He said, " If you think it was hard to fight back tears at a graduation, wait 'til you have to deal with her wedding." (His first daughter had just recently got married.)

Side Note: Men reading this. If you have a daughter, I would highly recommend reading What He Must Be If He Wants To Marry My Daughter - by Voddie Baucham Jr.. This is what Ann and I have always wanted for our girls (and how what we want our boys to be for their future spouse as well). This is how we have parented our childern. Voddie Baucham really puts it all together to make sense. Best parts of the book are on pages 46, 110 & 163. Now you have to go out and buy the book. The heart of the book is basically: How to walk our daughters through the process of finding, vetting, courting and marrying Mr. Right.

OK. Now, back to Amys graduation. It was a beautiful ceremony, and we look forward to at least eight more of them. We had a graduation party at the house afterwards. We served Bahamian-style food like Bahamian Rice, Conch Fritters (I forgot to put out the killer sauce), Lime Chicken, Baked Mac. And Cheese (Bahamian style) among other delicious victuals. I made some Guava Duff but forgot to put that out!

The CAKE!

I made the cake which was a collective effort by us all: Allison made the icing and I decorated it,
Ann and Amy put all the finishing touches on it with their floral arrangements, and Andrea

made the very detailed cake toppers out of clay. She made a graduation cap ( mortar board). The detail was amazing. She also crafted a desk, chair, lamp, Bible with a pencil sticking out of it, note paper with a pencil on it, and index cards. It was a work of art. Thanks Ann, Amy, Andrea and Allison.

Well, this was my first blog ever. You'd think I was 80-my first blog- shame on me for being so late to the computer age! Now I have to keep this up.

Blessings to all of you reading this.

I leave you with I Peter 5:8 and I Peter 3:15-17