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Monday, May 19, 2014

The start of something new....

You know when time just totally gets away from you? Well, the last two months have done exactly that for me. I can't believe it has been over two months since I sat down to blog and some of you may have appreciated the break from the Bailey's. It hasn't been that I haven't thought about blogging because I totally love to go on and on about what we are up to.

Basically, I can compare the last two months to swimming in the ocean {not that I swim in the ocean because that would really mess up my hair but just pretend with me!}. You know how the waves just keep coming, just keep knocking you off your feet and you think the next one won't be that bad but then it comes and it knocks you over again? I don't have firsthand experience in this but I have seen it happen when I people watch from my tanning spot!

Well the last two months have brought many waves to our household and there have been a few times I have been knocked off my feet. In late February Brian and I began discussing the fact that I felt God really calling me to seminary. We had talked about this a few times over the last two years and I had done everything to escape the call except just saying one simple word: YES. So, in all of my excitement to finally walk in obedience I signed up to start classes at the end of March thinking the spring is usually my calmest time of the year and knowing I would be done with my first session before facing graduation. This is what I started with....



...and why I was even shocked that the devil would arrive shortly after this box of books is beyond me! My spring exploded into committee meetings, track meets, prom, changes at our beloved school and ultimately walking through graduation with our oldest child. I am the first to admit I could possibly have been overly ambitious with these first classes but I loved every bit of it, even the research papers and projects. However, I also learned too much is just too much and so I am going to slow down for the summer and take less classes.

Typically our kids participate in track as their spring sport and I love to go to the track meets mostly because they do bring back some old memories, like the fake knee injury I usually pulled around lap 6 of the 2 mile run. Kamdyn did really well this year in the shot put...


.... she placed first in the district and barely missed placing high enough at North State to qualify for State. Not bad for a freshman! Brendan also had a good final track season advancing all the way to the State track meet with his 4x800 relay team. They ended up 4th in the state, which was a great accomplishment!

Oh and then we had Prom, which deserves its very own post I am sure. I can't go without sharing at least one picture of the boys with their girls...






....which both looked absolutely gorgeous!

And somewhere in the middle of all of this I prepared for graduation and all that would come with it. We planned a senior picnic for the last day the class would be at school together, a senior dinner with seniors and their families, Sports Banquet, Senior Chapel, graduation parties and then the fun of invitations and going through pictures for slide shows.


 Sports Banquet





Senior Chapel - He was named Outstanding Student of his class

And it all happened faster than I could blink my eyes and here we were this past weekend watching our son graduate...




Giving the introduction for the guest speaker

It was such a special weekend with all of our family here in town to celebrate with us! Certainly this day deserves its own blog post in order to convey all the emotion that goes along with graduation but I wanted squeeze in how truly special this weekend was for our family! To have all of our family in town to celebrate with Brendan was such a blessing and it reminds me of how thankful I am for the family God placed me in. After all, not many grandmothers would take the time to make this kind of cake...

Pops, Brendan and Gran with money cake

....and even BUY an Alabama handkerchief to put it on! Brian and I have just been beyond blessed and certainly there will be more posts to follow of graduation pictures and party pictures and discussion of the emotion of your son leaving childhood behind right in front of your very eyes. 

So, just know I am back to the world of blogging Kasey! I have missed you all and can't wait to tell you more about the Bailey Bunch....