USNA Commissioning Week

We spent last week in Annapolis, Maryland at the USNA Commissioning celebration.  We are priviledged to be the parents of a 2011 USNA graduate.  We are priviledged as a nation to have an amazing group of young men and women wanting to serve our country. All of our service academies are awesome!   Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gave a wonderful and encouraging speech to those graduating and to those of us there for the graduates.  What a patriotic week to end with Memorial Day weekend.

From cook outs to award ceremonies....

To the Graduation Ball!

It does take a village to raise a child.  When I think back on the friends, teachers, coaches and family members that helped to raise our children I am so thankful for the loving support of each one of them.  We don't raise our kids alone.

Taylor with his JROTC Instructor from high school!

We are the proud parents!

.... but he gives his girl his hat and his heart!

This is a special Memorial Day for me for sure.  I am proud to be an American and proud to be from a family who has served and will continue to serve this great country. Thank you to all of our service men and women and their families!  Happy Memorial Day!

The End of the Beginning

My youngest is graduating from the United States Naval Academy on May 27, 2011.  The past four years have gone by so quickly!  We are very proud of him!  He will graduate with an aerospace engineering degree and is in the top 100 of his class.  What is interesting is that when choosing his service selection he chose Marine Ground... not what mama wanted to hear.

I will say that he has a strong faith and seeks guidance for his decisions.  I can't argue with God.  He feels that this is the path he is supposed to take.  He originally wanted to fly for the Navy but due to medical reasons he was not selected to do so.  In the four years that he has been at the academy he has been very impressed by the ethics of the Marines.  He also has found that he likes to be a leader.  So my aeorspace engineer is hoping to lead a group of Marines on the ground... in harms way.  So I am proud of him and scared to death for him!  I am thankful that he is a prayerful young man and I know that God has a plan for him... but the next five years will not be easy for mama!  Graduation week will not be easy for mama either... there will be lots of tears from this girl!

Taylor is the midshipman in the front.  He was the Company Commander last semester.  We all need to proud of these young men and women because they are amazing!   We have had several midshipmen at our home for holidays and weekends because we live close to the academy.  They have all been so polite, so interesting to talk to and just plain nice kids! They all work very hard at everything they do.

So I am blessed to have all three of my children graduate from college!  The end of the beginning for me too!