Graduation!

"Graduation" is such an exciting word. It brings to mind things like, accomplishment, success, hard work and much more. This may only be a 6th grade graduation, but for Kiley, this is huge! Kiley didn't have a "typical" start to school. My husband had just had life altering surgery after a life altering injury from a life altering accident. To say that the Moore household was in the midst of CHAOS when K started kindergarten would be an understatement! It didn't help that I was also having some serious health issues and underwent 4 surgeries in her first 7 months of school either. Add Kiley's shy demeanor to the mix and you get a rocky start to school. Along the way, K was surrounded by wonderful teachers, great friends, close family and supportive parents, which lead to extreme growth in her life. We are so proud of the young woman she has become.

Her last week of 6th grade was an adventurous week. Monday brought a softball game of 6th graders against the school staff. The staff won 24-12 (the closest the 6th graders have ever come to beating the staff). Tuesday held a pool party at Pitzer College and a feast fit for royalty! It was games in the park on Wednesday and finally the big day on Thursday......GRADUATION!!! Of course, it had to be the hottest day of the week and no "June Gloom" for this outdoor event. My parents, "Mamaw" and "Guga," were also there to cheer on Kiley. We all beamed with pride as we watched Kiley graduate. The biggest excitement of all came early in the ceremony when Kiley won the "President's Award of Academic Achievement." Of course, I would have preferred McCain's signature was on it as President instead of Obama, but it's still very exciting, none the less. We all applauded with joy over her achievement and I teared up at the memories of walking my sweet 5 year-old to her first day of kindergarten. How quickly 6th grade came and is now gone. K accomplished so much in her 7 years of elementary school, obstacles that many other students take for granted. It is K's determination and hard work that makes us so proud and caught the attention of her teachers that they would choose her for such an honored award. We LOVE you Kiley!!!

7 Years with Mrs. Colinco

Patti Colinco first approached me about Kiley joining a new Daisy Girl Scout Troop she was starting during the first week of kindergarten. With K being so shy and weary about making friends, I thought it would be a great opportunity for her. The troop started the next month with 12 girls. Little did I know then that this group would still be together 7 years later, with Patti still the DEVOTED leader. Even more astonishing, 10 of the 11 girls in the troop today have been in the troop for all 7 years!

These girls have done so much together, it just blows my mind when I think about it. They've gone to camp together, sold cookies, ice skated, swim parties, many trips to Raging Waters, dance classes, painting, community service, 4th of July parades.....the list goes on forever. It's been such a pleasure to me as a mother to watch these girls grow from tiny 5 year-olds to preteen 12 year-olds. They've learned to work out issues with each other (bound to happen with this many girls entering puberty!) and share their lives together.
I have no doubt in my mind that Patti Colinco is the only reason this troop stayed together so long. She is beyond AMAZING at what she does. She is the definition of patience and kindness. She just happens to be a teacher at the girls' school and both of my girls were fortunate enough to have her for their 2nd grade teacher. Although her family has gone through some tough times (the death of her mother after a battle with cancer, her father's heart attack and surgery and the death of her father-in-law) she has never neglected these girls. The woman should be declared a saint!

Recently, the girls participated in a "Culmination Ceremony" wrapping up their 7 years together under the guidance of Patti. It was a beautiful ceremony, honoring the girls that have gone from Daisy's to Brownies to Jr. Girl Scouts and now to Cadets. Patti will be passing the leadership baton over to Maia West, the mother of one of the girls, but she will ALWAYS be a huge part of all of our lives. To honor her, all the girls wrote a letter to Patti and I put them in a Shutterfly book along with 7 years of pictures and presented it to her along with gift cards to all her favorite stores. It was truly not enough to pay her back for the incredible dedication and impact she's had on the lives of these girls. I know Kiley and I will never forget her! I also believe Kiley is a well-adjusted, kind-hearted young woman because of Patti's influence on her life.

True Respect is Earned

Today, as I sat at the softball game of the 6th graders vs. the staff at the school, I just couldn't believe that my oldest daughter had only 3 days left in elementary school. In the fall she will be off to Jr. High. Where has the time gone? I can't believe she will soon be done with elementary school and that my younger daughter only has 2 years left! As I walked home from the game, all I could think about was blogging!

I actually have another blog. It's where I write to my daughters and a handful of other important young women in my life. It's not necessarily for them to read now, but for them to read later on in life. I use that blog to write my desires for them, the things I pray for them, my dreams for them and much more. Today, as I'm realizing just how old they are getting, I decided to write about marriage.

Here is just a little of what I wrote:

As I've mentioned before, I have been praying for your future spouses
since before you were born. I often wonder about them. Who are they? Do we
already know them? Are they living a good life or is life difficult for them?
Most of all, I pray that they are growing to be God honoring men. I pray that
they are growing to be fully devoted followers of Christ, just as I pray that
for you. I believe that if they are fully devoted to Christ, then they will
treat you like gold! The Bible is clear on how men should treat their wives,
therefore, they'll treat you as God intends a husband to treat his wife.

Recently I was reading Ephesians 5:22-30 and focused on verse
25, Paul says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave
Himself up for her." Husbands are to be equally respectful to their wives as
wives are to their husbands. Marriage is to be GOD CENTERED! A
marriage is set up to fail if God is not the center. With God as the
center, it won't always be easy, but it will be good. That's because God is
perfection and will bless your marriage if you honor Him.

What I'm about to say is extremely important! If you are
dating a young man and he is not living for Christ, run! If he pressures you
about anything, run! If he says the only way you can prove your love to him is
by sleeping with him, RUN FAST! A true, good man will TREASURE you and RESPECT
you. A true, good man wants nothing more than to meet you at the alter
completely cleansed and pure because he loves God and he loves you and wants to
honor you both.

I realize that's kind of deep for today, but it was on my heart and I'm committed to sharing my heart on my blog. :) Don't worry, my next couple posts will be much more light hearted and will include everything about the end of the school year. God bless you all!

San Diego Sunshine

We are currently on the road, coming home from a 4 day trip to San Diego. To say we love San Diego is a complete understatement. Personally, I could live there, but as much as John loves it, he prefers just to visit. We stayed at a “luxury” RV park in Mission Bay. There is nothing like full hook-ups and being right on the water! We did lots of bike riding (well, John only did a little since his knee isn’t 100% yet) and relaxing. The girls are on “contract” with school this week, so they did “school” each day.

The highlight of the trip for me was joining our friends, Derek and Christiana, in their ministry in San Diego. They are friends of ours that are missionaries in San Diego that minister to the homeless, broken and marginalized people in the community along with training other leaders in missions. We have been big supporters of them since they first answered God’s call for them to go. I helped a lot as they organized, raised support and transitioned into full time missions. We support them both prayerfully and financially and are so honored to be a part of their lives. They have 2 adorable daughters, a 2-year-old and a 2-month-old. I joined them Sunday evening for church, which they do in someone’s home with other people from their missions team. We enjoyed a delicious meal of soup, salad, homemade bread and pies. After the meal, we gathered around the living room as Derek lead us in worship with his guitar while others helped with percussion. No words can describe how uplifting it was to listen to Derek do what he does best. He is so talented! I always tell them that I’m their biggest fan (Christiana has a beautiful voice too!). In fact, they released a great CD a couple of years ago titled “We’ve Got the Victory.” (Please let me know if you would like a copy.) Back to the story, we also talked a lot about prayer and its importance and what it means to us. It was a great honor for me to join them and share in just a small part of what they’re doing in San Diego. Then on Tuesday, my entire family got to have lunch with their family at my favorite pizza place, Filippe’s Pizza Grotto, in Little Italy. It was a great time of fellowship, laughter and the best pizza ever, in my opinion.

As always, the trip went way too fast! Now we’re headed back to reality with more laundry to do and housework to catch up on, but at least we’re relaxed as we reenter the “real world.”

50 Years of Wedded Bliss

Last week marked 50 years of marriage for my in-laws, Jean and Roger. Fifty years of marriage certainly deserved a great celebration (especially since their marriage was able to survive 4 children, 4 rambunctious children I might add). Jean and Roger were introduced to each other in November 1959 by their close friends Paul and Carol. At the time, Jean was living a carefree life with some girlfriends on Coronado Island, working at a bank in the morning and hitting the beach, just a block from her house, in the afternoon. Roger was a young engineer working in San Diego. They were married March 25, 1960 attended by their best friends Paul and Carol. The Moore Girls

As a family, we decided the best way to celebrate their anniversary was a weekend trip to Coronado Island. Roger's brother, John, and his wife, Barbara, flew in from Oakland to join us on this trip. Sixteen of us in all stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado, probably the most beautiful hotel in the United States. We had such a great time exploring the island, playing on the beach, shopping and a whole lot of eating. We even walked by the house Jean lived in when she met Roger. A special treat included meeting Carol (aka "Aunt Carol") for the best pizza ever in Little Italy in San Diego. On Saturday evening, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean. We were seated against a window with an incredible view. The restaurant manager even had special menus made that said "Roger & Jean, Happy 50th Anniversary."

I'm so proud to be a part of the Moore family. They are such a fun, tight-knit family and it's such an honor and blessing to call them my family. Although the trip went way too quickly, it was an amazing trip and the memories of it will last forever. God bless you Jean and Roger and I pray we will be back in Coronado in 10 years to celebrate 60 years of marriage!

40 Looks Good on John

It may be a couple of weeks early, but due to my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary trip and Easter, John’s 40th birthday got celebrated early. John, not one for surprises or much attention at all, I knew that if I wanted him to ever talk to me again, a surprise party was out of the question. Instead, I convinced him that turning 40 did warrant some sort of gathering. He agreed to celebrating with family, then I added that he should have his closest friends there (I had to ease him into the whole party idea). So, on March 20th, our family and friends (50 of them, we do have a lot of family) gathered at John’s brother’s house for John’s 40th birthday bash. His brother, Bob, kept busy at the wood burning pizza oven making all kinds of yummy pizzas, our friend, Rick, manned the bbq with hamburgers and hotdogs, my mother, of course, played anyone she could get her hands on at ping pong, there were kids in the pool, teenagers playing Wii in the pool house and friends gathered around the pool table and the bbq/bar area. We also feasted on a delicious white cake with cheesecake filling that was decorated with a “capatilla” (you have to be from CCV to understand the humor with that). What a blast! It was such a treat to visit with close friends from all different stages of John’s life, some that we hadn’t seen in quite awhile. There were PLENTY of fun gifts: hair color, creams for all kinds of “old people” ailments, a “40 Sucks” sucker and many more. There were also special gifts, like the traditional poem that my father writes for all our birthdays. It was SO APPROPRIATE that John is still healing from knee surgery and was on a crutch for his 40th birthday (he graduated to 1 crutch instead of 2) and I decorated it with black ribbon. I also made a picture collage that included photos from many of the special moments in his life and put them in a large matted frame for everyone to write a message for John. It was a special day that we will remember for many, many years to come.

My Baby Girl is Growing Up

"Train a child in the way she should go, and when she is old she will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

Kiley is my first born and in what seems like a blink of my eye, she has grown from the precious little baby I held in my arms to a "preteen." I can hardly say her age without feeling the sadness of the rapidly passing time. Just a few months ago, she turned 12! Next year she will officially be a teenager and I will send her off to, dare I say it, Junior High.

I remember well when I found out I was pregnant with her. It was February 14, 1997....Valentines Day! After several days of being suspicious that I might be pregnant after trying just a short time, I took a pregnancy test. Positive! I was teaching elementary school at the time and it just so happened to be "Grandparents Day" at the school. I didn't want to tell John about the positive pregnancy test until after school, so I had to go to work and act like all was normal. Then it happened, one of the grandmothers of one of my students looked at me and walked over to me, grabbed my hand and told me I was glowing. "Are you pregnant?" I know my smile gave away my little secret. I made it through the work day and stopped at the Hallmark store on my way home. I purchased a Valentines card for a child to her father and I signed it "baby." We still have that card and I still remember the joy on John's face when he opened it and realized what it meant. We were overjoyed! God gave us the child that we had prayed for.

My pregnancy wasn't difficult, but it certainly wasn't easy. Kiley was insistent on arriving early. Thanks to modern medication and bed rest, she didn't make her arrival until God's perfect timing. It was a very difficult delivery, in fact the doctor predicted she, me or both of us would not have survived that delivery just 10 years earlier. She was our miracle. She wasn't an easy baby either. One word says it all: COLIC! Once she hit about 4 1/2 month, the colic began to disappear and the sweet, happy Kiley emerged. She was such a good baby once we got beyond the "C" word. Due to the difficult delivery, I was quite ill for a couple of months, which required extra help from Daddy. However, I don't think that would have made a difference, once she was stable after delivery, she gazed into her daddy's eyes and they were smitten with each other. Kiley warmed our hearts as we watched her grow from a baby to a toddler, then to a little girl and now into the young woman that she is. She is shy, fearful to take risks and loves to be close to her family. Her innocence and inner beauty are among the many reasons that we love her so much.

Along with her shyness comes difficulty in feeling comfortable in a group and please don't ever put all the attention on her. We know that this is just how she is and don't see it as a problem, but we still encourage her to take risks and step out of her comfort zone. She did that twice this month in just 1 week apart. First, she played the piano along side her friend playing the violin for the school's Talent Show. Then the following week, she stood in front of all the kids in her class and gave a 4 minute speech on Helen Keller. This may not sound like much to a parent of an extroverted child, but for Kiley, it's like conquering the Iron Man! We are so proud of her and love her willingness to try new things. On top of these 2 big milestones, she has also called and made visits to many of our friends and families to sell Girl Scout Cookies. Gone are the days of us making the calls and going to doors as she hides behind us. Our little baby is growing up and we couldn't be more proud of her. She is God's gift to us and we treasure every moment with her!