Little girl...all grown up

Andrea had her graduation ceremony last night. They called it the "Moving on" Ceremony. I'm guessing because they just cross the street to the highschool for next year. Several students won't be back next year but most of Andrea's friends will start high school with her. Andrea came home on Friday and jumped in the shower. We did her hair and off we went. ( As an aside, Jess came home with a fever so she stayed home with one of our friends.)
Here is An, before the ceremony...note the expression. She did NOT want to be taking pictures, even though we were the first ones there and no one was there to see. But I like the dress, and she looks so pretty in it. I think this is the only photo of the whole thing.

Her friend Mikai showed up and we took a picture by the flowering vine.

Alexa volunteered to be a flag bearer for the ceremony. So, she was dressed up too.

Here is Joe and me mugging around waiting for the shibang to start.

Alexa placing the flag in it's thing.

Andrea is the second from the right in the back.

And the other side of the class.

There were 28 students in all. Each one gave a short speech. Then they gave out 5 awards dealing with citizenship. The recipients were all girls. Andrea says the boys are all slackers. The teachers had high praise for the entire class discussing how the kids were all interested in building community and how they were the first class to vote that 40 hours of community service should be a requirement for them for graduation. Listening to the speeches, you couldn't help but be proud of the kids and hopeful for all our futures.

They had each line stand in front as they went one by one handing out certificates and keys. Joe was in charge of the photo. It's not printable. So here is Andrea after she received her certificate.

And up close. The key is similar to the one Benjamin Franklin used when he discovered electrity. I like the symbolism...go forth and be a lightning rod, discover something amazing, imagine new inventions.

At the conclusion of the ceremony all the students gave their parents a bouquet of flowers.

It was a beautiful way to end the school year. I didn't even cry...although I did get choked up when the director asked the 9th grade to stand up. *sniff* My baby's in highschool.

When we arrived home, Jess's temp was up to 103.7. Thanks to Alexa, I knew where the hospital was. The clinics we've gone to are not open on Saturdays and we had party scheduled for noon so...better to go to the ER then. The doctor spoke spanish but we were able to convey the problems and he wrote a prescription for us. She's resting comfortably now. Hopefully she'll be right as rain by tomorrow, when Nick finally comes home. We've missed him terribly this week!

I'll post pictures from todays Graduation party later.

Love to all!
~Bren