Graduations 2016

 Today was a beautiful day!!! Jeren and Ashlyn finished up their Kindergarten work and this evening we had a graduation ceremony for them. :)   I know that it might seem silly to some because we "only homeschool" and it's "just our family" but I wanted it to be something they will remember forever - graduating from Kindergarten and we had fun making it happen!   We found some caps and gowns in some of the drawers at the school and they were a perfect fit. :)  Jeren and Ashlyn could hardly wait to put them on and admired them every chance they got before they could wear them.

Finally the time came to put them on.....eeeeks!  They were nervous.

Jeren was so excited to be "graduating" and I was so happy for him that he was so excited!

My two babies growing way too fast!

Ashlyn Hope - 5 years old!

Jeren Kyle - 6 years old.

We skyped Grandma and Papa and the other Grandpa, so they got to be part of the graduation ceremony.   So thankful for technology!

Keith gave a little welcoming speech and the graduates were supposed to slowly walk in.....

But, no! They came skipping into the living room! :)

Kristyn prayed a beautiful little prayer over them asking God to bless their lives for His glory!

Owen and Megan led us in the pledges...

Ashlyn was so concerned about Jeren's tassel.   :)

Grandma gave a little speech and told how proud of them she was and for their hard work over the last 3 weeks that she has been their teacher.

Ugh - that tassel!!

Then they got ready to give their little speeches and songs...

They said the ABC song and Jesus Loves Me!

Keith gave a devotional about keeping what they've learned in their hearts and using it to serve Jesus better!

I got to hand out the diplomas!

So proud of my baby Ashlyn!!

Jeren was SO excited!!!

I love his hugs that squeeze me to death!

So proud of my Jeren-Man!

Turning their tassels!

The graduates and their teachers!

YAY!!!

Let the party begin!

I'm so thankful my mom was able to come down for 3 weeks to help us with homeschooling.  We did not do any schooling for the 8 weeks we were in language school, so we were a bit behind. Mom taught Jeren and Ashlyn for the last three weeks and I taught the bigger kids and we were able to get 1 1/2 months worth of work done in just these 3 weeks!  So thankful for God's help and strength!!!

Thanks for stopping by to check on us........

A L-O-T of Catching Up.....

Thank you for all the comments we got about our blog.  We never dreamed there were that many out there still following our blog.  I'm glad you're enjoying it and every once in a while, just drop a comment.  That makes it SO much easier and much more fun to post on here.

So here is what has been happening in our life the last few months......

The usual for April....mud!

 We got to meet some of our family and visit the Sights and Sounds Theater in Branson and see Jonah. 

We took our playhouse and chickens to Misty's where they are enjoying their new home. :)

Grandma and Papa got to be here for Easter. The next day Grandma and Grandpa came and we had an egg hunt before we started our trip to OH for IHC.  It was SO fun to all be together for a week.

 

 While at IHC we met with the EFM board and they approved us to serve under them as missionaries and they also approved KENYA as a brand new EFM mission field......what a HAPPY, HAPPY DAY that was!!!!!!  (for more of our story, you can visit our mission Facebook page - Keith Crystal Schaper)

  

May was Graduation and our sweet Megan graduated! 

 

We have some very special friends here at Troy that we will miss! 

The Grandma's and Papa got to come up for Graduation - so special!  

 

Awards Night was a special night!  We are so proud of our children for their hard work!!

 Mother's Day was a wonderful day. Keith fixed a turkey he had shot the day before - SOO yummy!!! 

 I squeezed in pictures of the kids.

This Miss was having difficulties with her pictures.....

 These boys are best friends! I love their pictures.  None of these were posed...they just love being together and making each other laugh.

 Our Little Man growing up too fast!

 Our sweet Young Lady

Our Bucket of JOY!!!

    

Our little Man-Cub!

 Aaaaaand the old Mom and Pops!! :D

 

Grandma helped us out with getting a Prayer Card picture...whew!! Glad that's behind us. :D  

More visits from Grandma which are always special and getting spoiled rotten by Mr. Ron!  He always brings goodies to clean-up day for camp.  He brings Twizzlers for straws and then they can eat their straw.....  Thank you for taking an interest in our kids, Ron.

 

 Okay, believe it or not, that's not even a tiny bit close to all the pictures, but I think I'm done for right now.  We are in an extremely busy time in our life, but I don't see it slowing down any time in the future months.  I will do my best to keep up as we go along.

Prayers are GREATLY appreicated!! Our blog is personal. Our FB page is mainly mission related, so I may not put certain things on that page.  Please pray that God will give us strength this summer - it will be very busy with MANY miles on the road. 

I hope to not wait so long to give an update again.  I REALLY, REALLY do like comments, just to know who is out there enjoying our pictures and interested in our life....that's not too much to ask, is it?  :)  

Thanks for hanging out with us!!!