So Many Blessings!

We often take for granted the many blessings we receive.  This past week, our family was shown how blessed we are in several different ways.  Jack and I are so lucky to have Lindsey as our daughter.  She is always showing us what a beautiful person she is, inside and out.  Sometimes, we are lucky enough to find out that other people agree.

The Miss Bixby pageant was Saturday, April 7th.  She may not have been the winner or a runner-up, but I was so tremendously proud of her for competing.  She looked beautiful, walked the stage with confidence and presented herself well.  She danced with amazing grace to a dance she choreographed to the Lord's Prayer in Swahili.  She had the tough spot of being Contestant #1 in all categories.  Her goal was to not embarrass herself and I can honestly say she met that goal and more!  She had her own cheering section of  friends supporting her.  Here is a picture of us and her fans after the pageant.

That night was not the only night that week that Lindsey would cross the stage at the BHS auditorium.  Bixby schools has a foundation that provides grants to teachers and scholarships to the seniors.  The Bixby Educational Endowment Foundation presented the grants and scholarships on Tuesday.  At the awards presentation, the National Honor Society handed out the NHS cords for graduation.  The Bixby Optimist Club also handed out awards to the top 25 leaders in the senior class at BHS.  So, she got to walk the stage twice before they even got to the scholarships.  The B.E.E.F handed out 30 scholarships that night totaling $76,500.  30 different students were awarded scholarship money for college.  Many of the scholarships are need based, many are designated for students with lower GPAs, many are based on the area to be studied in college and many are based on essays.  They want to make sure all graduates have the chance to be awarded a scholarship.  Lindsey was blessed with a memorial scholarship for a 2005 BHS graduate, Margo O'Mealey.  Margo was killed by a drunk driver last year.  Her co-workers from the Miko Group set up the scholarship in her memory and her mother presented it to Lindsey.  It was very emotional.  So, she crossed the stage at the high school 4 times that week and I was proud of her every time!

Earlier that same day, Lindsey received notification that she has been selected for the OSU President's Leadership Class for next year!  This honor also came with a scholarship.  125 students from the incoming Freshman class are chosen for PLC based on their applications.  We are so proud of her!

The next day, she was called into the Principal's office, but she wasn't in trouble.  He told her that she is one of the Salutatorians of her graduating class.  Once again, we are so proud!

So many blessings in one week!  Not once has she ever let us down and this week we were reminded that other people see great things in her too.  We can only hope blessings like these continue to surround her as she leaves the nest to fly towards her dreams!

System Overload

Too much has happened in the past couple of days.  My system is overloaded!

Saturday was Greek Discovery Day at OSU in Stillwater.  Anyone interested in a fraternity or sorority at OSU was invited to attend.  There were meetings for everyone and then for the parents and the kids got to tour all the houses.  It was just like the first party day of Rush.  Sorry, it is now called Recruitment (that probably showed my age!).  So they got to talk to someone at 6 of the houses and toured the other 6.  It was a great experience for everyone.  It really brought me back to my college days.  Many memories of how much fun college was and how much I loved being in a sorority.  After Greek Discovery Day was over, we high-tailed it back to Tulsa for a BBQ with the Bixby Optimist Club and the Miss Bixby contestants.  It was a long, fun-filled, busy day.

Sunday did not prove to be any less busy.  The Senior Pastor at our church, Tom Harrison, holds a bible study for the seniors each year.  He wanted to introduce the congregation to his seniors.  They each got to tell what they loved most about their Spring Break Mission Trip to Guatemala.  I was proud of all of them as they spoke in front of hundreds of people.  Each one told of a different memory and were able to let everyone know what a great experience they had.  After church we were off to senior pictures for the dance studio.  Miss Shelly does an amazing slide show of all the seniors and they took some beautiful pictures as you can see.  Straight from the pictures, I went to a Gradfest meeting.  It is nice to know they kids will have somewhere to go after graduation that is safe and fun!

Monday was not as busy, but was a very important day.  The girls had their "appointment" to select their dorm room.  Their appointment was on the first day that incoming freshman could choose.  So, how hard can it be?  Now, for those of you that have not had this opportunity, there are many more choices than we had back in our day.  There are traditional dorm rooms, suites and apartments to choose from. They had already chosen their roommates, but this appointment was to pick their actual room.  Should be an easy task, go on-line and select your room.  Well, at least it sounded easy.  Lindsey's roommate was doing the actual selection since she was still in class.  It started off with the website being down.  After a few phone calls and some waiting, she finally got in.  Of course, none of the dorms they wanted were available.  I was on the phone with her mother while they were on-line.  After some tears, we worked together and the girls ended up with a pretty decent room.  I call it a room, it is actually a "Deluxe Suite".  They each have their own bedroom.  They share a bathroom and have a living room.  There is room for a dorm refrigerator and a microwave.  The way I see it, they will be living the "high life"!

So, that was just 3 days in our crazy, senior year life!  System overload!  The Miss Bixby pageant is this Saturday.  Wish her luck!