Seminary Graduation

This was yet another reminder that we have a child who will be leaving us soon.  For someone who has a rough time watching her kids grow up, all these experiences of Taylor's are just killing me.  Seriously, where has the time gone???  Not only do I remember all too well those days and nights of pacing the floor with Taylor as a colicky newborn, I also remember my OWN seminary graduation like it happened just a few years ago.  What in the world am I doing with a kid of my own being this old?  

We are so proud of Taylor though.  Getting through four years of seminary in Michigan is a lot different than the four years I went through in Utah.  Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot and grew from my seminary experience, but there it was built right into my school day.  There was no sacrificing sleep or extra time to complete it.  For Taylor, three of his seminary years were done in the new online program.  It was convenient in that he could pretty much log on anytime he wanted to get his assignments done (with the exception of the "live" class where the teacher would have a set time that everyone had to be on at the same time--usually at about 5:30 in the morning).  But it was not convenient in that the classes involved a lot of time--usually more than an hour long class and Taylor often had to let something else slide to get his seminary done.  Then when Albion High School merged with Marshall High School before Taylor's senior year, he was able to finally take the early morning seminary class at the church.  That, of course, meant getting up very early in the morning.  But he loved it.  He loved Sister Montross, the world's most amazing seminary teacher and he loved being able to have the extra fellowship with the youth in our branch.  It was a big challenge for us as well since it meant that Kalen had to make that drive over there every morning to get Taylor there every day--his sleep and our budget has suffered greatly.  But we know that it has been worth it for Taylor to participate in the program.  (And now we are trekking Kendall over every day who will be followed by the rest of the kids until Kaya graduates...)

Taylor, Sister Montross and the other Marshall Branch Seminary graduates.

During the Stake President's talk, he had Taylor and Ken (also from our branch) come up for an object lesson with this sword.  Which now, Taylor really wants to have.