Adirondack Home

Kenny's Graduation

Kenny's graduation went very well. Our pastor did a fine job, he even printed up a small program for us.

We started out with a welcome and invocation, then prayer. Pastor presented Kenny with his diploma, read a letter from the board of regents. He turned the program over to us, and here is how it went.

Morgan presented Kenny with his graduation cap (a black baseball hat with Class of 2006 on it and a gold tassel) and he was given permission to wear it in the Sanctuary. Cate got up and read most of the text of OH THE PLACES YOU'LL GO by DR Suess.

~step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act~

And will you succeed? Yes! you will indeed! (98 3/4 percent guaranteed)!


After that, Ken and I got up and read aloud some messages from family that couldn't attend:

To My Nephew:
Congratulations on this day, for you have had a road traveled by you and only you to reach this point. When I think of you as my nephew I am reminded of a quite by poet and philosopher Kahlil Gibran

"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need."

"Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its subtleties, and its very atoms."

Best to you, my friend, you have an exciting adventurous life ahead of you, take it by full experiences and learn from everything you do. These will be the best times of your life, live within the moments and find happiness in all you do because tomorrow will be the beginning of a new lesson. I am very proud of you, continue to make us all proud.
Uncle Kevin and Aunt Danielle.

Congratulations Kenny on your graduation. God has blessed you and your gamily. I'm sure you will excel in the culinary world! Cousin Lori

Tell Kenny that we are very proud of him and wish him well in his coming endeavors
Fran and Uncle Bill

Mike Tracy and Olivia hope that Kenny follows his dreams and we know he will succeed in whatever endeavor he chooses!! Congrats Kenny!!!

God bless you Kenny. Congratulations. This is a big milestone in your life. Love and prayers from your Great Great Aunt Virginia.

Congratulations on your graduation, and I wish you all the best in whatever you do from here out with your life. For all you have accomplished for yourself I am proud to call you my great nephew. Uncle Dave.


Then it was our turn. Ken shook Kenny's hand and told him how proud he was of him and I started to read and choked right up. I wound up sobbing my way through this:

Kenny,
Your journey to this day has not been a smooth one for you. You have faced several struggles, your ADHD at first was a stone around your neck, it has made for some interesting learning moments, yet now it has become your springboard to success. Our decision to take you out of the public school system was not made lightly. The path we chose was full of bumps and potholes and yet here you are today, arrived at your graduation. Along the way we learned that home schooling can be frustrating, demanding, and exacting, and at the end of the day you still needed to hug your teacher goodnight. Homeschooling was however, the option that set you free. You were free to be the wildly imaginative young man. You could take a subject that interested you and explore it infinitely. There were moments when everything clicked and you zoomed along at a pace that was too fast for me. Your dad and I have watched you grow and mature, become more confident and self assured, and we have delighted in your laughter. We are proud of you for finding a way to keep moving forward when the obvious path was not an option for you.
So today you begin again. graduation day for you is another step in your lifelong commitment to learning. Your education is never ending. Kenny as you prepare to enter college and the culinary world please remember these things.
God is with you always.
Stay in His Word.
Find companions that are strong in their love for the Lord,
Faithfully serve Jesus by serving people.
Fix your eyes on the prize.
You are off to a great start, keep it up.
And your family is always here to cheer you on.
Congratulations we love you.


I looked at young Kenny and he looked so sad, he was holding back the tears ( he did a much better job that I did, I was just a mess.) We hugged and I got composed LOL.


Kenny stood up there and called Hannah up and gave her a bouquet of pretty flowers ( he didn't want her to feel left out of everything.) and then thanked everyone for their support, for coming to his graduation and then explained his future plans of college and opening a restaurant.

Pastor offered a prayer of Thanksgiving, and the Benediction and it was OVER!!!!

We went downstairs for Kenny's reception. I had the hall decorated with navy blue tablecloths, and a whole bunch of stuff that said class of 2006. We had I think eight different desserts for everyone to sample and it all tasted great. Kenny received some awesome gifts, including a chefs hat and an 18 piece professional knife set, along with financial support for college.

we finished up around 4pm and went home. In the mail was two college acceptance letters, one for Kenny, one for Cayti.

Dinner went extremely well and we all had a wonderful time catching up with family and friends.

Today Kenny is back to work at culinary class, oh and he is officially a ski instructor at West Mountain five days a week, and he has a girlfriend named Shawna who is just too cute, so he is on top of his world right now. LOL.

Untitled Comment

08:40, Tuesday, January 9, 2007 .. Posted by happymama

I don't know how you got through that, I am choked up just reading it! What a special family to give such a neat graduation ceremony!
Blessings, Rossie

I just notice on my message...

08:27, Sunday, February 11, 2007 .. Posted by Lori

\"gamily\"??? Did I actually type that? LOL