Senior Dinner and Recognition Service

After the Senior Girls Kidnap Breakfast, or Operation B as I called it on my calendar, Rachel and I had a fun day of shopping and getting pedicures together and then we went home for a little siesta.  A few hours later, it was time to get ready for a Graduation Dinner at church. 

Rachel's youth minister fixed the most delicious fajitas for everyone.

and invited a special guest to be our speaker.  At the end, he asked us to surround our graduate and pray over them.  Mr. Incredible, Hannah, and I surrounded our precious Rachel and thanked the Lord over and over again for all that He has done in her life and we asked His blessing on her future knowing full well that He dreams big dreams over her life.  Mr. Incredible prayed and then it was my turn.  The tears began to flow as I reminded the Good Lord that Rachel's graduation day was a day that I had been dreading since the very first day of Kindergarten, it is so bittersweet. 

We once again placed our daughter in His hands knowing full well that as much as we love our daughter, her Heavenly Father somehow loves her even more....oh she is so dearly loved!  Hannah prayed the sweetest prayer for her sister and then it was time to close.  I think we were the last group still praying.

After the prayer, Rachel hugged us all and then told me that she felt every tear I cried because they landed on top of her sweet head....I didn't even realize it at the time.  I grabbed a much needed Kleenex and then it was time to take some pictures.

This is Rachel on the left with her best friend Caroline (they have been best friends since preschool days at First Baptist Church) and Kelby on the right:

Sweet, sweet friendship:

We headed home shortly after that to get ready for bed and for Sunday's Graduation Recognition Service.  This was proudly hung near the back door to grab on our way out the door to church:

Hannah and I watched as Caroline and Rachel got ready for the service.  We quickly found our seats just before the worship service started and then the congregation all stood as the graduates made their way down front:

Here they are, four different high schools represented in this group:

And of course the "besties":

This is Rachel and Hannah's youth minister Russell.  He and his family are such a blessing to our family and our church family:

And my girls:

Can you tell a difference between these two pictures?

In this last picture, Rachel had to stand on a step in order to be taller than her younger sister.  And true to Hannah's sweet self, she let her sister be taller just for a few minutes.....as she has always looked up to her big sister...what a blessing sisterhood is!