Virtual Graduation Celebration! FReeper kids are heroes!

Vanity ^ | August 28, 2009 | Tax-chick

[fanfan]

One needs broad shoulders to carry the weight of the world. ;-)

[fanfan]

Good plan.

Is he doing OK?

[Tax-chick]

I’ll measure my wrist and add some for JoLynn, who’s a large lady. Elen and Sally are little, of course.

Just off the phone with Anoreth and DP. They’re going to do a bus tour of Philadelphia tomorrow with my parents, brother and sister-in-law. I’m sure the historic sites haven’t changed since I was there in my early ‘teens.

I’ll be off to bed with Frank shortly. He’s listening to music with Tom and watching Tom post on some site devoted to dragon-things.

[Tax-chick]

Forgot to ping y’all!

[Moose4]

Anoreth, congratulations! The lovely and gracious Foxfire4 and I knew you were headed for something special from the first time we met you and the entire Tax-chick brood at Festival in the Park in 2003 (or was it 2004?).

Good luck onboard the Mellon! If you make it up to the Bering Sea, maybe you can get Sig Hansen’s autograph or something. :)

}:-)4

[Tax-chick]

It was 2003, because I was expecting James, and we were living in the apartment in south Charlotte.

How is the lovely Foxfire4? Does she have a catalog? The little girls are Girly and love jewelry.

[Moose4]

Try http://foxfirebeads.etsy.com; not much up there now but I can ask her to list some more stuff. We had things up there earlier in the year and got a couple sales from it, not a whole lot. We lost our website a couple years ago when I forgot to re-register the domain name and somebody nabbed it the day it came open.

}:-)4

[Tax-chick]

You’re right, that’s not much! Is she going to do the Christmas Made in the South show this year?

[AnAmericanMother]

Just dropping in before bedtime -- we came dragging in here late after picking up the dogs halfway across the state from where we came in . . . and then DH wanted to stop at a store in Perry GA that was reputed to have primers cheap (they DID!) . . . but here are a couple of pics from the Graduation:

The Band. These guys were good - I mean really, really good. DH used to be in a top competition level high school marching band, and his mouth was hanging open in awe. The piccolo solo in "Stars and Stripes Forever" was a virtuoso performance, and they did get a laugh when they did a jazzy slow march to "Nothing Could be Finer Than to Be in Carolina" - absolute precision of course.

The Colors.

The brand new "Skeeter Wing" (PFC). Note expert Rifleman badge - he was very disappointed not to get High Rifle in his platoon - he scored 299 and a fellow platoon member got the magic 300!

The proud family - Da Boy, my dad, me, and my mom, minus DH who's taking the pic.

[Tax-chick]

My goodness, AAM, I thought that was your daughter in the blue frock! (I have that hat, too ;-).

What a sharp-looking young Marine!

My family will be home, with pictures, around suppertime tonight.

[Tax-chick]

Post 89, pics of USMC graduation on Friday.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Woo hoo! Beautiful pictures, beautiful day. You have much to swell the maternal heart. God has given us moms such great gifts in our awesome offspring :o) Te Deum...

[AnAmericanMother]

LOL! My daughter is taller and MUCH slimmer than I!

Unfortunately, it was her first week of classes at college and so she missed the grad.

Here are the rest of the pics:

This nice lady appeared before the ceremony began, hawking copies of a DVD of the ceremony (to be shipped later)! Naturally we were suckers and bit.

The band presented a pregame concert (you can see the six platoons of Lima Company waiting over there in the background on the edge of the parade deck).

The "Marines Make Men", but they aren't so good with dogs. "Hummer", Lima Company mascot, refused to sit and had to get the 'thumb on the spine' treatment . . . .

Here they come! PLT 3064 marches on.

Dressing the ranks.

The march past - the band, followed by Da Boy's platoon.
The DIs presenting the recruits.

I posted this because I has a question (I always has a question). Maybe a Marine can answer this one -- all the DIs marched (and some of them stand) like they were leaning back against a wall. It's obviously an intentional posture, but when they're marching it makes their hips slink, and I'm sure THAT's not intentional. DH says it's so their hat brims will be level with the ground. Huh?

The platoon guidons are presented to the commander to be retired.

That welcome word: "DIS-miss!"

Post-graduation celebration at a local eatery . . . the guy in uniform is Da Boy's Navy Sea Cadet CO, who drove all the way over from Atlanta with his XO (in the blue shirt) and a bunch of the cadets to see Da Boy graduate.

The 'stunned mullet' picture. "You want me to take that hill?"

[21twelve]

Congratulations to all of you. I’ve posted the following a few times before. Hopefully your children’s suffering will be limited to being away from his loved ones, MRE’s, and some sand in too many spots. Godspeed.

The following was originally printed in a daily devotional that my Mom gave to my Dad as he was shipped off on a minesweeper to the Pacific in WW II. The book is called “Strength for Service to God and Country”. This devotional was for SEPTEMBER 11.

CHOSEN TO SUFFER

“They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.” (Acts 5:41).

All of us are called upon to suffer in one way or another. Much of our suffering goes to waste because it is not geared up with an all-compelling purpose.

A great cause, such as liberty, chooses men who are big enough to suffer, men who “can take it.” It chooses men who have the stuff in them to endure hardships; who can laugh at privations; who are willing to give up privileges, comforts, and ease.

It chooses men like the apostles who, after being treated in a most shameful way and cruelly flogged, came from that experience rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.

Great causes have a way of choosing men who are worthy to suffer. And it is through men that suffer that great causes come to victory. The highest blessings that we enjoy today came in this way. Christ on the cross, Washington at Valley Forge, Lincoln baited by newspapers and even by his cabinet members, and a few among many who were chosen to suffer for great purposes and were found worthy – bringing victory to the cause that chose them.

In these days, the great cause of liberty is again choosing men to suffer for its sake. Shall we who are chosen be found worthy?

Prayer:

Our Father, we are being called upon to suffer for the sake of all men everywhere. The great cause of liberty, with all that it means, is calling for men who are worthy. Wilt Thou make us worthy in every way. Keep the high purpose of freedom upper-most in our hearts, and cleanse us from all selfishness. Dedicate us anew to the high cause of world brotherhood, and give us the victory of an enduring peace. And so shall our suffering be not in vain. In the Spirit of Christ we pray. Amen

[AnAmericanMother]

Amen!

[Tax-chick]

Okay, here we go.

DP was muckin' wit my Photobucket, but at least we've got visual. I'll work on the size next pic.

This is my brother Russ (gracious, he's stout!), my father and mother, and Bill, at the Coast Guard base in Cape May.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Amen, Amen.

[Tax-chick]

I guess that's a little bigger; I'll try again. This is Anoreth's company marching in.

[Tax-chick]

Anoreth is at center, behind the girl with glasses.

[Tax-chick]

Anoreth post-graduation (by a couple minutes) in front of some building.