One down, two to go

Honestly, I didn't mean to take such a long break from blogging. The truth is, if I have time to spare, I'd rather be reading.

There have been a few momentous occurrences in our lives since last I dropped in. Joss is not only an adult, but one who has finished school completely. Her exams are over, she has been accepted into the course she wants to do at uni, and her uniform is folded away in Bethany's cupboard for when she begins Year 11.

The last day of school was a graduation extravaganza with no fewer than four events for students and family. Actually, the teachers put on a breakfast for the students, so they had five events that day!

The first for the rest of us, was the final assembly, which takes the place of speech night. We still have to go to speech night, of course, as we have two more children, but we don't need to worry about that just yet.

Anyway, it was really enjoyable. There were inspirational speeches, funny speeches, musical items and the prizes were handed out (Joss got an Honest Endeavour for Drama). Afterwards, all the students, their families and the teachers milled about taking photos. Lots of the students were crying, mostly the boys, strangely. Mum and Dad had to go away that day, so it was lovely that they could come to the assembly before they left.

Next stop was a quick lunch in town, before Joss went to have her hair done for the formal. Our school is the only one that does the formal before the exams. The good thing about that, is that is isn't hard to get into the hairdresser, and Joss made the front page of the newspaper the next day!

At four, students and families, all dressed up, met at the Victory Memorial Gardens for photos.

Joss and her boyfriend, Ryan

All in blue

My work friend, Cynthia, also has a daughter in the same year; it was so nice to do this day with her, too!

After the photos we went to St John's for a church service. The students walked in to the church in pairs, while we all watched. There were more speeches (lots of in jokes) a great sermon from our friend, Gareth, the chaplain, and Toby played the piano.

Finally, we dropped Toby and Bethany home and went to the formal. There was dinner, lots of laughter, more speeches, videos and dancing.

I hadn't really thought about what the day would be like for us. There was lots of preparation in terms of Joss' dress and buying tickets, but I had not considered the rest of it, so I was surprised by the wonder of it all. The teachers showed such genuine care for the students, the students showed such love for each other, and it was a beautiful celebration. I came away very thankful for our school, and full of hope for the kids.

I love that it was all done before the exams. It meant that they could all just knuckle down and study.

And now, it's all over. Joss was granted early entry to her course, before she even started the exams, so the pressure was off, and it was all reasonably stress free.

Somehow, I think we have done the easy one first......

Bethany and her friend, whose dog was in a uniform costume, went trick or treating. We had a few visitors here, but a recent development is that people decorate the front of their houses so that people know they will get sweets there. If you don't decorate, people largely pass you by. I like it.

I also like Joss' post HSC hair!

Next week, I'm off to Sydney for a conference. The conference dinner has a disco theme. I am going to dance for hours!