Blackmans on the Web (log)

I earned it!

For us, summer this year started last Saturday, the day of Sam’s high school graduation. The graduation parties of friends started the week before and, in fact, he’s at another friend’s graduation party tonight, but we squeezed all his celebrating into that same day as the Centennial High School graduation ceremony, June 6. That allowed us to take advantage of out of town family to attend both ceremony and party.

To quote Jane Austen: One cannot have too large a party. That’s exactly how we do it around here! We are truly blessed with loving and supportive family and friends. Like with Alex’s graduation last year, the menu and other party plans all came from Sam. Needless to say, with fajitas and slushees on the menu and the volleyball net up in the pool, it was a fun day for everyone.

Click on the picture to the right to see more photos from the day. NOTE: There are not 200+ photos like we normally have because Scott was having as good a time as everyone else, just hanging out and enjoying the day to celebrate Sam!

Click to see Slideshow

Tomorrow’s the day. Sam graduates. After a lot of planning, hard work and dedication, Sam has finally achieved his goal of graduating a year ahead of schedule. He commented on Wednesday evening, after we watched this slideshow, that it “hit him” that afternoon - he really had finished high school. It hit us, too.

We couldn’t be more proud of you Sam! Next stop: The University of Texas at San Antonio, School of Architecture.

The song is “Over the Rainbow” as sung by Israel Kamakawio’ole from the Album Alone in IZ World

(L-R) Cavi, Sam, Mikayla and Joe in action!

The school year is winding down. The last Centennial Sweetheart performance of the year was the Spring Show. One of the traditional performance for the seniors is a dance routine with their “honor guard.”  After a number of weeks of practice, Sam was ready to go. It was hilarious and fun to watch. More photos from the show are in our MobileMe Gallery.

Click to see more photos

Ann, Sam and I took a long weekend a couple weeks ago and visited Alex at Tarleton (conveniently it was parents weekend) and then on to Lubbock to visit Texas Tech.

It was the first chance we’d gotten to visit Alex at the ranch since he took up residence part time (soon to be full time) in one of the trailers that Kobie Wood has on his property. It was nice to finally have a picture in our head as to where he was living. We had a nice weekend in Stephenville and Lingleville (where the ranch is located) and even went to Cowboy Church with him on Sunday in Dublin, TX.  

Sunday we drove to Lubbock for a Monday visit to Tech. LONG way out there to be sure. We’d heard about all the wind turbines that are out in that part of the state, but had never seen them. Once you get to Sweetwater, TX there were wind turbines for as far as you can see and they seem to go on forever. It was pretty amazing. Texas Tech is a big place. over 1800 acres of campus. A little too big according to Sam. But it was worth the trip.

Sam with Mike Lish CGS Board Chair

As in past years, we enjoyed attending Camp Grady Spruce’s Camp Crockett Reunion in December. This great annual event was made even more special this year when Sam was chosen as the 2008 Youth Volunteer of the Year. It was great to see the time and devotion that Sam has cheerfully committed to various projects recognized.

Alex was honored last May when he was recognized as a 2007-2008 All-State Teens Serving Texas Finalist. His high school principal, Randy Spain, nominated him based on Alex’s commitment and enthusiasm for his Frisco Horse Park volunteer work.

Our boys are very different in many ways but we are gratified and humbled to have such public affirmations of their shared core values. I pray a lot. One of my prayers since before Alex was even born has focused on my desire for my children to be honest and caring. As the boys began school, I added “responsible” to my daily prayers of petition. As they entered their teen years, “gratefulness” seemed to round out my hopes and dreams for my boys.

I know I should probably care more if they make money or other material evidence of success. I really do believe, though, that if they have the strength and will to always be honest, care about others, take personal responsibility for not just themselves but the world as a whole, and finally to regularly take the time to experience the joy of gratitude, they will be more successful in more ways than they can ever imagine.

As young adults, Alex and Sam remind us regularly how independent and self-sufficient they are becoming. They’re still in my prayers; I’m just enjoying the prayers of thanksgiving.

Merlin Mann and me on the Expo floor

One of the other benefits of getting to go to the ICT Conference with Ann was that it also happened to be the week of Macworld Expo. I had always wanted to go but could never justify the expense. I only had one day to go. It was great fun and I got to see lots of cool stuff. Not to mention to be amongst the Mac Faithful. Very interesting event.

Coit Tower as seen from the top of Lombard Street

Here are a few more pictures from SF. Heavy on the the Golden Gate and Alcatraz, but that represents a good bit of our one full day. We had a great time on the cruise boat. 

Click the image to see more photos on Flickr.