Jonathan's Graduation Celebration

(Tesoro Photography is our daughter Melissa's company)

On June 7, 2008 we held the Lighthouse Christian Home school Association Graduation Ceremony Class of 2008. We had 20 graduates this year, several of whom we have home schooled with for the past 13 years. Jonathan is the first graduate of Mestas Christian Academy and in addition to his high school studies, he has attended Vance Granville Community College as a dual enrolled student for his Jr. and Sr. years. He has also been a Jr. Firefighter for two years, and successfully completed his EMT certification. He is in the hiring process at the time of this writing for the Wake Forest Fire Dept. It has been our privilege and honor to have spent these past 13 years "Doing everything together"! It has been an absolute joy, honor and pleasure to have had this amazing experience of living, loving and learning together. We are so grateful the Lord called us into this abundant life of homeschooling! We have accomplished much through hard work and lots of prayer, and we have so many wonderful memories.

It was also Jonathan's 18th birthday this month and we wanted to give him a very special gift for these two milestone events. So, we decided to send him and Jerry on a Father/Son retreat with Focus on the Family's Breakaway Adventure in Colorado Springs. He has always wanted to go whitewater rafting since his dad went several times but he was too young to join him. This was his first whitewater rafting trip, but as he said, not his last! This was a great time of bonding and fellowship for the both of them. They have added more wonderful memories and stories to share, as well as some new friendships with other fathers and sons from around the country. There were 200 attendees on this trip and they were absolutely blessed and honored to have been a part of it. They highly recommend this for other fathers to take their sons on. Here are just a few photos of this great adventure.




Jonathan is on the left front seat and Jerry is on the right. This was an awesome week long adventure at the Horn Creek Retreat Center in Westcliffe, Co. They did two days of rafting, went hiking and climbed on a high ropes course in addition to worship services and various speakers in the evening. They had a wonderful time!

However, on the last day Jerry started to experience lower back pain. He had difficulty carrying his back pack and luggage so Jonathan had to take over. Since arriving home, he has gotten progressively worse and we wound up in the ER. He is suffering from a bulging disk in his back causing pain and numbness in his feet and legs, swelling, and he can hardly walk and he is really hurting. Please pray for his speedy and full recovery and for the Dr's to have wisdom and discernment in his treatments. He has to go to CA to work this coming Sunday and Jonathan will be joining him to help carry his belongings and set up his trade show booth. This is a perfect example of one of my mom's favorite sayings; "No good deed ever goes unpunished"!