Pin it!

When Blu and I met, he had dreams of entering the medical field. After working in a hospital in Midland and getting to know the industry better that way, he confirmed in his heart that he would indeed start down the path of nursing school.  Then we got engaged.  Blu was working on specific prerequisites in order to get into nursing school.  Then we got married.  Blu was full-time in the midst of nursing school when we had a wedding, a Crescent Moon, and showers of blessings!  If anyone knows anything about nursing school, then you know that it's TOUGH.  It requires a lot of brain power due to a LOT of information, as well as a lot of TIME.  Over the past couple of years, Blu has graciously juggled his social tendencies, the expectations of his wife, Xander's needs, church and youth group involvement, and last but not least, school.  He's been amazing!

And last night we got to witness the final milestone of his nursing school career via his pinning ceremony.  It was so special!  Xander and I arrived early (or what we thought was early) and the auditorium was already almost full.  We ended up with a row full of family, with other family and friends scattered throughout the room.  It was humbling and exciting to look around and see people who had come just because they love Blu and just to support him. Blu was asked to give the opening prayer, which was beautiful and sincere, as well as a tribute to the students' families.  He did such a great job speaking to the crowd and my little wifey heart was both beaming as well as still in a state of surrealism.  The event itself didn't seem quite real, nor the after-effects of Blu actually being done with school and having a job...nope.  Not real yet!  All very exciting.  After his two speaking parts during the ceremony itself, they gave away 3 or 4 awards.  I halfway paid attention during this time... it's a sweet and honoring moment, but it seemed irrelevant.  WRONG!  They announced a Leadership award and who won but Blu!  I was surprised -- not because I don't believe in Blu, but just because I wasn't expecting such an honor!  A friend told me later than Blu's peers cheered for him when he received the award and that it became clear he was well liked by his fellow graduates.  

Then came the part of the ceremony where they announce each graduate, the graduate gets pinned by a past/present nurse, and an instructor reads aloud a thank you note written by each graduate to their family and friends.  At the same time, family and friends who are in the audience are asked to stand as their graduate is being recognized -- very special!  Everything goes smoothly and it's a pretty sacred time (especially for a graduation ceremony...usually pretty boring and cookie cutter!) until Blu gets up there.  Haha!  The instructor didn't have something written down for him, so Blu had to tell her off to the side that Daniel Gideon was the person pinning him.  (Daniel Gideon! What a great man. I only just met him last night, but I've heard about him long before and he was instrumental in Blu's journey to becoming who he is, Daniel has guided and advised Blu through nursing school, and was so encouraging throughout graduation time -- even driving from DFW to be able to pin Blu in the ceremony! I barely know Daniel and I appreciate him more than I can say!)  After the funny mishap on stage, the instructor started reading Blu's thank you note and Blu started walking back to his seat instead of standing up there til she was finished! About halfway to his seat he remembered he was supposed to stay, and he goofily went back up there.  Everyone was laughing!  All his family was standing during this, and our Covenant Group and the Smiths and the Neals were all standing -- Blu is loved! 

After the ceremony was over, we all met him in the foyer with lots of hugs and kisses and people, as well as an event where Aleisha got stuck to a girls backpack and started walking backwards matching pace while holding the Smith's baby saying "help me".... there was laughter and there were tears from laughter.  Soon after, we all went to Abuelo's to eat dinner.  Zach had driven in all the way from Tulsa for the evening, and drove back to Tulsa on Friday -- so thankful for his sacrifice and presence.   What a great night of celebration!  

We are so blessed and I am increasingly and overwhelmingly thankful for my husband, the man he is, and the man he's becoming.