An Electrical Experience

On Friday, May 12th, Benjamin, the youngest in the family graduated from McNeese State University with a BS in Electrical Engineering.  He's starting work in June with Phillips 66.  We're very proud of him.  If EE isn't a demanding enough curriculum, Benjamin's class had to endure two devastating hurricanes, leaving the area without power for weeks on end and the Covid craziness.

I'm not a big crier, but I got a little 'weepy' as 'ol boy walked across the stage and secured his diploma.  He's opening a new door in his life and has already moved out of the house, leaving a big vacancy in our home and I guess it opens a new chapter for us as well.  Just Tricia and I now in our house that once held five.  

Benjamin worked so hard.  He always kept a full schedule and worked almost full time throughout school working at a coin shop and worked full time jobs/internships during summer.  The smile you see on his face below is well-deserved.

from left: Laura Lee, me, Benjamin, Tricia, and Russ

My Mom and Dad attended and watched the last of our kids graduate from college.

One of Benjamin's classmates graciously took a photo of Benjamin's entourage.  Orlando and Deb (Tricia's oldest brother and his wife) drove in from Spring, TX to join in the celebration.  They're on the far left below:

The very next day we had a crawfish boil in which we boiled four sacks of crawfish.

They were just beautiful!

We poured the boiled crawfish, corn and potatoes across the table and everyone gathered round and ate the perfectly seasoned feast!  It was a beautiful day surrounded by a loving, supportive family.

God has richly blessed us and we are so proud of our electrifying graduate!

Benjamin's Senior Service

Benjamin is our youngest and will be (gasp!) graduating from high school tomorrow night.  Last Sunday morning, our church honored our graduates during the morning service.  Each graduate received a very nice leather-bound Bible and were encouraged to read it daily.  I still have mine from when I graduated in 1984 and cherish it.  Our preacher (Bro. Andy Buckley) gave some timely advice to our graduates in his message, but it is great advice to all.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 King James Version (KJV)

12 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

1. Receive Christ while you are YOUNG.  (Mark 10:21-22)  The best time to receive Christ is when we are young.  Jesus paid a great deal of attention to children, teenagers, and young people during His earthly ministry.

2. Read God's Word Daily.  (Matthew 4:4)  Reading God's Word is to our spiritual life like eating is to our physical life.  Daily consumption of God's Word is necessary to maintain our spiritual health. (1 Peter 2:2)

3. Realize God's purpose for your life. (Jeremiah 29:11-13)  God has a great plan for the lives of His children.  (Genesis 5:21-24)

4. Recognize the importance of a Good Name. (Proverbs 22:1)  Our name reflects upon our Parents, Grandparents, and the LORD.  To possess a good name, we must possess character and integrity.  A good name must be earned, moment by moment, day by day, decision by decision.

5. Resolve to marry only a Believer. (2 Corinthians 6:14)  As believers, we should not form any relationship with unbelievers that would lead us to compromise Biblical Standards or jeopardize the consistency of our Christian witness.

6. Render a powerful witness to the World for Christ. (Acts 1:8)  The Bible teaches that every believer should have the desire to share Christ with others.  (John 4:39-42)  A church or believer without Evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as fire that does not burn is a contradiction.

Brother Andy prayed for our graduates.  We pray that they will heed the good advice given them.  Congratulations Graduates!  We love you Benjamin and are so proud of you.

A Crawfish Boil for Russ

When Russ graduated from LSU back in May, he wanted to have a crawfish boil in the backyard and celebrate with family.  That's just what we decided to do.  My Dad was able to get a few sacks of crawfish from the farm and we washed them up real good in a washtub in the backyard.  The weather was absolutely perfect for a boil.

The crawfish were perfect, too.  They were clean and a nice size.  We started up the fire on the burner and waited for the water to come to a boil.

While waiting we seasoned the water, cut up lemons, gathered onions, potatoes, corn, and garlic and visited.

The boys got out the Marlin .22 and set up a target and began sighting it in.  Pretty soon, though, the smell of Zatarain's Crawfish Boil seasoning wafted through the air beckoning hungry target shooters to eat.

My sister, who is a professional cake baker, made purple and gold cupcakes for the graduate.  They looked good and tasted good, too.

The crawfish were boiling in the heavily seasoned water and it didn't take long for them to be ready.

We spread out newspaper on the table and poured the hot, boiled crawfish on the table.  Everyone rolled up their sleeves and began peeling crawfish and eating until their bellies were full.

The crawfish were delicious.  We enjoyed each other's company.  Russ wasn't fired up about us singing, "For he's a jolly, good fellow," though.

We actually had some left over that we couldn't eat.  No worries.  We gathered around the island inside (because the mosquitoes started really bothering us) and peeled the rest of the crawfish, packing the tail meat into quart-size Zip loc bags.

We had quite a few bags when we were done.  Some got given away, some got frozen.  In a few days, Tricia thawed out one of the bags and made a big, delicious casserole baking dish of CRAWFISH FETTUCCINE!

What an enjoyable evening!  We celebrated the graduate with good food and family togetherness.  Let the good times roll!

The Graduate - Our Graduate

In the 1967 movie, "The Graduate," Mr. Maguire pulls young, Benjamin Braddock aside and the following dialogue takes place:

Mr. Maguire: There is a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? 

          Benjamin Braddock: Yes, I will.

To be honest, if Benjamin Braddock took his advice, he probably was met with great economic success as plastics took off.

We have our own recent graduate, our middle son, Russ, who recently graduated from LSU in Baton Rouge with a B.S. in Agriculture.  He won't be going into the field of plastics, but we pray he finds success in his field of Plant and Soil Systems with a concentration in Environmental Horticulture.

We met for his graduation on a rainy Friday morning at 11 a.m. in the Field House for the ceremony.

We took our seats in the crowded field house where indoor track is run among a crowd of proud parents and family members.  They marched in to Pomp & Circumstance and many had their mortar boards decorated.

When I graduated from LSU in December of 1988, the person who gave the keynote address was Senator John Breaux.  It was in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and poor Senator Breaux had difficulty getting through his speech as he was dodging champagne corks.  Things have changed since then.  Not one champagne cork went off during Russ' ceremony.  One other change was that the graduates all got their names called and got to walk across the stage and received their diplomas.

When it was over and before we went out to eat, we took a family photo with Russ in front of a blooming magnolia tree.

My Dad, Mom, and brother were also there to celebrate Russ' big day.

Here is Russ with my brother and parents in front of some stately oaks.  In the background, you can see the Huey P. Long Fieldhouse and pool.  The pool is now in disrepair, but I took a swimming class in college (we had to take a PE class) there. If you saw the movie, Pitch Perfect, one of the singing competitions was in the Huey P. Long pool.  It was empty, of course.

To commemorate the happy occasion, we got a nice Commencement program that had all the graduates names in it.  While sitting down and thumbing through the book, we were very surprised!

Russ hadn't told us about something very important.  Okay, I apologize in advance for boasting about my son, but we were in shock to see on page 5 that Russ graduated Summa Cum Laude.  He was the only male to do so.  In fact, 75% of the graduates in the College of Agriculture were female.

Russ will be starting his career in June, working for Doug Young Nursery in Forest Hill, Louisiana. I told him that if he can find something to do that he is passionate about, he'll never work a day in his life as it will be a labor of love.  We are proud of the old fellow and wish him the absolute best that life has to offer.  He will do great things, I am sure of it.  May God Bless our graduate!

LSU ALMA MATER 

Where stately oaks and broad magnolias 

shade inspiring halls, 

There stands our dear Old Alma Mater 

who to us recalls 

Fond memories that waken in our hearts 

a tender glow, 

And make us happy for the love 

that we have learned to know. 

All hail to thee our Alma Mater, 

molder of mankind, 

May greater glory, love unending 

be forever thine. 

Our worth in life will be thy worth we pray to keep it true, 

And may thy spirit live in us, forever L-S-U. 

Kid, You’ll Move Mountains!

How fast four years flies by!  It seems like it was just yesterday that I posted This Post explaining how we were moving our daughter, Laura Lee, out of the house and into her dorm room at LSU to begin her first semester at college.  And now… Well, Friday we traveled to Baton Rouge to attend her Graduation Ceremonies.  I’m telling you, where does the time go?  She graduated with the highest honors – Summa Cum Laude and we are very proud of her.  A lot of work went into her Bachelor's Degree and it was all worth it.  She’ll be teaching Third Grade in Baton Rouge starting in mid-July.

There’s a lot of mixed emotions with this big event.  Happy that she’s beginning a life on her own.  Proud of her success in the classroom and of her creativity and talents.  Protective of her as she goes out on her own.  Prayerful for her direction and continued success.  Sad as she’s officially stretching her wings and leaving the nest, flying out on her own.  Reflective and introspective as I wonder if we gave her the tools in her toolbox to enable her to go out and thrive on her own.

LSU has a Main Ceremony for all graduates in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 8AM.  The family arrived in Baton Rouge bright and early to cheer for her.  Let me back up a minute.  She didn’t want to go to the ceremony.  She said, “No one goes to the 8AM ceremony.  It is too early.”  We insisted that she worked too hard to miss this big day and she begrudgingly showed up.

What if you threw a party and nobody showed up?

She was right!  The picture above shows the total number of graduates attending the 8 AM ceremony.  No doubt, the few that were there were likely brow-beaten by their parents to attend.  Laura sent us texts during the ceremony that said, “Look at me – one of the 8 people that is here!” and “I think I’ll do my nails.  Is that okay?”

2016 Spring Graduates of Louisiana State University set a record as the largest graduating class in history with a total of 4,102 graduating.  LSU has enrollment of 31,527 in the Fall of 2015.  Here’s some neat statistics:

Graduates in Laura Lee's class represent:

·         61 of 64 Louisiana Parishes

·         46 US States

·         61 Foreign Countries

·         The oldest graduate was 81 years old

·         The youngest graduate was 20 years old

·         Females made up 54% of the graduating class

We took a lot of photos to capture the big day.  Here’s our girl amidst the throng of fellow graduates on the floor of the PMAC after the ceremony.  She might be a little hard to pick out.

I did it!

Here’s our girl posing with the Bronze Mike the Tiger right in front of the live Mike the Tiger’s cage.

Stand right up and ROAR!

My Mom and Dad made the journey to hoot and holler for her and we snapped a photo of them with her under the “stately oaks and broad magnolias.”

Graduation with the Grandparents

And here’s the proud parents with the graduate:

And the brothers

Russ, Laura Lee & Benjamin

In front of Tiger Stadium in cap and gown:

On the ramp of the PMAC in front of Mike the Tiger’s tower.

Now, later throughout the day, each respective college convenes for the diploma ceremony.  This is where you get your name called and you walk across the stage, shake hands with the Dean and receive your diploma while your family screams and claps in happiness.  At 11 AM Laura Lee’s college, The College of Human Sciences and Education commenced the celebration.  I’m happy to say many more people attended!

If you look closely in the next picture you can see her and her name on the big screen receiving the piece of paper that represents many hours of hard work.

So proud of our girl:

We met at 1:15 for a celebratory meal at Juban’s.  Here’s the family smiling and about to enjoy a good meal and fellowship.  Juban’s is famous for their “Hallelujah Crab,” a fried soft-shelled crab stuffed with crawfish tails, shrimp and crabmeat, topped with Creolaise sauce.  The reason it is called Hallelujah crab is that it is arranged on the plate with the claws up in the air.  You can sort of see that on Dad’s plate below.  Hallelujah, also though, that Laura Lee graduated and did so well in her studies!

Here’s the pretty girl at the head of the table

And finally with flowers on the way out of the restaurant

Congrats Laura Lee!  We love you!

Juban’s appropriately had a special menu for the 2016 graduates and on it, the quoted a passage from Dr. Seuss’ “Oh the places You’ll Go!”  I read that book to Laura Lee when she was just a little bitty thing and I thought it was appropriate for the occasion.  I’ll share a few lines from it now:

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy girl who'll decide where to go.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
You're off the Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

It’s me again.  We love you, Laura Lee!  Happy Graduation and we wish you all the best that God has in store for you…

A Graduation Celebration

This past week our middle child (not a child anymore), Russ, graduated from Hamilton Christian Academy.  We've always said that our most important and primary crop grown on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm is our children.  So in effect, Friday night was harvest time - or at least a good chance to assess the health of the crop that we planted years ago.  We're very proud of Russ.  He was one of the valedictorians and won several scholarships.  Hamilton Christian had an honors night in which they honored the graduates for their achievements.

There were 29 students in Russ' graduating class.  They announced that the graduating class scored above the state and national average in both GPA and standardized test scores.  In all the 29 students amassed $1.2 million dollars in scholarships.  That was pretty impressive. 

The most impressive thing, however, was the bond between administration, teachers and students at Hamilton Christian.  As a small school, there is more of an opportunity for one on one teacher-student involvement.  It was a touching and emotional evening as teachers spoke blessings over the students and prayers were prayed over them.  We were blessed to have been able to send the kids to HCA.

Our family at HCA Honors Night 2013

Honors night was a joyous time for all.


Russ with my Mom and Dad

The very next night, graduation night, each of the students constructed display boards with pictures and things that mean a lot to them.  Parents, friends, and family members are able to walk around before and after graduation, view the boards and be able to get to know the students a little more.  Here is Russ' board:


Russ' Senior Memory Board

As Pomp & Circumstance played, I jumped out in the aisle and captured a shot of our graduate marching toward the podium with a $100 smile on his face.

Russ walking the aisle for graduation

Four valedictorians and a salutatorian gave their addresses to a jam packed crowd.  They actually had to bring additional chairs into the auditorium for the overflow crowd.

Finally it was Russ' turn to give his address.  He told us that he was very nervous, but it didn't show in his delivery.  He gave statistics showing that a large percentage of students entering college abandon the faith and challenged his fellow graduates to join a good church as soon as they get on campus and to continue reading their Bibles and praying and living according to the values taught in their homes and at Hamilton Christian.

Furthermore, he challenged them (Matthew 5:16) to "let their lights so shine before men, so that people might see their good works and give glory to our Father in Heaven."  Be lights in a darkened world.  A good challenge for all of us.


The Speech

Each of the 29 students created a brief video that showed on the big screens that had voice overs by each student telling people important to them how much they appreciated them.  While the video was playing, the graduates brought roses to those important people in the audience.  It was a moving experience.  Once that was done, the graduates received their diplomas.  Here is Russ receiving his diploma from Dr. Shawa, HCA principal.  

Diploma

Russ is shown posing by his Senior Memory Board.  He's wearing a lei since one of his classmates is of Hawaiian descent and presented all of his fellow graduates with a lei after the ceremony.  Pretty cool!

After graduation, we had an "After Party" at our house in which family members from Corpus Christi, Spring, Pearland, and Dallas, Texas and from Kinder and New Orleans, Louisiana all attended.


Sonnier - Garcia family honoring the graduate

All sorts of good food including brisket, boudin, homemade chicken salad, fruit trays, cookies, nuts, quinoa salad, chips and dips were served and people enjoyed visiting and eating.


The buffet line

Fish stories being told



Albert going back for seconds, smiles and laughter

Good times

As a Dad, I am very proud of Russ.  His plans are to attend Louisiana State University and major in Agriculture.  I think he has a bright future in front of him.  Two 'kids' in college.  Wow!  It will be good that Laura Lee is there as she'll be able to show him around and they can support one another.

I started to recall the 1967 movie, "The Graduate" in which Dustin Hoffman plays a recent graduate.  At a party, he was asked what he wanted to do with his future, his life.  He mumbled that he didn't quite know.  A gentleman came and told him that he had one word to tell him.  Do you remember that word?  Plastics.  Of course, the gentleman was giving him career advice to help him get his financial footing and be successful.

I've thought long and hard about one word I would tell Russ.  I think that word would be, "Tools."  To use them.  Throughout Russ' 18 years on this earth, parents, teachers, family, friends, pastors, scout leaders, and coaches have given him tools, the figurative kind.  Tools like Faith, virtue, values, work ethic, honesty, integrity, etc. One of the graduation gifts we gave him with a symbolic meaning was a Craftsman Tool Kit - literal tools that will remind him of the figurative ones that he's been given.  His tool bag is full.  As he leaves the sheltered environment of our home and the campus of HCA, it will be his decision whether he'll reach into that bag of tools and actually use them.  We pray that he does.