congrats class of 2008

hinkson graduation was last friday and it was a sweet time. the seniors were celebrated so well and it was a wonderful time to say goodbye to some friends for the summer, and others for longer. because of the transient nature of the missionary community, these missionary kids have to say goodbye to people in their lives a lot. its strange to say goodbye to people you have grown so close to and know that you may never see them again...but its wonderful to walk forward with hope knowing that we are all connected in the Lord. tim and i have had a really unique opportunity to get into these students lives and be with them in these times that can be difficult for them...missionary kids usually attach to people really quickly, because typically the underlying mindset is one of, "i don't know how long either of us are going to be here, so we need to take advantage of the time we have..." that mindset has allowed tim and i to get into kids lives in great ways, in a short time. other students perspective is that they don't want to get close for that same reason...none of us know how long we'll be here. tim and i try to maintain and pass along the perspective that we should celebrate the fact that our paths ever crossed in this big world, and take advantage of any time we have together at all. this is a big world, but not too big...