Where are the molasses when you need them?

Last week -- or you know in 1986, I was a senior in high school. 

I know you are going to pin this on your Hair board on Pinterest....it's a good look, right?

Oh the days of that year were long, I kept a running tally in my history notebook of exactly how many days were left in that senior year. I was certain we were swimming in molasses because the days were so so so slow and the year seemed to just freeze and go no where fast.

I expected no less of this year. No less of the senior year for my amazing trio of babies. But y'all, that is just not the case. I blinked. I made the huge mistake that everyone cautions young moms about -- I blinked. And now, we are swiftly approaching the day.

Their graduation announcements arrived in the mail yesterday. I love them.  And I cried. Because really, what they represent, oh my heart, what they represent.

And then I pulled myself together and thought that part through -- what do they represent? And y'all, I could not be more excited for what that big box of graduation announcements represents:

Because when I say Benjamin, Mason and Claire (birth order, y'all. Always birth order!) are graduating high school, it means so much, it represents so much.

The graduation announcement is a shout, a scream, a celebration! It represents years of hard work by three little bitty babies. It represents the dreams and the plans of two parents that remember too vividly the sounds of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where every bell, whistle, alarm confirmed an uncertain future for their beloved babies.

It embodies the triumph over all the obstacles of all three of my born-too-early children. It eases -- if not completely erases --  the ache of the day the doctor said Benjamin and Mason might never have head control, might never walk, talk or a myriad of other issues. 

The little card with the faces I love so much is way more than a piece of card stock an a date. It is more than just an emotional prompt for a Mama who adores mothering these three (plus the little bonus God threw in!). No it is far far more. It is symbol of victory. It is a shout to the mountaintops of how God redeems and restores and overcomes.

I don't promise not to cry -- but hear me loud and clear, this is a celebration, a thanksgiving to God for all He has done and continues to do through their lives. I say it often but oh how it bears repeating, I am thankful to be on the front row of their cheering section. I can not wait to see all that God does through them!!