Royal Robes of Splendor!

The Long Awaited Graduation Ball

My man, the Graduate and the Nephew

The Grandma, My man, the Aunt and myself!

The Nephew, Sister-in-Law and other Brother!

Now with the Father!

Myself with Aunt Dinha, one of my absolute favorite people in the world!  She is the epitomy of graciousness, kindness, gentleness and heart overflowing with LOVE for her family and others, but most of all God.  Not to mention at 60 something she is absolutely beautiful.   I want to be just like her!

Yup, tonight was all about him!!!

Oh, the agony of a camera not working right in the funky lighting of the huge pavilion.  Please forgive the lack of quality in the following pictures.  But bad ones are better than none, is my motto!  I took this picture because it cracked me up how they are a whole head taller than everyone else.  Not easy to lose them, even in the mass of people that made up the Ball!!!

Graduate entering the dance floor with his "madrinha," his beautiful, elegant mother!  Every graduate chose a person to be their partner for the Waltz dance.  Being that my BIL is still very single, he chose his mother.  It was so beautiful, it makes me sick my camera would not capture the loveliness of it all. :(

Waiting while literally hundreds of other graduates are announced and lined up!!

Mother and Grandma

Finally, toasting the Graduate!

And us.  I love us.  It was a date well worth the effort to get there!

It was a fun evening.  The event started at 10PM and went until 5AM.  We only lasted until 2:45AM!!!  We ate until we were nearly sick: every single bite of food and sip of drink delicious beyond description.  Everson even got a massage!  I missed out on that one but enjoyed spending the evening with Everson's family.  Every single detail about the entire event was lovely.  We were honored to be there and celebrate our dear brother.  May God bless you, Binho, and make His face shine upon you wherever His plan takes you!  We are proud of you and honored to celebrate this huge milestone with you!

And this is what I saw as I walked out the door, leaving my children in the loving, capable care of our friend and babysitter, Juliana!

Mommy was getting all dressed up, so of course, my make up crazy little girl wanted to participate.  She did not like that she did not get to do mommy's make up.   So, we compromised and she did Tia Ju's instead!!!

It is mildly disturbing to me that she knows how to apply eye make up better than I do!!

Notice her make up?  She loves very obviously applied make up!

Royal Robes of Splendor

I was reading Chloe's bedtime story last night and could not help but reflect on some things about the story.  The Jesus Storybook Bible where "every story whispers His name" has so rapidly became Chloe and I's favorite that we cannot wait for storytime every night.  We are reading through it for the third time and she still wants to skip ahead to her "favoritest" stories!  Last night was a paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer and Jesus' teachings on prayer.

Jesus asked the multitude listening to him speak, to look at the birds.  They eat well and don't worry about where their food will come from.  Then he pointed out how the flowers are so beautifully dressed and they don't worry about where their "clothes" will come from.  "No," Jesus said.  "They don't need to worry about that because God clothes them in royal robes of splendor!" Jesus goes on to say that we are so much more important than birds and flowers, so don't you think He will take even better care of us?  He loves us unconditionally, completely, wholly.  Wow!

I reflected about how much time and care I put into my attire for the Ball.  How I was worried about if my hair would turn out right or I would get my make up applied nice enough.  I wanted to look nice.  It was a very, very elegant affair.  But really, if you think about it, we are daily adorned in robes of splendor.  We carry with us the fragrance and image of God Almighty.  He made us in His image, to reflect Him.  Wow.  If I was so concerned about my attaire for the Ball, imagine how much more He is concerned about me.  I don't know if this makes sense to you but for me it was a "wow moment" and I thought I would share it with you.

You are loved.

You are beautiful.

You are accepted.

You are dressed in robes of splendor straight from the heart of Almighty God!

Remember that as you go about the often mundane routine of Monday morning!

You don't have to worry about a thing.  He is in control.  He has it all covered.

YOU ARE HIS!