June 2010

Check out the slideshow on the right. It shows all of the pictures from our graduation dinner/celebration at Grande Place/Grote Markt in Brussels.

Maria the Graduate and International Citizen

Maria's graduation was perfect. We are so proud of Maria! She is probably the hardest working student you will ever meet. Over and over last night we heard each speaker talk about the values the graduates would need for their future success. Each word described Maria. Her ability to overcome adversity, face her fear of the new and unknown and strive to become a better figure of herself are all accomplishments she has achieved. Maria was awarded the honor of the International School of Brussels Leadership Award. Truly an honor well deserved! Maria's award was accompanied by a book. Maybe she can read it during all that free time she will have this summer!

Two words spoken last night -International Citizen- could also describe what Maria has become. She is part of a global community now. Her friends come from Sweden, Japan, Australia, London, Canada and the USA just to name a few countries. She discusses oil spills and natural disasters because they happened in the home countries of her friends. She now sees her own home country through the eyes of the other inhabitants of the world and takes pride in some of our achievements like elections but embarrassment for things like fast food and wasted resources. Maria graduated from High School in Brussels, Belgium! Her experiences are many, her opinions are broad and her future is bright. Congratulations Maria!

Prom part 2

There isn't too much to say about Prom except the pictures are plentiful, Maria's dress and hair were beautiful and the memory will last for a very long time. At about 12:30am we got a text message from Maria. She was in between the Prom and the AfterProm. The message looked like this: This is the best Prom ever. Food is great! Music is great! Date is great! Friends are great!

Prom Part 1

We were only home from Cairo for 8 hours when it was time to get started on Prom preparations. When you order a wrist corsage or a boutonniere from the florists around here, it is really uncertain what you will actually get when you pick up your flowers. Some kids have had good luck but most of the time the Prom dates are disappointed. The wrist corsage is as big as the girl's arm or the boutonniere has a fern that reaches all the way up to the boy's ear!

Some of us very creative moms have taken over the floral industry and made Prom flowers for a good portion of the high school kids. We had so much fun!

We started early in the morning and shopped for flowers at the outdoor market. This is just a small portion of the beautiful roses we bought.We worked for a solid two hours creating pre ordered Prom flowers. Above are a few of my friends working around the dining room table at our house. Where is everyone else? I think they might be entertaining Bob and my dad in the kitchen...That is where the food and drink were located!!! Below are the wrist corsages and matching boutonnieres.

Beautiful!!!

A visit from my parents

Bob and I have never lived in the same city as my parents. Sometimes we have lived as close as 3 hours away and other times it has been as far as 5 hours. When Mom and Dad visited before, we would take them out for dinner, shop at the mall and drag them along to see all the girls' activities and performances. Now there is an ocean between us so when they come to visit, their visits tend to be more purposeful and way more exciting. This time they are in Belgium to see Maria graduate from high school. But while we waited for that big day to happen we took a quick trip to Cairo!!!!Riding the camels and touring the pyramids

We had a great time in Cairo as tourists. The Egyptian Museum was unbelievable holding all of King Tut's treasures. We also saw the real Cairo where people live and work which is quite depressing. Maria gave us all a lesson on World Geography including urbanization, culture, education and the job market. We gave a quick boost to the Egyptian economy with Dad gambling at the hotel and Mom shopping at the bazaar. Originally I said I had seen enough and had no need to return. Now that I have been home for a few days, I think I might need to go back and see more of Egypt by way of the Nile. The weather was beautiful and might be a nice place to go in February!