Mary’s graduation was a celebration day! We started out like a birthday, with a special breakfast.
Being the youngest, Mary didn’t complain about being the last in school and not having “company.” She was characterized by a cheerful spirit, diligence, and a willingness to work hard. Mary is definitely “a creative.” I’m not talking about the adjective definition of creative but rather the noun. Mary’s mind thinks outside of the box when it comes to design and creating beautiful things.
We’re excited to see what the Lord has in store for her. Thank you for all your comments. She’ll be responding with a post of her own. An interesting trivia fact you may not know is Mary wasn’t even born when Nathan (the oldest) graduated from high school. 😉
That evening, Friday the 12th, everyone gathered for dinner. Mary planned the menu with grilled chicken, potato casserole, Texas toast, 7-layer salad, and Oreo pie. After clean up (Joseph is our star dish-washer!), we moved into the living room. First, we had Bible time. Then, we did something we started with on Joseph’s graduation. Each person came prepared with a special Scripture verse(s) that the Lord gave them for Mary. They shared it with her and then prayed. What a delightful opportunity to bless Mary! After that, we showered her with gifts. In addition, Mary gave Mom the charcoal sketch and a special card. Then, Dad and Mom presented her diploma. It was now official: Mary Maxwell had graduated!
With little ones, things wind down a bit earlier than for us older ones, so after the young families left, the rest of us enjoyed more talking time.
I’m so thankful for Mary and her love for Jesus. She truly sparkles for Him! Congratulations, Mary!















“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:
teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.”
Proverbs 9:9
Congratulations Mary! What a special time. The picture you gifted your mom is beautiful.
Congratulations, precious Mary!!
Also a big congratulations to your parents for being your teacher and principal throughout your school years. Such a blessing!
May the Lord always guide and bless you in the years to come.
Thank you for sharing all these special family photos—made me smile!! 🙂
Love, Mrs. Patti
Well done Mary!
What a fabulous lot of pictures!
Thank you for sharing them, it inspires us all to honour the lord and homeschool!
Sending our love and God bless
Claire and family.
Congratulations, Mary! Looks like a fun celebration with your family.
Thanks for all the lovely pictures! I enjoyed seeing them!! 😀
Congratulations Mary, Teri, and Steve! What a fun celebration of years of loving work!
Looks like a wonderful celebration! I am happy for you, Mary. 🙂
Congratulations Mary on your graduation! My guess on the trip outing for Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell is a trip to the safari.
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Your guess isn’t too far off. We’ll share soon!
Thank you for sharing your special day. The pictures are wonderful and very loving. Congratulations!
Congratulations, Mary!!!
Congratulations Mary! May the Lord richly bless you all the days ahead. 🙂
Mary, you look so much like your mom. How blessed you are to be born into that big and wonderful family. I take great encouragement from reading your family’s blog. Congratulations on finishing high school.
God Bless,
Kerry
Thanks so much for all the fun, beautiful photos! I thoroughly enjoyed looking at them and tried to find a favorite. But that, I discovered, was quite an impossible feat to even attempt. 🙂
What a special day for Mary and for Mr. & Mrs. Maxwell!!
Mary looks gorgeous – esp. her ever radiant, sparkling, and powerfully contagious smile. 😛
Congrats, grad!!!!! How exciting!!!
May our Lord abundantly bless you and keep you, Mary, and continue to use use you in awesome ways for His glory!
Love in Christ,
Alyssa
Looks like a wonderful celebration. Love all the pics. Hope she shares with us the gifts she rec’d. Children give the best keepsakes. Interested in hearing about Mrs Maxwell’s outing.
Blessings
What a beautiful time and a beautiful young lady! Excited to see how the Lord continues to use her! We always love seeing pictures of your sweet family.
Congratulations Mary! Thank you for the lovely photos-looks like you all had a great time.
Congratulations Mary!
My heart is touched looking at the pictures of a family homeschool graduation. Lovely, thanks for sharing!
Love Abigail’s finger-knitted gift. So sweet!! 🙂
Congratulations, Mary! Would love if you shared your families 7 layer salad recipe. It looks delicious!
Congratulations, Mary! AND congratulations to her parents! Praise the Lord! And *thank you* for continuing your work of encouraging our families as we endeavor to diligently keep on going 🙂
Congratulations, Mary! I know completing high school is a long, challenging course!
Also, a special congratulations to Mrs. Teri Maxwell for thirty homeschooling years, and remaining steadfast to the end of the journey! It is touching for me to read, and I imagine bittersweet for you.
Ecclesiastes 7:8-14King James Version (KJV)
8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Congratulations, Mary & family!
Congratulations Mary!
Congratulations, Mary…:)
And Blessings to you both Steve & Teri ~ with the Lord’s help you both have done an amazing job with all of your children. What a testimony.
the K family
Congratulations! It is an inspiration to me to perservere with the task God has given me of teaching and loving my children.
Congratulations Mary!!
Congratulations Steve and Teri!!
May the Lord bless your all of your future work for Him!
Congratulations Mary and your whole family. What a great testimony of love and endurance and modesty is shown in this post and pictures. I have read and followed on and off over the years and thank you for your encouragement to the wider homeschooling community (I am in Australia)
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Thanks!