A little over 18 years ago, my wife, Amber, and I had our first child.  We were 18 and 19 years old at the time.  We had no idea what we were doing as we were so young, but we started our lives as parents with a determination to raise up our children the best that we could.  Life brought it’s share of challenges for our young family.  Our son, Shawn, had his share of health challenges.  When he was born, he spent his first 5 days in the NICU as his body was not transferring oxygen to his blood properly.  It scared us to death, but he came out of it, we brought him home.

Over the years, it has been such a joy to watch him grow-up and to see the young man he has become.  He’s such a smart guy and it showed in how he performed in school.  He is very passionate when it comes to things that peak his interest.  Because of this, we know he’s going to do well at whatever his heart desires.

After all the journeys and the ups and downs that life has brought, we stand here today getting to watch Shawn graduate from high school and graduate with honors at that.  Looking back, I can’t believe we’ve come to this point.  It seems like yesterday we were still carrying him in our arms.  We’ve been blessed to have him as our son and we are so excited to see wherever the Lord takes him as he moves off to college and beyond.

So proud of this young man.  For all you with kids still growing up, don’t blink!  It goes by in the blink of an eye.