Graduation!!

Summa Cum Laude /High Distinction Grades by Lindsey Claire.

Diploma by Colorado Christian University.

Curls and Graduation Cap by Rachael LaJo. ;-)

Class of 2025 College of Adult and Graduate Studies

CCU Commencement Ceremony - May 9, 2025

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Mom took the pic on the right - the sun flare and curly hair makes it everything I wanted it to be!  I got several compliments on the cap, and one of the CCU photographers even stopped me and asked me to turn around and look up. lol  So I'm super grateful to Rach for taking the time to make it awesome!!  Most of the graduates stuck with the plain black cap, but there was one other graduate who had a great decorated cap and sparkly pink high heels, and I believe she and I would be friends if we got to know each other! lol

Okay, let's start at the very beginning... a very good place to start! ;-)

Me, Lauren, and Amy sharing pics in the Roomies text group on our way to Colorado on Thursday!

A brief tour of the CCU Campus with Mom! ❤

We ran into Lauren and her fam while touring the new Armstrong Center chapel building!

(Pic on the right is in the Anschutz Student Center.)

Our Southwest flight and Budget car rental (silver Chevy Blazer) went pretty smoothly.  Driving in Denver traffic is never my favorite, but I did fairly well over the past two days!  Mom and I shared an In n Out Burger for a late lunch near the CCU campus, and we had plans to meet Holly Dei for an early dinner at the Cherry Creek Grill.  We shared a couple appetizers and meals there, and Mom loved their deviled eggs and BBQ ribs!  We had a good talk catching up on life, took a quick driving tour of the Cherry Creek area - a really nice suburb of Denver, then checked out the Modera Apartments rooftop view before touring Holly's apartment!

Holly's place was really nice, and we got to meet her new rescue dog, Jack, which was fun!

She had a steamer we borrowed for my Graduation gown and hood, so that was awesome!  

Since I had it all out anyway, I got a cap and gown pic with Holly Dei!

Rooftop pic with Mom and Holly overlooking downtown Denver!  After that, we had an hour drive to our hotel - the Marriott Courtyard in Loveland... we were there for such a short time, but it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we've had (with a couch and living room area, three chairs, two queen beds, and two TVs).

I really felt God's love and kindness in this being the verse of the day that popped up on my phone notification - gracious, I receive that!  Leaning into the idea of being anchored in Him while deliberately untethering myself from the soul ties and expectations of others has been helpful and healing for me!!

*Also, God was kind in clearing up the marathon-induced breakout - a small thing that mattered to me, and He knew that, and I'm grateful!!

Top left pic is in the hotel lobby with Amy and Lauren (Michelle and her fam stayed somewhere else).  Top right is me with Sophie and Amy, then Lauren excited to be near James Brown (from the CBS NFL Live show - our commencement speaker), then Michelle and Amy on their way into the ceremony!

Joy did not make the trip to Colorado this time, but I was grateful to get some more time with these three - Michelle, Lauren, and Amy!

Michelle in her comfy slide shoes, Amy and Lauren, selfie on our way over to the Blue Arena!  The ceremony started at 9:00am, but they had us arrive by 7:45 to check in and mill around at the building next door - mostly pointless and disorganized, but a good time to snap a few pictures pre-ceremony!

In the middle of the main commencement speech, a child pulled the fire alarm, and it took them a while to get things going again... definitely memorable!  The left pic is Mom's view from her balcony seat - the crystalled cap was definitely helpful in spotting me, as I knew it would be!!

Jeremiah 29:13 is one of my favorite verses, so I was happy to see it up there.

A classic "Oklahomies" pic with Michelle and Amy!

And this sunset pic was pretty - an illustration as Dr. Brown was talking about the importance of depth relative to height - having really strong roots and a firm foundation when you want to build something big with your life!

They used name cards to know how to pronounce our names - the way they did them phonetically made it feel more confusing, so I rewrote mine. lol. They did well! =)

Footwear pic: Lauren, Michelle, Amy, and me -- they emphasized comfy footwear, and I briefly considered switching to the slip-on tennis shoes, but it wasn't that much standing around in the end, and I'm sooo glad I stuck with the original diamond boots decision!  Two pics during the ceremony and one on our way in.  Shay (going on to get her PhD in Sports Psychology) and Austin Britton (met and really admired him at Res 3, and yesterday was also his birthday) joined our group and sat with us through the ceremony.  I assumed we'd be required to walk alphabetically, but they gave us name cards and said to sit wherever we wanted!

Mom and I after the ceremony! ❤

So grateful she joined me for this trip at the beginning of Mother's Day weekend!  She was super frustrated that she didn't get a good video of me walking the stage, but that problem was resolved quickly with a phone recording from the online ceremony video!  There should also be a few professional photos taken by CCU photographers coming soon. 

A kind note and grad gift from Lauren!  Love our pic outside after the cermony!

Matthew Stock, a long-term Cambodia missionary and one of my favorite men of CCU, with me and Lauren!  (Sadly, Jonathan didn't make the trip for this ceremony.). P.S.  I didn't get the memo to buy the white sash and blue and white honor cords, and I so would have if I'd known!  The communication was not great on all that.

Pics with Michelle, Lauren, Amy, then Michelle and Amy!

This video = Amy, Michelle, me, Shay, Lauren, and Austin graduating!  I sincerely couldn't love it more that Austin sets his diploma down to make a heart-hands gesture to his family!! lol  It brought me so much joy to see that... he's the best!  Also, I posed it up for the photo with Dr. Burkhart handing me my diploma - which of course you don't see in this video because they move quickly, and it's while Michelle is shaking hands with the University President, but I so didn't realize there was a second photo op there. lol  Hopefully I'll be smiling and it'll at least be a good candid.

A goose family of 7 whilst we stopped to share a lemon bundtlet before heading back to the Denver Airport, then one final pic with Mom on our flight home!!  Shoutout to Southwest Airlines for on-time flights and awesome wheelchair assistance in both airports - it made our trip so much smoother and more enjoyable!

 It was a short and sweet Colorado trip this time, and I love that we still have the full weekend ahead!  I'm so grateful for the memories and photos above, and I am grateful to feel more hope and confidence that God is working on my behalf and will open the right doors at the right time as my life moves forward!!  I slept in past 10:30 then unpacked this morning, and now I'm gonna get ready to go watch Miss Parker Elizabeth in her presh ballet recital!  God is alive and actively at work - I hope and pray that you feel His love and kindness in new ways this Mother's Day weekend!!

"It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world... remembering that first impressions are not always correct, you must always have faith in people, and most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself!"  ~Elle Woods ;-)

Congratulations, Class of 2025 -- We did it!!

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