~MY MR. AGPMan - THE CUM LAUDE GRADUATE~

 ~MY BELOVED~

To our surprise and delight we found out just before my Mr. AGPMan walked across the stage to receive his diploma that indeed he was graduating with honors, Cum Laude.  Just had to share a few photos taken yesterday afternoon during the graduation ceremony at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma.

~JUST BEFORE RECEIVING HIS DIPLOMA~

I'd love to show pics of him actually shaking hands with SNU President, Loren Gresham (his former/1975 Poli-Sci Professor!), but I was bawling my head off so I don't have one.  Thankfully the school snapped a professional shot we'll be able to purchase online in a few days.

~WITH MISS K~

After the grad ceremony we had a wonderful party at our home with lots of family and friends.  I'm loving this photo taken of my guy with our beautiful Miss K.

 

~LOTS OF GOOD EATS~

Today starts a new day! 

Thanks to all of you who sent cards and well wishes and left sweet comments during this special time.  We are happy to close this chapter in our lives and we are excited about pressing onward.

Blessings and love...

~ONE WEEK TO GO~

Last night my Mr. AGPMan and I attended an Open House for the first semester graduating class at SNU.  A week from today (that is SATURDAY the 8th!!!) I will watch my beloved receive his LONG OVER DUE diploma.  I snapped both pictures you see while he was waiting to get his cap and gown... 

As I reflect back upon the past 18 months I'm so grateful Steven was finally able to return to school and earn his degree in Computer Science.  Even though there will always be a twinge of regret over him not finishing college when we were still young, today I'm overjoyed the path was made straight once again.

 Ever since his class ended two weeks ago I've had to work at getting use to my guy being accessible again.  It's just the weirdest thing as I've come and gone alone since about May of last year.  For so long his evenings and weekends were filled up and overflowing with studying and classwork that I rarely asked him for help unless it was really important.  I learned really fast what was critical and what was not.  For 32 years he was my go-to-guy and I really had to learn to function a lot on my own~  It took a lot of adjusting I can assure you!  Now, instead of being a student he's just my hubby again...and I'm one proud and HAPPY wifey.

Last weekend he said:

 "You wanna go junkin' or go see a movie?"

(nearly.fainted)

We both missed our old life so much.

We feel like we've come home again.

For those of you who followed the school drama/saga since the beginning and offered your words of encouragement...well again, I can't thank you enough.

God is good.

About to cross the finish line now...

~~*~~

This next week I'll be showing you pictures of our home dressed for Christmas.  Don't faint...but gone are the pink decorations (I know!  I KNOW!)...  In their place are soft, natural whites and a tree filled with family photos, keepsake ornaments, vintage tinsel and all things merry and bright.

Blessings for a lovely day.  December 1st.  Wow...the year has flashed by with lightening speed~

Love to you...

~~LIFE IS CHANGING~

Can you feel it coming?  Life is changing.  For me, the dry, sunny days of autumn are starting to wane and the northerly wind is beginning to sweep down the Oklahoma plane.  The branches on our trees are going bare and the emerald green grasses of summer have fallen asleep under a leaf blanket of harvest gold and nut brown.

The flowers are closing up while our furry friends burrow their way into the warm nests they prepared weeks before.

Yes...life is changing again.

We pull our coats close and curl up indoors.  We look forward to bundling up, warm steaming cups of coffee, tea and cocoa in our hands...  Time to conserve our strength for winter is coming.  Part of the natural cycle of the seasons to slow down and do less~shed the old and familiar and let go...

That is exactly what my hubby and I are doing.

My Mr. AGPMan's college education couldn't have been completed at a more fitting time.

God appointed.

On Thursday my guy will attend his last college class and I can already feel the rhythm of our lives returning to normal.  This morning I watched as the once familiar smile returned to his slightly older looking face...  He's tired.  I'm tired.  But, at peace.  Together we are excited about letting go of our dried, shriveled up cares and willingly invite the Oklahoma wind to blow them all away.

Indeed life is changing.

Today I'm grateful for God's grace.  His mercy.  And for giving us the strength to meander through the changing seasons of life while allowing us the chance to weather the unexpected storms.

Yes, life is changing.  But it's good.

So good.

Blessings and love to you... 

 

~MOVING TOWARDS A BETTER TOMORROW~

November the first.  Can you believe it?  Seems like yesterday we were all whining about the heat of the summer sun and now here we are closing in on winter!  I'd love to tell you that for my Mr. AGPMan and I the year has flown by, but that wouldn't be the truth.  I do believe the past 12-18 plus months have been the slowest passing months we've EVAHHHHH lived.  EVAHHHHH!

They say good things come to those who wait and I suppose that is truer for us today that ever before.  Tonight my guy will attend one of his last three remaining FIVE HOUR LONG~Thursday Night Classes~and in just two short weeks he will complete the accelerated degree program he began in May 2011.  After years and years of talking about returning to school he finally got his bummerita in gear and walked right back thru the very door he walked out of as a twenty-something kid in 1978....  

 On December the 8th of this year he'll dance jump run walk across the stage at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma and receive his college diploma.  He will officially have earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science.  

LottaWattah under the bridge since the picture above was taken back in November 1977.  We were both in college and didn't have a clue what was in store for us or the many twists and turns in the road of life we would face together.

Quite a journey we've been on.

Quite a journey!

   The photo below was snapped back in 1984 around the time I found out I was going to have our daughter...  Busy days raising our little son, Brandon, and they were about to get even more exciting when baby #2 arrived in October of the same year.  

No time and no money for school!

If you missed any of the posts about setting things right in our lives the first one began HERE.

They continue HERE and HERE and HERE.

 And here we are last Christmas.

A whole lot older and a lot wiser, too!  Today my beloved has silver streaked hair and a lot less of it, but still as handsome as ever.  We are still madly in love and blessed to be together after 34 years of marriage.  We are still passionate about life and still committed to bettering ourselves and finishing the things we started so long ago.

It's never too late to go back and right a wrong.  Never.

 

Not sure I'll be able to contain my joy (or stay silent) come graduation day.  You know how they always say

HOLD YOUR APPLAUSE 'TILL THE END...

Well, are you kidding me?  Seriously?  Do they honestly believe this high-maintenance-girl is going to keep quiet while watching the man of her dreams grab his diploma and fulfill his life-long desire of earning his college education?

  Nope.

Not gonna happen.

I'm going to be a crying, wailing, cheering fool and I don't care whose watching.

~~*~~

 The countdown to the celebration has begun!  

Love to you...

~WHEN DISAPPOINTMENTS OVERWHELM YOU~

Some personal thoughts today...

I've shared with you in several blog posts over the past year and a half that in May of 2011 my Mr. AGPMan returned to school to complete a course of study.  This November he will finish his accelerated degree program and in December he will finally graduate from SNU.  If you'd like to read more of the story you can go here, here and here.

I've watched the husband of my youth work towards earning a degree in Computer Science for sixteen months while working a full time job as well keeping up with his day to day responsibilities.  It's been more grueling for him to balance everything in his life sometimes, but his steely determination to finish what he began so many years ago has kept him focused on his goal.

About three weeks ago, after an extremely busy, hectic week at work, my guy logged onto his computer to take the Final for his history course (the only outside credit he was missing).  To his horror he realized he'd confused the test dates and missed the last test completely.  He ended up passing the course with a "C" only because he had made "A's" on all the previous exams.  He knew the material backwards and forwards and would most certainly have made a 100% on the test had he taken it.

Yesterday we found out that because of the mess-up with that History Final he's going to miss out graduating Magna Cum Laude (with honors) by four one-hundredths of a point...

He's sick and I'm sick for him. 

Neither one of us could sleep last night and at 2AM we were both wide-eyed and chatty.  Our best talks have always been in the wee hours of the morning and I've always loved being able to share our moments of quiet despair with one another.  Even when our life's sorrows don't include tragedy, I'm still grateful that God understands our hearts as well as our disappointments.  The super-big, big, small or even tiny stuff...

When nobody else 'gets it',

God does.

Today my guy woke up happy and focused on his great life.  It never ceases to amaze me that even when he stumbles, the pathway narrows or the road ahead is unclear, he still fully understands all he has and all he's been given.

(Oh to be more like him!!!)

May your Thursday be blessed.

Love to you...

 

ONE YEAR DOWN

~MY BELOVED AND I~

1977

As incredible as it seems this month my Mr. AGPMan will complete a full year of night classes.  I first shared with you about his plans to return to college in August of 2010 and if you'd like you can read all about it HERE and HERE.  After some scheduling delays, last May his classes finally began.  Only a few more months of studies and then come November he will complete his accelerated courses and FINALLY graduate with a Computer Science degree.  On Thursday evening while in class he was measured for his cap and gown and was given information about ordering announcements.

Can this be true???
ONLY A FEW MORE MONTHS?

Oh my goodness!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

In many ways this past year has flown by.  Equally there have been many challenging days that were difficult to meander through and I felt like some of those days would never end!

My guy has studied long, long hours.

Taken and passed many difficult tests.

Studied.

Read.

Studied more.

Read more.

Studied more and more and more.

Read more and more and more.

Went without sleep.

Went without sleep.

Went without sleep.

Went without sleep.

He questioned

WHAT HE WAS DOING A GAJILLION TIMES

before finally settling in for the long haul. 

And me, you ask?  Well...Can I be honest here?

 Hmmmm....

OK...HONESTY!

Right?

Well, early on I spent many

long

long

long

long

hours alone.

(Being lonely in your house when not alone is not a good feeling!)

At first I pouted over the loss of our routine life.

Then I got depressed.

Then I got angry.

I prayed a lot.

I prayed a lot.

I prayed a lot.

I prayed a lot.

Finally...

I began to embrace a new normal.

I read.

Blogged too much.

Painted.

Sewed.

(Did more special orders than I dreamed I'd ever do.)

Prayed more.

I said

WHAT HAVE I AGREED TO? A GAJILLION TIMES

before eventually finding

peace

peace

peace

peace

While embracing God's amazing grace.

Both my hubby and I have learned a lot over the past twelve or so months about our lives and each other.  None the least being that although grueling at times it is possible to go back and right a past wrong.  School is often difficult when you are young, but it can be REALLY hard when you are older.

But, we are strong.

Committed.

Resilient.

Blessed.

And...

He's still my man.

I'm still his lady.

Truthfully it all feels a bit surreal.

For so long the husband of my youth and I lived with such intensive regret over him not finishing college that sometimes pressing onward was tough.  This last year has been quite a ride emotionally for both of us and I'm grateful it is over.  Only a few months to go now and my hubby's hard-earned and long overdue diploma will be in hand.

We've certainly taken the LONG WAY around the world!

Note To My Mr. AGPMan:

The finish line is in view...the race is almost over!  I'm still in your corner and more proud of you than I can say.  Never too late...never too late...never too late to be what you could have been!

YOU CAN DO THIS!  YOU CAN DO THIS!

I love you most

xo~Beck

~~*~~

Gotta go~

Love to you...

~THE SCHOOL BELL IS FINALLY RINGING~

~LAST MONTH IN ARIZONA~

If you've followed this little bloggie of mine for any length of time at all then you may remember a POST I did about my hubby back in August of last year.  At that time together we had finally made an important decision that would greatly affect both of our lives...a past wrong was finally going to be set right...

 ~MY HUBBY WHEN I MET HIM~

(Yearbook Photo 1977)

 ~WHEN MY HUBBY MET ME~

(Yearbook Photo 1977)

 ~SNU CORALE~

(Choir Yearbook Photo 1977)

 

 ~MALE CHOIR HUNK~

(He has a BEAUTIFUL Baritone Voice!)

I hope if you missed it you'll take the time to go back and read it.

 ~KEEPER OF MY HEART~

I hope it will be nothing less than inspiring to those of you who have an inkling of regret over past choices and how it IS possible to set some of our old "wrongs" back on a path of  "rightness".

 ~1977 YEARBOOK~

After lots of delays in school scheduling (on the University's part!) my Mr. AGPMan will start classes this Thursday.  I'm filled with great emotion and pride as I watch the man of my dreams finally begin a yearlong course of study that will finally lead to his college degree.  Unbelievably, my daughter, Adrienne, along with her beloved daddy, will graduate the same year...

This day has been a long-time coming...a thirty-three year journey of discovery, truth and perseverance.  As much as I know one can never actually go back and live past days over again I am a firm believer in finishing what we start...

Today I'm thanking God for the chance~

And, for His grace...and mercy...and love!!!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him 

and He WILL make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Love to you this stormy Oklahoma day...