Dru's graduation

Dru and a few of his buddies from his class.

Dru's graduation ceremony was today. It was at 9 this morning which meant Mina and I had to get up early. Mina usually sleeps until 9 every morning. The last few days she has been sleeping until 10. Well, last night she went to bed around 9:30. Normally she would sleep until about 5, wake up to eat and then sleep until 9 or 10. I had trouble falling asleep last night and was lying in bed, awake, until after midnight. Guess who decided to wake up at about 1? Yes. Mina did. She woke up at 1 so I decided to feed her because that puts her to sleep the fastest. She wouldn't go back to sleep so I brought her into our bed with us and let her eat while I lay down. After about an hour she finally was asleep enough to put her back in her crib. She woke up again at 5 and I could not get her to go back to sleep. So, she lay in the bed with us again until about 6:30 when I brought her back to her crib. She slept for maybe 5 minutes before she woke up again. But, she wasn't upset so I let her stay in there. I had to get up at 7 to get ready and we had to leave the house by 8. I hardly got any sleep, but I didn't feel too bad. I was very excited for Dru's graduation.

Dru singing the National Anthem.

Receiving his Associates Degree.

The 8 of them who received an Associates Degree.

Receiving his Chinese certificate from DLI.

Mina chowing down during the ceremony.

The ceremony was nice. It was short, which was my favorite part. Mina can't stand to stay in one place for very long. Dru sang the National Anthem with a couple of his classmates. They did pretty good. Mina loved it every time the audience would break out in applause. She did really well sitting there with me. I brought her some little puffs to eat while we were in there and that kept her quite happy. She was so good! Dru not only received a certificate in Chinese for completing the rigorous course at DLI, but he also received an Associates degree in Chinese. Because of the credits he had from previous college attendance and taking some CLEPs at the education center that I worked at, he was able to attain the degree. I'm very proud of him.

Not only is he excited to be finished, but I am. There will be a little less stress lingering around and we'll probably get to spend a little extra quality time with him. This entire week Dru has gotten to go in late and tomorrow he has the entire day off. We're going to go to the aquarium with a few of our friends and their babies. It will be a fun day. After the long weekend with Dru, he will sign into casuals on Monday and get to do a bunch of "silly" things around post until we get to move next month. We are very excited to get back to Texas.

Here are a couple of family shots: