Our "Practice-First" Graduated!

My goddaughter, Mandy, (aka nicknamed 'Munchkin' because she was so tiny when she was born) is now a grown 18-year old woman who graduated from Valley Christian High School (with honors) and will be entering Azuza Pacific University majoring in International Business.

She also received three scholarships from APU: an academic scholarship, multi-ethnic scholarship and music scholarship (she'll be singing in their gospel choir).

Mandy with her parents, Don & Cheryl and younger brother, Kyle

We are so proud!

Her VCHS Vocal Ensemble "Room 107" sang "I Believe" as a special music piece after the Welcoming address.

Mandy is third from the right

Mandy receiving her first APU sweatshirt from family friend, Ariana who also attends APU

Matthew and I are so proud and thrilled for her! (Her parents are also pretty thrilled with her achievements)

For the record, she is NOT taller than me. She was wearing 4 inch heels!

Mandy was such a tiny little girl.
Right after Mandy was born, her parents were doing some estate planning (putting together their living trust) and they asked Matthew and I to be her guardians (if anything happened to the both of them) and godparents. So if anything happened to them when Mandy was young,  we would be Mandy's guardian. We would be responsible for raising her and care for her as if she was our own child.

Wow.. what a privilege, honor and HUGE responsibility! We didn't have kids at the time and was just newly married! So we took our new titles seriously and proceeded to spend as much time with Mandy as possible so she would love us as much as we loved her! (We also did the same with her brother, Kyle (aka nicknamed Big Fella because he was huge when he was born)).

She was kind of our first 'practice' child.

We even took formal portraits with her.

We also took into account the importance of being a godparent. Godparent is defined in the dictionary as "a person who promises to help teach and guide someone in religious matters as part of a Christian baptism ceremony."

Although Mandy was not baptized when she was an infant rather she accepted Jesus in her heart when she was little and proceeded to grow in her relationship with Jesus from church and school activities along with being involved in Christian youth groups. She got baptized in 2007 when she (not her parents) decided it was time for her to publicly share her love for our Savior.

Now as godparents we are supposed to provide spiritual guidance for her but thankfully our job was not too hard since her parents took care of that aspect of her upbringing... as they should. I mean they are her parents. But we were always available to talk with her whenever a need arises when she might not want to go to her parents first.

Basically Matthew and I are another set of adult mentors who love her unconditionally and are available for her at anytime with full confidence and confidentiality. That to us is how we godparent Mandy and Kyle... being another set of parents to go to when needed. More importantly, we pray for her regularly that she continues to seek the Lord in all aspects of her life: make wise decisions, learn and grow from her mistakes, and surround herself with good and faithful friends.

Wouldn't you want your kids to go to someone you trust and respect if they didn't want to go to you first with a concern or need?