All about Luke...

Prepare yourself, this is bound to be sappy & sentimental.

As we enter Luke's Senior year of High School, a year which I have waited patiently for, I find myself wanting to push the rewind button. As you raise your kids you are constantly making decision regarding their well being. Sometimes these decisions are easy, sometimes they are incredibly difficult and you question yourself constantly. In Luke's case we have had mostly easy decisions because he is such an easy, agreeable kid. Don't fool yourself though. There have been a few moments of "who is this child, and where has my Luke gone?".
One of those moments was when Luke decided after playing competitive soccer for 7 years, that he was done. Now you must understand, I LOVE watching Luke play soccer. He is like a gazelle with extraordinary speed and agility. He made the team as a Freshman, and was voted MVP on the High School team his Sophomore year! You understand why this was so hard for me? I didn't want my child to fall into the 'my parents never pushed me, so I never tried' category. I know PLENTY of those kids. After several conversations between the three of us, lots of tears and tantrums from me, we finally decided to give him his wish. All this hinged on the condition that he doubled up his golf time and got super serious about it because it was after all his first love, learning to golf with Daddy at the age of 5. Well true to Luke's nature he followed through. He is at the golf course 6-7 days a week. He has been getting help from a swing coach, playing in every tournament that his wheels will get him too, and has successfully shaved 10 points off his golf scores which is incredible for one year. He is now actively pursuing college golf opportunities. Here he is at a recent tournament, me hiding in the bushes snapping pics (but never on the back swing).

Another great thing about Luke is that he surrounds himself with great friends. He recently attended Homecoming with 3 of his best pals and their dates. He was accompanied by Kerstin Gull, a girl he has known since birth. Life comes full circle, they are reunited in High School, and they look stunning together. (Of course I'm a little impartial)

Halloween Friends, Circa 1996

Another not so good decision by me as a parent (and hopefully a bit of advice for you young moms). Luke came home with his class planning paperwork for High School way back in 8th grade. He asked if he could take FFA with his buddies which he swore would count as his Science credits. I trusted him, even asked the counselor and she affirmed his statement so I let him do it. Well, we found out at the beginning of his Senior year that it does count as a Science credit, but not if you want to be NCAA eligible to play sports in college. Needless to say, it's bit us in the ass and Luke has quite a difficult schedule for his Senior year. Calculus, AP Psychology, Geology, Biology, Astronomy, and English 12. Eek. My senior year consisted of sluffing Seminary and goofing around in a bunch of electives. He has learned great study habits through the years though, and is pounding through with straight A's so far. He does grumble a lot. Since we opted not to do Seminary way back in the beginning he does have first 3 periods free on his B days which has turned into 'A day homework day'. He gets up at normal time, studies & catches up on homework, then heads to work until 4th period. Here he is on a B day, pounding through the piles of homework.

 One last thing I'm recently proud of Luke for. ( I promise it's the last one) He has researched College Golf so much, and is aware that there are almost no scholarships for this sport. He must qualify for an academic scholarship which means a high GPA & a good ACT score. His GPA has always been 3.80-4.00 but the ACT has posed a bit of a challenge for him. Test anxiety I guess. We started him out early, in his Junior year, but the highest we could get was 19-22. He needs a 26 to ensure him a scholarship so he drives himself to Draper every Saturday morning (his only day off of High School Golf) to take ACT tutoring. He never even grumbles about it or the homework they assign him, because he knows it will get him closer to his dream.
So proud to be his mom...
So excited to see what the future holds for him...
So glad God entrusted me with such an outstanding young man...