And then there was one

So many times over the past few days people have reminded me that I now only have one child left in high school. Yep, the reality is here. Kids grow up. They move on with their lives. Lord willing they will thrive. This phase of life is exactly what we hope and pray for our children. Yet, when the reality of them actually leaving home is here, it is harder to take in.

Eric and I are immensely proud of all of our children, and how they continue to use the talents God has given them. It is a parent's job to brag about their children, but man, ours make it so easy. Claire's siblings will argue I am proudest of her because I have put her on social media so much over the past year. The backstory about that is I never put our kids on social media at all. Their entire lives I have always had a business at our home, and I never wanted people to know where these beautiful kids lived. I had decided when our oldest girls Rylee and Olivia graduated that since they were adults and leaving home it was probably ok, thus the first posts from me about my amazing girls after they graduated appeared. Then I took Claire to Ireland and messed up my system, plus many of her talents are very public, so she was all over the media by her own doing anyway. So, can you really blame me?

As I write this our oldest, Rylee is driving to the University of Nebraska Lincoln. She is spending the summer there to work in the lab of a very well known organic chemist, David Berkowitz, within their summer REU program. https://summerprogram.unl.edu/ It is a tremendous opportunity. Out of over 400 applicants they only accepted 10, plus she got to pick who she wanted to work with. I believe it says a lot about her tenacity, talents, brilliancy, and the education she has been given throughout her academic career. Needless to say, her father (who is also her organic chemistry/biochemistry professor) and uncle Kevin are ecstatic she's going to their alma mater for this experience. As Rylee drove away this morning it reminded me of how grateful I am that all of our kids are so independent, yet it has been a tremendous blessing to be able to have them close to home for so many years. She could have gone to college far away and this departure would have already happened three years ago. It is going to be exciting to hear about how it directs her decision of whether she wants to go to dental or medical school, or go into medical research because every day she wavers back and forth between each option. Hearing about what she learns will be fun, and at least her dad will understand what she is saying.

Our second child, Olivia celebrated her 20th birthday yesterday. Well, slightly celebrated. She had to work all day. In fact, she is certainly learning the realities of working adulthood. She missed most of the weekend activities, including her sister's grad party, because she has three jobs. One of these is at a group home overseeing residents and she can't really rearrange shifts. Thankfully the residents took good care of her, and even sang her Happy Birthday. We celebrated after she got home and then she and I took a walk after supper where she gathered random flowers from the ditches. She has an amazing knack of turning random flowers into beautiful bouquets. Next year she will apply for Physical Therapy schools all around the United States. Obviously, only God knows where any of our children will end up, but with Olivia's adventurous spirt and love of the outdoors odds are good she will be living in the mountains someday. She and her father shared a portion of their immense intelligence with the world on a recent podcast of Whistle the Feast. It is brilliant, funny, and you should listen to it here. If you have misophonia like Rylee however you may want to fast forward the first 5 minutes. https://whistlethefeastpodcast.buzzsprout.com/2454851/episodes/17211417-manna-feat-dr-eric-woller-olivia-woller

Bridger is our son, and at the end of summer will be the last remaining child at home. I guess I am breaking my own rule by including him here on the internet. I'm trying to keep the peace here people! This summer he has two jobs. The first is working for our neighbor's company, and today marks the start of his third summer with them. It has been a great experience that allows him to be outside and do manual labor. He had convinced himself that he didn't have time to do that job this summer, but we are thankful he changed his mind. What really convinced him to work there part time was the fact that most of his closest friends are now working there this summer. This being their first day on the job, he actually gets to train them in. I wish I could be a fly on the wall! What an adventure I am sure they will have with Bridger as their manager! His full time job is as a software engineer. He started working for them when he was only 15, and has basically saved their company because of the software he has come up with. They even named his system The Bridge (because he didn't want them to call it Bridger.) He is so humble I had to learn this from a co-worker. She tells me they are constantly amazed when they are in work meetings that he is just a kid because he is so brilliant and well spoken.

I am constantly amazed at what my family accomplishes. God continues to give all of them new talents that they share with others. I could write a book about how proud I am of each of them. Thank you for reading this far, and don't worry, I am not going to write a book, but now I will shine the light on our third child, and recent graduate, Claire. She did it, she has officially graduated and will attend Bethany Lutheran College with her sisters in the fall. We are over the moon that we will actually have all three girls there for one year and will be able to run into them (or have them in our classes.)

There was no doubt in our minds that Claire would graduate, and she did so with honors. Our only fear was that she would fall asleep during the ceremony because she worked roughly 90 hours that last week of classes/finals. That is an entirely different story I won't get into, but I will say that the cookies she made for a classmate's grad party turned out fabulous. She was voted as one of the class speakers. You are welcome to listen here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcpEAeqNxlo and get a taste of what a two time state speech champion sounds like in her element. She conveniently begins right at the 30 minute mark. It was a great ceremony, and I am so excited that all of these wonderful students are going out into the world to use the talents God has given them!

We hosted Claire's party at our barn/my studio on Saturday, May 31. The temperature got a tad warm, but yet the entire thing was magical. The decorations, the laughter reverberating through the barn and our entire yard, the number of friends and family that came to show support, and the fact that I got to enjoy it. Now that it was the third we have hosted I am starting to figure things out. Namely learning to ask for help, which I am normally not so good at. As I sit writing this while being able to look out from my office at the fairytale decorations, I just really don't want to take it down, but it is my business, and I will have to use it for sessions soon, so I guess as in all things, all good things must come to an end.

Summer is officially in session now, and Claire and I even spent some time by the pool today ignoring our long list of necessary tasks and getting some Vitamin D. It was fabulous, and much needed because as we all know, these moments don't last forever and the work will always be there.

Eric, Claire, and Denice Woller

Claire did so well giving the speech. So many people commented about how poignant and professional it was.

The diploma smile!

These two cousins have been amazing friends their whole lives. Claire and Martin graduated the same weekend, thankfully not the same day, and only 1.5 hours distance from each other. Both graduates will be attending Bethany Lutheran College this fall and I can't wait to see them on campus together.

Missing one of her canine supporters, but two dogs were enough to wrangle for this photo. :)

Because she competed in the Minnesota State High School Speech Tournament three years in a row she was awarded this.

Claire was also granted the National School Choral Award. Her father won the same award when he was a senior at MVL. The trophies haven't changed much over the years and its so neat they both got it!

Claire has owned her own bakery- Claire's Confections four four years. For both of her sisters grad parties she made beautifully decorated sugar cookies. With all the hours she was scheduled to work I told her she couldn't make her own for the party, and instead that she could save time making cakes. Well, it wasn't much of a timesaver, but they turned out beautiful, and delicious. People are still talking about them.

She added wisteria to match the party decorations.

They weren't your basic marble cakes either! So beautiful, and delicious!

I am so in love with how the barn transformed into this magical land!

Such a blessing to have a space packed with family and friends to celebrate this milestone!

A small miracle! My mom nearly died a few weeks ago, and even before that she would not leave her assisted living facility willingly, ever. My brother Dennis and his kids 'kidnapped' her for the afternoon so she could be with us. She had no idea it was going to happen, and neither did Claire. It was amazingly emotional for both Claire and I to have her there!

Almost all of the photos from the party were taken by my intern Laura Rossow. I am SO thankful to have had her around capturing these precious memories! I love how this photo she took captures how our Claire is such an amazing role model for younger girls. They've all seen her on stage, and they know she is just as sweet (and slightly crazy) in real life. We also went through her gifts and cards today and she got so many from underclass students expressing how much of an impact she has made in their high school lives. Made this mamma cry!

My peonies didn't bloom as well as I had planned, so I improvised with these tiny flowers. This teacup and saucer is from a china set I inherited from my mom and dad.

In April Claire and I were meant to find this tea set at Mankato Vintage Market. We were only there about 15 minutes, but when I saw them I knew I needed to buy the set for her to use later in her life. It is made in Ireland, and totally reminded us of the Swiss Cottage Co. Tippary that we visited, and took photos of her beside. I didn't even think about it then, but as I was planning decorations I knew I wanted to incorporate them with my peonies.