On Tuesday, June 11th, Derek graduated from the Internal Residency Program at Keesler AFB! It has been a long road to get Derek to this point--4 years of college at UGA, 4 years of medical school at USUHS, and then 3 years of residency here at Keesler--but it also seems like it has FLOWN by! I am thankful to have walked alongside Derek throughout this entire 11 year educational journey, and I am so incredibly proud of him & all of his accomplishments!
I initially planned for my mom to keep the girls at home during the graduation ceremony, but I am so glad I decided to be brave and bring them along! (But I definitely couldn't have done it without the help of Grammy & BooBoo!) This was truly a milestone for our entire family, so I felt like we all needed to be there to celebrate it! When Derek started his residency, it was just the 2 of us & here we are 3 years later as a family of 4! It's still hard for me to believe sometimes that we have 2 kids & that Derek is done with residency....when did we get old enough for all of this?!
Here are a few pictures from Derek's graduation day....
 |
| Shelby surprised me and did GREAT throughout the entire ceremony! |
 |
Every time she saw someone she knew walk across the stage,
she would start saying their name & pointing to them ;) |
 |
| Sweet girl :) |
 |
| This is how Hadley spent the entire ceremony...asleep in Grammy's arms :) |
 |
| First time spotting Daddy after the ceremony |
 |
And this was what Shelby was waiting for...cake!
After the very first person spoke at the ceremony, Shelby exclaimed:
"Now it's cake time!" Little did she know, we still had an hour-long
ceremony before she could eat cake! ;) It was so funny! |
 |
Shelby & Ella
{Ella's daddy was also graduating with Derek} |
 |
| Ella & Shelby watching their Daddies get ready for pictures |
 |
Front row: all of the graduating residents
Back row: Dr. Carroll, Dr. Forgione, Dr. Deas, & Dr. Conger |
 |
| Shelby & Ella dancing...can you say sugar high?! :) |
 |
| The majority of the Internal Medicine Residency Program :) |
 |
| Dr. Forgione (program director) & Baby Hadley |
 |
| Derek & Dr. Forgione |
 |
| Mrs. Susan (retired program coordinator) & Baby Hadley |
 |
| Adrian (Ella's daddy), Dr. Forgione, & Derek |
 |
| Dancing Queens! |
Congratulations, Derek! We are all so proud of you, and we know you are going to make the BEST Chief Resident!
Derek's Residency Graduation party looks fabulous. I had such a nice time watching these photos. At one of the rental spaces for parties we too are planning to celebrate our son’s graduation. I want to host a themed party for him. I think an Easter theme would be good. Isn’t it a nice idea?
ReplyDelete