Summer Time!

So many things have happened since I last posted.  My son graduated from high school, my younger daughter came home to work for the summer, and my oldest daughter is preparing to finish her masters and begin Vet school.  My husband has settled into his new assignment at work and I have been working on our house remodel.

My son is the last of my children to finish high school.  We have homeschooled them all through 12th grade, so that means that I am no longer a teacher;  I have retired!  It is a bitter-sweet place in my life.  For the past 16 years, I have been a teacher in addition to being a wife and mom.  My oldest daughter went to a public school for the first 4 years.  My youngest two have always been at home with me.  I always knew I would miss them terribly when they went to college, but I never dreamed it would be so hard.  I have written before about learning to let them go, so I won't dwell on that now.  The sweet part is that I get to pick up all those things that I gladly put aside when they were younger and I get to explore new uses of my time and talents.  There are so many good things to do with my time, I just want to be sure I find the best thing to fill my days.  For the next few years, my husband will be working away from home and I don't want to waste my time doing nothing and feeling sorry for myself.  There is too much life to be lived!

My son feels that he has been called into foreign missions, especially China, so he has changed his major and his college.  He will hopefully be attending the same university that my daughters are attending.  I am happy to see him passionate for a direction in his life.  He seemed unsettled with the choice he had made before, just doing it because he couldn't find anything else.  Now the light in his eyes when he talks about all he wants to accomplish tells me he has made the right choice.  I am also happy that all my children will be in the same town.  They are close and depend on each other more than they would like to admit.

It is great to have my younger daughter home for the summer.  She has one more year in college and is still trying to define the exact path she wants to take after college.  With her major, she can go in so many directions.  I hope for her this summer will be a time of rest and reflection and that it will help her 'get her bearings', as they say.  It is always great to spend time with her.  When we get a chance to talk, it is always a joy to hear how she has thought things through.  I do think, though, that she analysis every thought to death!

My oldest daughter is very much like her daddy, a work-aholic!  She is trying to finish her masters before she begins vet school in July.  I am so proud of the way she has stuck to her studies and perservered when things got tough.  It took her a while to realize just what she wanted to do with her life, but when she did, she went full steam ahead.  I guess "full steam ahead" pretty well sums up her drive and ability to get things done.

I will miss them being with me all the time ~ selfish, I know. But I am, oh, so proud of each of them.  They all have a love of God and others, and work to make their world a better place.  No mother could ask more than to see her children grow into loving, caring adults!