Saturday, January 18, 2014

I Changed My Mind . . .

Today the most difficult part of parenting is letting go.  We just got home from dropping James off at LAX to go back to Haiti for five months.  I hoped it would not be as hard to let him go this time, but so far, I was wrong.  I hope the return to the new normal is easier than establishing the new normal because the letting go was no easier than it was in September.

I'm so crazy proud of James, but it sure would be easier to have him a few hours away as opposed to a flight over an ocean.  We had a wonderful day celebrating his birthday early with just our family and then taking him to the airport.  With the exception of his luggage being overweight and having to make some adjustments and the fact that we forgot his medication, and by forgot I mean forgot to go to the pharmacy and pick it up.  Emotional stress can do ridiculous things to a person.  I spent much of this week making sure we had all of the medicine here before he left, and then I forgot to go get it at the pharmacy, not realizing it until we pulled into the airport parking lot down in LA.  Praise God he has enough to get him through the next six weeks.  We can figure something out between now and then to get it to him.  Thankfully we know quite a few people that go in and out of Haiti.  We ate lunch at Buca di Beppo, then had cookies and ice cream at Diddy Riese and headed to the airport.

As we drove home I just kept remembering stories of James as a little child.  He was so young when he asked Jesus to be his savior, but his understanding has always been so solid.  He was a normal kid with sin issues that had to be addressed, and he frustrated us and made us crazy at times, but he had such incredible understanding about God and Scripture.  He asked unbelievable questions.  I would often have to call Brent to help me answer James's questions, and sometimes Brent would have to tell James he needed to do some studying before answering.  Even as a grade school student, he pointed out things in Scripture I had never noticed.  Now as he spends this time serving, he is being able to put that knowledge into practice in ways that he could not here in the United States, and it is fantastic to hear his stories and watch him continue to grow.  I am excited for his future and proud of who he is.

To continue on a little from my last post, with prayer and several discussions with different people, we made a decision to pull Jason out of his current school and put him in a charter school that is kind of a hybrid between home schooling and traditional school.  He will go to school at least one full day a week, maybe two and another half day.  We are waiting to have his schedule finalized.  I am excited at the opportunities he will have in this educational setting.  I hope and pray that it is more suited to his personality and learning style and that it is the best decision for him.  It has been a hard path, but we feel at peace about it and so does Jason, which is huge.  He is my socialite.  He can make friends with ANYONE, and his friendships are important to him, so pulling him out of the school where he cultivates those relationships everyday was not an easy decision.  We are committed to supporting him in maintaining those relationships and are excited for the new ones he will make.  On another note, I'm nervous about the home schooling side of things, especially with my work schedule, so prayers are appreciated.  Brent and I will be tag teaming the educational part.  I know we can do it, but it is not going to be easy.

It's during these trials that I am so thankful for a God who carries my burdens and on whom I can rely to carry me.  I have been holding on to 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your cares on Him, for he cares for you."  I don't know what people do without these promises.

Here are a couple pics from today.  We are so blessed!



No comments: