Tuesday, August 25, 2009

...And One Has Flown




Last fall, our daughter Abigail and I visited college campuses, prayerfully narrowing down our options. After spending a day at the Union University campus, we knew we had found her school. Being a home schooler, she was graduating a year early, at 17 years of age. We had looked forward to a gap year. She had planned on reading, doing community theater, writing her scholarship essays and studying for her ACT's.

In March of this year, we felt undeniably led to walk towards serving in Belgium. Immediately our plans took a sudden shift. Abigail would need to wrap up her senior year very quickly, apply to UU, seek out scholarships, and study for the ACT's. She would lose her well deserved, strongly desired gap year, forfeit the community theater experience and time reading and resting in preparation for her college career. And we would have to let her fly from the nest a year earlier than we had planned.

In agreement with the direction our family was taking, she applied and was accepted to UU, spent countless hours hunting down scholarships and stared down logic puzzles and geometry equations in preparation for her testing. Please understand, Union was not an affordable option for us, though we felt it was the very best fit for our Abbie. And we believed that God would make a way if was part of His plan. We'd have to trust the Lord. Indeed, it would be an encouraging marker for our family to move ahead with the church plant.

Though it was a stressful few months, we are now on the other side, smiling ear to ear. God has provided in mighty ways. We dropped Abigail off on Friday, situated her in her little dorm room and drove home. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not emotional. NOT EMOTIONAL! So, truly, I did not expect to cry. But when little Ruby, our three year old from China fell apart in the parking lot, I lost it, too.

Since dropping her off I have been a regular boogery, slobbery, sighing, disoriented, brain numbed crying machine... until I talked to her on Sunday. I guess I just needed to hear her sweet voice, sounding at ease, reassuring me that she was fine and excited to embrace this new adventure. We home schooled her for ten years. Ten years. Close does not describe our relationship. Maybe velcro, or super glue. The tearing apart had to be painful. But it was time. It was necessary for the direction our family was taking to move to Belgium.

Let me share with you just how specifically good our Lord is. We leave in 2011, January. Abigail will be finishing up her second year at Union. She will join us in the summer of 2011. Under the covering of Union's intercultural studies program, for the last two years of college, she will be afforded the blessing of studying two semesters in Belgium! She can split them up or go back to back and of course she will be with us in the summers. These are our hopes and prayers, God willing. Union is a missions-minded college. Their theme is continual worship. Missionaries from all over the world send their kids to Union. We chose Union before we knew about Belgium. Or, better... God chose Union to encourage us as we, in faith, take another step on this journey.

3 comments:

  1. Isn't it awesome how God knows all about our needs and meets them??? Abbie will be in GREAT hands at UU... We have several friends from Northside who have kids there.

    I'll be praying for you guys as you prepare to make the move to Belgium! What an awesome ministry God has given you! :)

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  2. Woohoo! God is INCREDIBLY good :)
    I love you Mom!!

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  3. The LORD has walked before you. He knows about goodbyes too. Releasing a child to fulfill the destiny crafted for them alone. I am PROUD of you as parents. I cheer for you. I celebrate you. Few have the bond your family has. Few have girls who are compassionate citizens of HIS kingdom. And I am excited to see all you will do to further impact the world around you.

    You guys are knit to my heart.

    Hugs galore...
    Tina

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