You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

Thanks to those of you who have prayed, or sent me sweet comments about my girl.  She's having a great week in Chicago so far.  They've never been allowed to take cell phones or iPods on their ministry trips before, but they were allowed to this year.  Or, I should say, it was left to the parents' discretion.  Our girl doesn't abuse those privileges, so we allowed her to take them.  As a result, we have gotten sweet texts at the end of the day, as the team is driving back to the church where they are staying.  All kinds of "great" and "success!" -- which I'm loving.  She is working with a man, we'll call him "E," and today, she and "E" will be buddies at THE ZOO! I'm praying for clear skies and sunshine with a breeze -- not to mention safety for all!

When our girl gets home, it will already be almost mid-July.  Time for summer clearances, fall merchandise in the stores (actually, I saw fall flowers the other day at JoAnn's!), and back-to-school sales.

If you've followed along here for a while, you may know about our homeschool background, and the changes in our family in the last several years.  This will be our daughter's third year in public school.  The first year was horrendous, but ended well.  Last year was better!  Much better.  And this year?  Well, she told me the other day that she's excited for this school year.

Did you catch that?  Excited!!

Words like that do a mama's heart good -- especially knowing the road that my girl has traveled, so to speak. She's come a long way.

Speaking of words that do my heart good...  Last year, my girl shared her personal testimony at a small "house-group" that she attends weekly -- a break-out group from the high school youth group at church.  One of the leaders told her that she was so proud of her, and recognized how much she had matured in the past year, and grown in her faith.

Stuff like that gets to me, and I'll tell you why:

1. Because we're talking about my child -- obviously.

2. [and this might not be as obvious]  Because, it totally knocks the wind out of me to see other people invest themselves in my kids' lives -- and I mean that in a good way.

Our kids have been blessed with amazing leaders who have become important friends!

Well, this post was slightly themed, and slightly... RANDOM.  Just some things that have been floating around in my head.  Apparently there's lots of room in my head for floating when my girl isn't around to keep me busy.  Ha!

Three more days to get my garage sale act together.  I asked my hubby about putting some computer "stuff" in the garage sale, and he said, "If it isn't nailed down, it's fair game" -- which is good... except... now I need a truck and a big, empty garage.  ANYONE?