Welcome Home

This past Fall I experienced being an empty nester!  My daughter went off to college and my son moved out all in the same week!  It was tough!  And now that the school year is winding down, my daughter is home for the summer!  Yay!  This mommy has been looking forward to this day for a long time!

But... there are challenges that I will face having her home for the summer!  I was reminded of this yesterday when she finally arrived home!  We had done most of the packing and moving the day before on Friday! (I still don't understand how she accumulated so much stuff!)  She had decided to stay all night with a friend from her speech team so that she could watch her graduate on Saturday.  The graduation was at 2:30 pm so we knew Bri wouldn't be home for a while.  My husband and I cleaned as we anxiously awaited her arrival.  She got home and after a few minutes of hugs she said she was going to Indianapolis (about an hour away) to visit with high school friends!  That is when I began pouting!  What really got my goat was that she was leaving to go visit people who have proven, more than once, that they are NOT true friends.  Some are teens who do NOT make good choices and she was choosing to leave her loving parents to go visit with THEM!  I even suggested she go visit another friend who has proven time and again to be a TRUE friend and is a godly, Christian young lady.

I let her know my feelings and how disappointed I was in her choice, but told her it was her choice to make.  Once she left I stewed and pouted some more!  Then I remember... God is in control!  He gave us both free will!  She has to make choices AND so do I.  Ouch!  I realized that pouting was not the way to handle this.  I gave my concerns to God and prayed that He would watch over her and that she would make wise choices with Him on her mind as she was gone.

I know this is not the last time this summer she is going to do something to hurt my feelings or make me worry.  I can let it consume me and make me into an emotional mess or I can give it COMPLETELY to God.  I will always be her parent and will not stop from guiding her and giving her my opinions on how to be a godly young woman.  It is up to her to listen and make the choices that God would have her to make.

I am choosing to be a godly mother, to welcome her, and to create a home that she will want to spend time at.  Pray for me...

Angie