What's a Mom to Do?

Sending a child to college is stressful, so many people keep asking me how my mom is handling me moving to Poland for a year.  She graciously wrote a short piece on how things go on the home front!

You have a child and you hold them for the first time.  Never in a million years did you imagine that they would actually grow up and become young adults in their own right.  I remember trying to dress Stephanie for the first time – so scared of this baby that God had blessed me with.  I couldn’t even dress her,  how in the world was I going to teach her to eat and walk and all the necessary things.  .  The first years are so filled with just getting through; the lack of sleep, lack of knowledge and everything being so overwhelming.

Before you know it, school starts and it’s a whole new ballgame…what if I don’t teach them something.  What if they don’t get into college, what if I’ve failed them?  And of course, the oldest is the hardest.  Often Stephanie was called my guinea pig, which was so true.  If it didn’t work on her, we’d change course for the younger two.  

I think what amazes me most is how God takes the basics that we teach and allows our children to blossom into an individual flower.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought 20 years ago that my daughter would be traveling the world.  The first time she left I sort of thought it was a quirk.  But now she’s on her 3^rd trip to Europe, I have to admit, this isn’t just a passing fad…she’s opened the world up to herself and she’ll be coming and going the rest of her life.  

I’ve already decided that the hardest part of parenting is learning to let go.  You’ve taught them right from wrong, how to love God and how to be independent.  Now comes the time when they have formed their own opinions, attitudes and values.  While they still might reflect yours, they are not a carbon copy of yours.  You have to step back and as a wise friend has told me numerous times “Just love them”.  

So as Stephanie goes on to one more life adventure, and I face the possibility of not seeing her for a year, I’m very proud of her.  Behind the tears of my selfishness of missing her – I’m excited for her.  I can’t wait to hear of her adventures.  Her meeting extended family will build bonds across the continents.  Amazing that this is the baby I held so long ago and couldn’t figure out how to dress!