Not too far

As I type my nephew is moving into his dorm room to finish his college degree.  Gosh!  Stick a fork in him, because he's done!  I know parenting never ends.  I know I will be a momma long past the time my kids move out.  I look forward to the next chapter of grand-parenting, loving on my kids-in-law and all the other adventures of having adult children.

But, there is a point when one level of parenting is gone, and my nephew has crossed that line.  The thought leaves me staggering and gasping for breath.  I wonder if I am taking it harder than my sister and brother-in-law. He's done.  From this point on, he is responsible for himself.  My sister is going to have to trust her son, her past parenting and the Lord-in-the-middle that everything is going to be all right.  Pencils down, it is over.

Whew!  It is an overwhelming thought to me.  Not on behalf of my sister.  She did an awesome job, and has a fantastic kid as fruit of her labors.  She chose to be a stay-at-home mom when everyone scorned her for being lazy, taking advantage of her husband and wasting her own talents and mind.  She refused medicine for her ADD boy in the face of well meaning tsks of disapproval over that wild boy.  She decided to homeschool while people made doomsday predictions about hot-house flowers.

It didn't take long, though, for people to see her sacrifices paying off.  I began making homeschool plans a short 6 years after she began and I heard not a peep of disapproval from anyone who knew my sister or her kids.  She was a success that quickly, so I am sure she has not abnormal worries about how her kids will fare on their own.  They are great kids given a great start.

But I worry.   About my own delivery of teaching to my kids.  I want to be more than enough for them.  I don't want to fail them.  But I am so very little.  I have a temper, I am lazy, and my best laid plans really don't mean much if I don't do anything to carry them out, do they?

I celebrate this day for my sister and her family.  I am eager to hear how life is at the college hours from home.  I can't wait to see who this already great kid becomes as he steps into adulthood.  I pray blessing over my kids and their spouses.  I pray they are prepared, and press into the protective provision of their Lord.  Mostly I pray to stay close, to matter, to help how I can, and to be in relationship with my own great kids--they really are neat!