First day of school

Wow! Summer has come and gone!

In some ways, I'm not sure what happened to it. In other ways, I am glad it is over. I loved the chance to play with my kids more and swim and eat ice cream but, the draw of freedom had given way to boredom. The kids had started using torturing one another for their favorite form of amusement. I don't know about you but it doesn't take long for me to grow weary of the teasing, fighting, and tears that follow!

At the same time, it is bittersweet to send them back to school. I turn over the majority of their waking hours to other adults and children who I don't know well. It can be scary to think about influences that I wouldn't approve of having their ear for hours each day. I worry about other children being cruel. I fret over their teachers having so many children in a classroom.

And yet, the first day of school has become a beautiful day to reflect on all the ways that they have grown. I am amazed at these wonderful girls who are growing into young women before my eyes. I marvel at all the things they know and can do now that they haven't been able to before. I'm aware of how few and precious these years are that they are under my roof and in my care. These gifts from the hands of God himself rest in my arms and what an amazing gift they are!

Yes, I shed a few tears yesterday as I walked away from their classrooms for the first time. Not because I couldn't bear to leave them but because it was a moment on holy ground as I considered all that God had given me in their sweet lives and all the potential that exists in these faces that I love so deeply.