Changes.............

It seems that the saying "things are always changing" is certainly true. Funny, we as humans don't like change, or at least that is true for the most of us. We like our routines and the "comfort" they bring to our lives. The sooner we can adapt to the changes in life the more at peace we'll be. Many changes have taken place in our lives just this summer. Hope and Hannah both went on 2 trips this summer and flew on big planes for the first time. Hannah and Doug went on a mission trip together just the two of them. Hope was a cadre for the first time at leadership camp and experienced the "stress" of being in charge. Hannah realized that there are many children who go to bed hungry every night, she didn't just hear about it......she witnessed it. She also saw what a society is like without any glimmer of Christ. She and Doug witnessed the power of the love of Christ in action and how it can make the impossible become possible. Hope and Hannah both have said goodbye to their boyfriends that they have been with for the past year. I've had to deal with the feelings of missing the boys but knowing that it was for the best. I've realized as a parent you don't have the choice of who your children date and you don't have the choice of when they choose not to date those people anymore. I grew to love Ben and Brian like my own. I spoiled them, fed them, carried them with me, they worked alongside me here at the house, played games with us, laughed with us....they were a part of our family for a year and now, they are gone. I support my girls decisions and rejoice with them that they have a peace in those decisions but at the same time it is sad for me. Hope is about to be a senior with only one semester left of school and Hannah is starting High School!!!! Change is definitely upon us every second of every day. Their have been lots of tears, lots of anxiety and big decisions, lots of joy, lots of laughter and lots of love and we are pressing on. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." I will trust in the God of the universe to see me through every season that my life experiences. He's never let me down!