So...tomorrow our Bethany graduates. I've known it was coming, but it didn't hit me as reality until tonight at the rehearsal. Seeing her take her place with the other graduates, doing their funny routines and their serious reflections, seeing the video montages of their lives, and then doing the mock presentation of her diploma....well, it came crashing in that my job in educating her is complete. I haven't always done it the way I wanted to or should have; her high school years more than any of the other children were affected by our life transitions and my physical and emotional challenges....

"but God..." My favorite two words in Scripture...the words that assure me that I am not the one in control, and no matter how selfish, ineffective, faithless, or tired I become, He will not allow His purposes to be thwarted. His purposes in Bethany are being realized and becoming more visible each day; as I watched her from the back of the auditorium tonight I saw new glimpses of the woman she is becoming. So young--not quite 17--and yet already displaying the new grace and poise of womanhood. And as we end this part of our journey together, she begins to take a new place, that of adult daughter and friend. It tastes bittersweet, but these days the sweet is taking center stage...

Labels: Friendship, Homeschooling, Kids, Mothering