Ready or Not!

 “That was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done!”

Driving in after the first driving lesson

Our daughter had just finished her first driving lesson. She is 16 years old. It is a rite of passage. And while it was stressful as a parent teaching her, those were her words.

Really, if it was up to her, she wouldn’t be interested in driving yet. But here we are in the US for the summer, an opportunity to get her permit. On the islands we don’t own a car, and it’s possible we won’t be back in the US until she is 18, so it seemed that ready or not, it’s a good time to expose her to driving basics.

Another opportunity that being in the US has presented is visiting colleges. Really if it was up to us, we’d prefer not thinking of that looming prospect of our daughter being old enough for university and potentially being on a different continent as us, but ready or not! We’re looking at a few schools (just dabbling really), and hearing the sales-pitches from admissions reps and tour guides talking about an imagined future where our daughter is a starting freshman at their school.  Sometimes time moves too fast and the next stage is upon us before we know it.

Caught in a sudden thunderstorm

Our youngest son turns 12 this week, the age where, for our other two kids, we have begun a rite of passage into young adulthood. Is it really true that we could have 3 young adults in our family? Ready or not!

Granted, we still have time to come to terms with these changes. Our son’s rite of passage process will probably take a year or two for him to complete. Our daughter still has two years of high school left. Other things have come faster with no time to process, like our daughter’s diagnosis just a couple months ago. We’ll still processing what it means for her to have a chronic medical condition, but we’re living with the reality of it ready or not.

As we have been in the US, the time in various locations and with various people has been short. We’ve had to transition from hellos to goodbyes ready or not.

Ultimately we are reminded that we lay our plans in God’s hands and even if we don’t feel ready, He is always ready for what is next.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our landlord on the islands sent pictures of our house (on the islands) with a new cement roof! It is possible that the inside is still full of rubble, but we are very excited to see that work got completed even with us not being there putting pressure on. We are thankful that we can continue in that house. We made it safely to California and had a wonderful time on Sunday reconnecting with people here.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We have more travels this coming week that will end in us being at our teammate’s wedding. Pray for all the wedding logistics for her and that it could be a blessed time. Pray especially as just today a wealthy islander has suddenly decided to travel to the US for the wedding— pray that this doesn’t create too much unneeded stress, but can turn into a blessing. The medical team leader’s new house has a number of repairs needed (toilet, fridge, electricity)— pray that these repairs would happen quickly and that she could move and settle in before their new teammate arrives. Pray for our teammate as she returns to Clove Island this week and settles back into life and work there after a few months away. Pray for our youngest son as he celebrates his 12th birthday in the midst of our travels, may he feel loved and celebrated in spite of the busyness.