Hmmm

What to say. Eight months have now passed since my last entry. Not much has changed but everything has.

We are now members of Center Point Church. It's an amazing experience to be in the midst of a group of people genuinely seeking Christ and to help others become closer to Him.

Mary and Justin came home for Thanksgiving. They live together now and, while I'm not thrilled with that, I do like him (as do the rest of the members of our family) and feel he's a good fit for Mary. She is now an Assistant Manager at Pet Supermarket in North Ft. Myers and I'm proud of the hard work she is putting in. She's a bit lost. Trying to figure things out -- something we all go through sooner or later and I'm trying not to interfere.

I love so much more than I ever have now. I find I am forgiving more. I am more willing to grow. I pray for even more patience and maturity. It makes me sad that it took 44 years to get to this point but I hope it's never too late.

I'm so grateful for my job at the Ronald McDonald House. So happy and proud to be able to say I work there and that I make a small difference in someone's life. I like the people I work with , some I even love very much.

Today, more than any other time in my life I see that God IS good all the time.

That's it. Nothing profound. I'm just glad and grateful today and wanted to tell someone. K

I am not MIA. . .

So, it's been quite a while since I wrote my last triumphant entry hailing the election of our nation's first African American President (I never know, should that be hyphenated?).

Since then, I've been laid off from my job at UDS, unemployed for a grand total of 2 and one half weeks and been hired for two more jobs! A lot can happen in four months.

I won't go into all the details. Suffice it to say, I am now the Volunteer Services and Development Coordinator for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass. It's the best job I've ever had and I'm so THRILLED to be doing it. Having said that, I'm a bit daunted. It's a huge job and I haven't even chipped away the tip of the iceberg.

On the family front, Mary decided that she needed to get off of Asbury campus in order to move on after her break ups with first Ethan and then Chris . . . so she went as far as she could go and still be on the continent. She is living with my parents in Fort Myers, Florida. She has a job at Pet Supermarket and a boyfriend. She is talking about establishing residency and going to school there. Yes, as this was all unfolding I basically freaked out.

However, as it turns out, I'm a lot stronger than I thought and I'm living through it. This is by far the most difficult season of parenting so far.

I'm learning that it's not my life -- but I don't have to like or even support what she does with it. I feel I was gracious during Spring Break and I love her. But I don't have to watch as she pisses her life away. In a way, I'm glad she's far away so I don't have to be as much of a part of the mistakes she's making.

I'm just praying she doesn't do anything irreversible.

I guess this started out as an update and ended up a short rant. Parenting is so hard. And, regardless of what your children think, you're never really done with it.

Jesus, carry my little girl while she's far away and help me not alienate her. Amen.