Journey of 1,000 Days

[DepthCharge4]

I can't believe I'm almost an empty-nester!  Seems I've been waiting for this a loooong time. And yet.... I know I will miss them all!  Let me tell you a bit about my journey.  When I married their dad 26 years ago, I wanted nothing more than to be a stay-at-home Mom and wife.  Through God's grace, I had the privilege of doing just that.  I was able to manage a busy household of five on one income, paid once a month at the end of the month for 21 years.  God led us to home educate all 3 girls K-12 through 5 different household moves across 3 states.  Not only have I been Mom, but teacher, discipler, and now mentor and friend to 3 adult daughters.  It wasn't always easy with kids a year and a half apart, but it was rewarding.  I tell others it was my favorite job in the world, even though I wasn't paid to do it.  All of the girls have had some college and all have chosen different paths to adulthood.  One chose to skip the education and go right to work.  She is crazy talented in art but somehow got the notion art doesn't pay the bills and is doing something completely different.  She hopes to move out sometime this year.  Her dad and I are very ready for this to happen since she has lived with us since our 3rd year of marriage.  Another daughter chose to apply herself to education. After community college where she excelled, she decided to take the dreaded "year off" to do some soul-searching before she had to declare a major. She spent 6 months in Japan as a missionary, teaching  Bible lessons in English to Japanese kids in an after school program. She is now transferred to our state university to continue in Japanese as a major (for now, at least). The house seems emptier now that she's gone. She loves to cook and bake and experiment in the kitchen. I find that my house stays much cleaner as well : )  And now, youngest daughter decided the Navy could help her achieve her career goals.  What can I say about Katie?  She has been a very determined, matter-of-fact, organized, driven, child. Her and I haven't always seen eye-to-eye. It is only as she has matured that we've found some common ground and are building on that relationship. It was her idea to start Kindergarten at the age of four because she did not want to wait to learn to read. She decided that since we were taking another household move, she would just finish high school a year early and graduate with older sister. So when she asked what I thought about her joining the Navy, I thought to myself, you know, the Navy could probably teach her more leadership skills than I could. So here we are. It's about to get lonlier around here.