Every Now & Then ...

P1 started 3rd grade this year ... at a new school. It's a great school. I think I have had daily emails from the school, the PTO &/or his teacher, starting the week before school began. That is more communication than I received from our previous school in a whole year.

As the school year approached, I had several friends stressing about their kids (their first borns) starting Kindergarten. I smiled knowingly. "Yes, yes," I thought, "you'll survive and one day be relieved when the first day of school rolls around each year." Such carrying on - the tears, the worry, the tears. You have to let your children go. From the moment they are born, you are letting them go a little at a time.

And so, P1 walked to school the first day with his dad, taking his bike so he could ride home. How great not to fight the carpool line each morning & afternoon! How wonderful to not have to wake Sweet P up from nap when it's time for the end of the school day! P1's good. I'm good.

Then the second day ... he got on his bike, helmet on, backpack on. And I watched him ride away. I watched him until he turned the corner. And then ... well ... it hit me. A wave of panic, worry, fear. And yes, even a tear rolled down my cheek. How do I know he got to school? Did I check the Registered Sex Offender list for the neighborhood yet? Would it ever occur to him to skip school? How quickly would the school call if he wasn't there (it was late afternoon at our old school)? ARGH!

And I hear a little whisper, "Suzanne, you have to let your children go. A little at a time. This is just another one of those moments." Oh, yeah.

And because God has a terrific sense of timing, I'm co-leading a moms' Bible study starting in a couple of weeks, on Stormie O'Martian's Power of a Praying Parent. All about handing your children over to God.

Yep. Every now & then, God has to shout a little before I can hear His gentle whispers.