~A New Chapter~ - Faith Sisters Scrapbooking Gallery

Meg & Jim showing off their new U of Arizona goodies…right before we left~

SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Bazill Basics
Patterned Paper: Gazebo: October Afternoon; Bright Squares: Whoop di Doo Collection GCD Studios
Font: Papyrus
Adhesive: Vario: EK Success; Vellum Adhesive Runner, Zots:Therm O Web
Embellishments: In A Stitch Green Blossoms: Sassafras Lass; Loopy Love Cardstock Stickers; Granny’s Kitchen Brown Alphabet: SEI; SHE Chipboard Alphabet: Heidi Swapp; Foam Shapes: Making Memories; Brad: Club Scrap; Scrapbook Colors Green: Making Memories; Chalk: Colorbox

JOURNALING:
I used to laugh at my friends when they told me they went thru ~empty nest~ syndrome when their children left for college. All I could think of was how was I going to spend all that free time? When Meg went away to college, I shed a few tears. But she was less than an hour drive from home at UC Irvine, and still came home often enough that it wasn’t a huge change for me. But when Jim left for the University of Arizona, reality struck. He was happy, plugged in, settled and excited about his new life on campus. As a parent I couldn’t have asked for anything else. But I walked away from his dorm, sobbing hysterically thinking that we had left something behind and we had…Jim! The drive home was horrible. As we drove further away with each mile, every time I thought of Jim I would start crying all over again. For the next week I couldn’t look in his room, in fact I closed his door to fool myself into thinking he was still in bed asleep. I literally wandered around the house aimlessly. Michael of course did not understand my feelings at all. And to be honest I really didn’t either until I sat myself down and thought just WHAT is going on here? And I had to come to grips with the reality that one chapter of my life as a parent of children in the house and how I defined myself was over. I had been really involved in both Meg & Jim’s lives. Starting at an early age I drove them to and from ballet, soccer, church youth groups, I was their Girl Scout and Boy Scout Leader, Sunday School Teacher, classroom mom for both of them from Kindergarten thru 6th grade, I was team mom for soccer, baseball, basketball and track. I painted backdrops for ballets, sewed tutus, designed track meet programs; whatever they were involved in, I was involved in as well. My life had revolved around my kids for over 22 years. But now they had moved on to a new chapter in their lives and I realized I must too. And as always in times of bewilderment, I turned to God. As I read the comforting words of the Bible, I was overcome with the feeling that I had nothing to worry about. I knew that together God & I had laid the foundation for which they were going to live the rest of their lives and it was time for me to relinquish control and let God fully take over. This was no easy task believe me, but I knew in my heart that they were children of God and I could not ask for better hands for them to be in to help guide them the rest of their lives.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrew 2:10