Today, Friday, marks the beginning of a new time in the life of the Dempsey Family. After this weekend, all three Lovelies will have made their way out into the world. Our baby, Lovely #3 graduates from high school tomorrow (today is the rehearsal), which means our life as a “homeschooling family” comes to an end and a new chapter begins. Lovelies 1 & 2 are doing their post-high school stuff already and now #3 joins them.
It’s hard to say goodbye to 18 years of a lifestyle. Homeschooling was not just an educational choice for us; it became who were as an entity, it permeated many areas of our lives: determining most of our friends, our financial status (one breadwinner in the family for 18 years? In this day and age? Whew!), and moved us into circles of influence we would never have had if not for making the decision to homeschool our Lovelies oh so long ago. I say “us”, but I also really mean “I”…… I’ve always said homeschooling was the best education this MOM’S ever had. J
But now the page has turned…. "Better is the ending of a thing, than the beginning thereof” Eccl. 7:8(a)
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| The Three Lovlies at Christmas |
It is now time for all those years of planting to come to fruition. All those times of leading our girls down the path of “who am I and why am I here?” Sometimes it was a struggle, but in the end I have to say it was worth all the sacrifice, tears (theirs AND mine…hey, math is HARD ;), and periodic self-doubt (mine). It was worth it to see them turning into the young women they are becoming today: independent, unconventional, out-of-the-box thinkers. Women who will make a mark in this world for Jesus Christ; determining their place in it, and how they can impact the world for Him. I can already see some of the effects --
>>Lovely #1, my compassionate people-person, always loved getting out her collection of old computer keyboards, telephones, and cash registers, pretending she was in an office or something. Today, she is an Administrative Assistant for a Voc/Rehab office, helping people make the sometimes-difficult transition into the working world.
>>Lovely #2, who always loved carrying around tablets and pens everywhere she went, is going to start her 4th year as an English major this fall. This summer she will be working as an intern at the university, where she will conduct research related to her life-time love of children’s literature and theater.
>>Lovely #3 --the little girl who once drew on walls and anything else her hand could reach, who found library books and taught herself how to draw, the teenager who one day just “decided” she could play the drums…and then the guitar…and then the piano --this fall she will combine all that creative ability into getting her cosmetology license. She will be able to use her artist’s eye and play with colors all day long, and use her musical skills on the side for who-knows-what?
“Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
So then, what does all that have to do with “Freaky Friday” you may ask? Well, just as I cannot remember the mom in that role-reversal movie, so it should be in life. My stint as star of this show will now start to fade into the background, and I now begin to move into a supporting-role for all three Lovelies. The Bud and I will now go from catching them when they fall, to just trying to make their landing a little softer. This new role is, in some ways, even more difficult because we now contend with semi-adults making decisions about adult things. Oi.
“And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to faint.”
Hehe…….
Luke 18:1--Prov. 22:6
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