A new chapter in our family history book...

Yesterday we arrived at Texas A & M Commerce with our oldest son. This will be his new home for the next four years or so (unless he decides later to go to another college, of course). I never knew how difficult it would be to watch him tell his brothers and sister good-bye. As I watched him wander aimlessly around the house I knew in my heart how hard this truly was for him to tell his sister (and good friend) good-bye before she left for school. In a strange sense I felt blessed...blessed because I'm sure there are many kids out there that head off to college and could care less about telling their siblings (and parents) good-bye.

We arrived at his apartment here on campus at 10:00 and 10 minutes later there were 6 girls helping us unload the truck. I stayed near the truck so by the time I made it into his apartment everything was in his room, with no room to spare. It took us a little while to figure it out, but by the time we got done it was completely different than originally set up and he loved it! I wish I had brought the camera so I could have taken a picture...

My husband and I are staying in a nice hotel across the street for a few days. We decided a long time ago that we would take this time off to be with our son and help him to adjust to this new season in his life. I know...everyone has their own ideas and thoughts about how it should be done, but we are following the Lord's guidance on this...he knows our son better than anyone else. Yesterday we got him moved in, shopped for other needed items, bought books (expensive!), toured the town and campus again, and then looked for churches in the area and had dinner at Red Lobster. Afterwards, he wanted to get online to look up some of the churches he thought he might want to visit, so we did that. Then he and his dad went back to his apartment for a while to raise his bed, and I stayed here at the hotel to just relax and sift through the emotions I was having. When he left our hotel room, after bringing his dad back from his apartment, I was a little shocked that I cried, but it's okay...I'm just going to allow myself to "feel". Two things I love about staying here is it has allowed us to love on our son and give him undivided attention when he needs it - helping him to feel more comfortable in his surroundings, as well as a chance for my husband and me to go through this experience in our own way, and just love on each other through it all.

We all write our own chapters, everyone does things a little differently, and one thing that I've learned over the years is you have to follow your heart. My heart tells me this is beneficial to my son and he is being blessed by our being here, allowing him to move into this change slowly. Today, he is writing his own chapter as well, as he's spending the day with hundreds of other freshman going through the same thing. Our prayer for this day is that he will find many wonderful people who will become very close friends one day, and that he will feel more secure with the changes taking place in his life. Though I still see the "don't go yet" in his eyes, I believe it will soon change and I will see the "I'll be okay, it's okay to go now", and we'll head back home to continue adding new chapters to our history book.