Saying Good-bye to Emma. We love you!
When Steve and I had our first daughter, and then another, and then another, and then another, we pretty much thought that we better learn how to work with and raise girls. I learned how to do hair, we braced ourselves for prom dress shopping and wedding planning. We not only had our own four girls, but they had their friends over so then we really would have a houseful of girls....girls beget more girls, we found out! Now we have the honor and privilege of working with a group of beautiful young women who are not only learning so much about themselves, but also teaching others and teaching me and Steve as well. Teaching us how to show compassion, love, patience, honesty, forgiveness...and seeing the true beauty within each and every soul. I am learning how to see with God's eyes, the unconditional love that we always read about...the pure love of Christ. These beautiful young ladies are our daughters too. We pray for them, worry about them, hope for them, support them, feed them, talk with them, laugh with them and admire their strength to do very hard things. We have seen several go on to bigger and--hopefully, prayerfully--better things. We send them off with tools in their handbag of tricks to pull out and use against unhealthy triggers and patterns of thought and action. We watch them advance, and sometimes get setback...two steps forward, one step back--but always, one step at a time. Keep on moving, keep on moving...forward. Let go, and let God. Sometimes they leave because they have graduated the program. Yeah! We are so happy and excited for them. Sometimes they leave because of other reasons, and we have to let them go with our love and confidence in their abilities ringing in their ears. We give them our phone number and make them promise to call us if they get in trouble or need help in any way. And then we trust, and pray, and love.
