What a month it has been! We soaked up as much family time as we could before Chandler left for BMT on July20th. I was not prepared for how much I was going to miss him!
Right before Chandler left, we went to the mountains and spent a few days as a family. My Aunt Lisa graciously allowed us to stay at her mountain home, and it was a fun trip for us. We spent time walking, drinking coffee, playing pickleball, and even a trip to Dollywood. Dollywood is probably my favorite amusement park as far as those types of parks. I’m not a huge fan of rides or things that make my head hurt, but our kids sure do enjoy them! Dollywood is extremely family friendly, and you can get tickets at a greatly reduced rate by doing a bit of research! Emma shocked the socks off of all of us as she rode every ride! The last time we went, she was scared of many of the rides, but this time she wanted to go on all of them. We ended up staying at the park til almost closing time, and it was quite the long drive back, but I’m glad we did it. Garett wasn’t able to come to Dollywood with us as he was working, but he did come up to the mountains for Friday and Saturday.
On Sunday, July 19th we attended our last church service as a family before our lives drastically changed. Garett came to church with us (he normally attends a different church), and as I sat in the pew and looked down the row, I was filled with gratitude to Jesus who loves me, died for me, and gifted us with these precious children. They were never ours to start with, but rather a gift from God to raise and to steward and to raise for the Kingdom of Heaven. Pastor Powell offered a prayer over Chandler and for Chandler, and even Chandler had some tears in his eyes. He’s not the emotional type! While our life is changing, God is unchanging. I know that through the trying of our faith worketh patience and God is going to continue a good work in and through us. We press on in Jesus’ name.
We had an informal gathering of friends and family over to our house on Sunday night (7/19) for fellowship and fun. Oh, it was fun! Chandler and his friends spent much of the afternoon and evening down by the pond riding on the ole jet ski and surfing behind it. It brought a light heartedness to the evening, and even our neighbors stopped by for the free entertainment being offered by a old 1988 jet kid and a bunch of teenagers loving life and enjoying the murky pond water!
Monday (7/20) Chandler’s departure date. He needed to be at the hotel in Raleigh by 6:00pm, so we had most of the day before we needed to leave. Chandler had had several of his friends sleep overnight, and they got up early to have breakfast together before they all went their separate ways.
We spent the day making sure that Chandler had everything that he needed to bring (which wasn’t much!). I took Chandler to get coffee with me and we talked about some of the challenges that he might face. He is/was concerned about friendships and relationships as well as finding other Christians. I reminded him that God is always for him and that multiple people would be praying for him. We left for the hotel in plenty of time, and we arrive to drop Chandler off at the hotel about 15 minutes before 6pm. As we all piled out of the van to walk into the hotel, Chandler looked at me and said, “We’re all going in?! Mom, we can just say our goodbyes out in the parking lot.” To which I immediately replied, “Um, we’re going with you.” Look, buddy, we brought you this far. We are going to make sure you have all your ducks in a row before we leave.” He went into a meeting, and we sat in the lobby for a few minutes. I had an epiphany and realized that I needed to send him with envelopes and stamps, and the hotel graciously gave me several envelopes. (I got the impression that I wasn’t the first person that had ever asked for envelopes!) Five minutes later Chandler comes back and says, “I’m all checked in. I don’t need to sign back in until 8:30pm. Can we go get some supper somewhere?” Ahh…the reason we came in with you! :) We piled back in the van, and headed to Chili’s to get some supper. I was taking a few candid photos at the table, when Travis started getting teary-eyed, and suddenly everyone at the table was blinking away tears or wiping their eyes. I’ve found out that my boys can be emotional! The waitress came over to take our order, and I could tell she was very confused by all the tears. We did have a great supper together, and it was a fun last-memory to make. We did the whole drop-off thing again …this time just from the parking lot, and then Chan was on his way. I blinked and my second son is off, and I realized just how un-ready I was for that moment! Chandler said that he thought he’d have to share a room at the hotel, and he wasn’t crazy about that, but he texted me later that night. “Mom, I have a praise. There’s only one bed in my room, and thankfully, it’s just me.” Praise Jesus!
Tuesday morning came early for all of us as no one slept great. Thankfully, we all had work to do, so that was a good thing cause we couldn’t sit around and think about missing Chandler. I have life 360 on my phone and I knew that Chandler had been at the MEPS since about 5:30am. They were there all day until about 2:00pm. Chandler sent me a text about3:30pm to tell me that they had missed the first flight to Texas and were waiting for the second flight. I asked what he had been doing all day, and he replied, “Nothing! We’ve “hurried up and waited all day!” Once at the airport, he texted me to tell me that he was ready to get this training started. He said that the unknown was making him anxious, and we had a short texting conversation about our imaginations being our own worst enemies. Regardless of the season of life we are in, we have to cast those burdens at Jesus’ feet. He texted me about 8:30 to tell me that they were leaving for Texas. I had started researching support groups and information about what to expect, so I knew that he would probably get one short phone call to tell me he had arrived and it was 11:47pm our time. I was right..it was a 9 second phone call. He called from the airport to tell me that he had arrived, loved me and would call in 72 hours. Whew! He sounded a bit tense and there was a lot of background noise.
We all worked on Wednesday, and on Thursday we worked at school for a bit. I knew from the support pages that are now all over my FB feed that some parents/loved ones had started getting phone calls with addresses by Thursday. I found the address format and started carrying around my piece of paper and a pen. I figured out how to turn on the emergency by pass on my phone so I wouldn’t miss his call, since it’s not like they get to call back! We were at the farmer’s market on Friday, when Chandler called. It was hard not to be emotional as Chandler knew what he needed to do and rattled off the address. He quoted it several times to me, and there was a lot of background noise. He sounded a bit stressed, but our only recourse is to keep praying and sending mail- lots of mail! After he hung up, I realized that I was missing a critical piece of information, so back I went to the support pages. My friend, Tamela, texted me off the cliff (figuratively speaking, of course!) as I was rattled, emotional, and clearly didn’t know what I was doing! She sent me some money for coffee which is totally my “thinking and de-stressing drink”. I think we have it figured out now, so if you’d like the address for Chandler, you can message me.
Meanwhile, Roger, Garett, Travis and their friend, Eli, left for Wisconsin on Tuesday evening. They headed up to see the EAA air show, and I think a great time was had by all. It was a lot of walking, seeing airplanes, talking to pilots, taking pictures, etc. Garett has some amazing photos, so feel free to check those out on Instagram. Or I can try to post some here also.
Jen, Emma, Travis and I have been at my parent’s house for a few days in Wisconsin. It’s been a little while since Jen and I have been up to Wisconsin, and it was good to catch up on a few things. We went up to Wausau one day to visit some of my dad’s family. We cleaned some, worked on a few projects, etc. I was able to spend some time with one of my dearest friends, Jenna, and her family. Sometimes God brings someone into your life that will be your forever friend. Jenna is that friend to me. We are terrible about texting or calling, but we can seamlessly knit our families and conversations back together every time. Jenna is an “iron sharpeneth iron” friend, and we had many deep and meaningful conversations over the course of just a few days. It’s never enough time, but I’ve learned to always be thankful for whatever time we do have. The kids and I had dinner at another friends house (Longsines) on Wednesday night, and it’s always good to catch up. There were lots of friends that we would’ve loved to re-connect with, but time is always so short. I am thankful for the time that we did have, the memories created, and the conversations that were meaningful.
We are now traveling back to North Carolina, and I am trying to write the July post before August is here. It’s hard to believe that school will be starting back soon! Please pray for a great year for teachers and students. I am excited about the new school year, but it always brings about new challenges. Or rather, I guess, opportunities to depend on Jesus more.
We are missing Chandler …a lot. And I’ve definitely been far more teary than I’ve ever been, but God has been so faithful. This week was a special blessing to be able to spend time with my parents, our two youngest kids, and special moments with dear friends. God is so, so good. Sometimes we don’t always recognize the goodness of God, but I am so thankful that He is unwavering and faithful. Even when I am worried about all the “what ifs”, God remains calm and unchanging in the midst of the storms of life. I’m thankful to be anchored to the Rock and that Rock is Jesus.
