Trusting In God Every Step of the Way

As the parent of an 18 year old making his way in the world I'm learning to hold my hands like this,

 not this.

That way I can let my child go to follow God to do what he's needed to do.  It's hard not to close your hands to hold on tight to your child due to fear, pain of leaving, or selfishness.  That's not fair to your child.  I'm praying that God will continue to be with me each step of the way with Ben.  He leaves for El Salvador in a week.  He'll be home for 4 days from El Salvador and he'll be off on a plane to Austin, Texas for a year.

I'm trusting God to continue to lead Ben and to carry me through this tough time in a mom's life.  I'm not saying Dad's have it easy.  Tim said he's gone through lots of emotions since Ben announced his plans to go to Austin, Texas, then Africa.

Be with us Lord, and help us to release Ben to you.  We dedicated him years ago to you and now are sending him on his way to make a life for himself.  Help me be strong Lord.  I'm just and emotional mom.

Here's a beautiful painting by God from July 5th.  What an amazing sunset we saw.  Both Sarah and I were taking pictures.  I even learned how to take a panorama picture on my phone. LOL  Sarah is teaching me things I don't know.

This morning I dropped Sarah off for her Youth Group Trip to St. Louis.  They were going in two nice buses that had free wifi.  So all of the kids could use their electronics to keep in touch with everyone.  There's always a time of hesitation and hugs before kids leave.  They are too big for hugs, but are secretly pleased that mom forces them cuz they still do give the, I love you feeling, and an assurance that you will be missed.
I'm praying for these kids that whey will have a deeper relationship with God when they return.  That God will work in their heart to bring them closer to him.  I pray for their safe travels there and back.  The conferences they go to are amazing.  Wish I would have had access to this kind of thing as a teen.

Here's a fun, high-energy song I saw posted by our Christian radio Station, The Fish, here in Ohio.  Take a listen.  It's by Chris Tomlin and called God's Great Dance Floor.  It has a catchy tune, but the lyrics speak volumes.

Here's a card from today's challenge.  We were to use tissues to stamp with.  I stamped the different colors onto the stamp using different colors of ink.  I then used the same tissues to stamp ink onto the background strip.  Love the texture it makes.

Ben's girlfriend went on the same trip as Sarah.  She will be praying for God's guidance in her life.  She needs to know without a shadow of a doubt, what God wants her to do next.  Praying that she gets a loud and clear answer.

Here are the cards Patti and I made today thanks to Hope and Patti's sister Rose.  Hi Rose! :)  We loved your card and started to look for different kinds of stamps to use to make these.  Patti was going home to make some with the tool stamps she has.  She makes thank you cards for Fred Jr., to send to customers.  I can't wait to see what she did.  Thanks again Rose and Hope. 

Blessing of the Day:Time stamping with Patti.
Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings,