Where have the months and years gone?

I've been significantly absent from this blog for far too long. Don't think for a moment that I was lounging on a secluded island paradise ... that rarely happens in real life. No, I've been working through a season of change, and I'm still in the process.

May saw my usual busy schedule of homeschool conventions - I traveled to Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and Florida - in which I was delighted to speak with hundreds of homeschool families. I gave workshops for large groups, but the most rewarding is speaking directly with homeschooling parents, finding out where they are in their homeschool journey, what their goals are, what ages they are teaching, and offering them suggestions for making the journey simpler and more fulfilling. I love it! God equipped me as an encourager, and has given me many experiences from which to share.

Once the conventions were over we had the final flurry of preparations for the high school graduation of our youngest son. There was plenty of planning and prep that went into our ceremony for 12 local homeschooled students, and it was punctuated with foggy reminiscent periods of the 19 years that we have homeschooled. This wasn't just his graduation, it was mine, too. I am no longer an active homeschooling parent. Wow! I never pictured this day when we first ventured into homeschooling so many years ago. Sure, there have been some rough times, but I wouldn't trade our experiences for anything, especially not a yellow school bus.

Graduation might have brought a lull for many, but not for our family. Our son had chosen to enlist in the Army and was scheduled to leave for Basic Training less than two weeks later. We began an unchoreographed dance around each other - he trying to see all the friends that he would miss while he was gone, me trying to get details sorted out to ensure that what he needed to take was at hand and prayerfully processing the varying emotions of my youngest grown up and leaving home. That was one of the bigger shocks. Unlike the older two who went to college and came back home after each semester, the youngest was going to leave and not come home again except for hoped-for annual leave from duty, and we won't know where he will be living until later this fall. I haven't lived in this unknown since my years in my parents' home (Dad was a Marine) and the first decade of marriage (husband was in the Army).

So I'm wandering new territory. Writing letters by hand to my son who has no computer access during Basic Training, sorting through emotions, and seeking the path and plan that God has for me in this new season of life. Meanwhile, I hope to be able to impart some of what I have learned through my homeschool journey and what I am learning now. I welcome your company along the road.