Saturday, January 17, 2009

Letting GO....

We are venturing into a new phase of life....letting go! We have had teenagers for awhile now but this is a new side of it.....driving with friends. Having a moody, disrespectful, hungry, lazy, sleepy teen is one thing....but this is different.

Tyler went with his friend Isaac to a movie yesterday. We thought this would be a great lesson for him on independence...you know, figuring out how to survive with out mom (mostly mom) and dad there to help. They left at 4pm and decided to see Seven Pounds. All was good....Tyler is a pretty responsible driver. He hasn't had a tremendous amount of winter driving though. We did our parental duty of reminding him to be careful on the road , drive slow and double check before changing lanes......

We were confident with his abilities! We got a call around 7pm stating that they had decided to go to the BK lounge for some burgers....strange thing for teenagers to do??? We were okay with that...and feeling quite proud that he had managed to get to Star Theatre, get tickets, find seats, find the van at the end of the show......

We received a call around 8pm from the parking lot of BK...I answered optimistically. "Mom...we left the lights on and the battery is dead....but Isaac's brother is on his way to give us a jump" Whew..only a dead battery. He later told us how they were planning to get a jump from a stranger and never let us know....I guess the 20 year old girl that was trying to help them didn't know how to use the jumper cables either. Plan B...call Isaac's brother..that plan worked.

He made it home around 10:30...not bad...only 6½ hrs! We all grew last night...Tyler grew more into a man that will some day be able to go to a movie & BK without me. I grew patient and learned he CAN do it without me. Steve well..I'm not sure what he learned...he's pretty laid back. Remember he was a boy just like this not too long ago!

We have the distinct privilege of attempting to raise three Godly men. We not only have to teach them to survive in the world but to be different in this world. To shine a light. They are only on loan to us for this time. We are in the process of letting them go....to be men...men of God. Warriors for HIM. Our prayer is that we can look back some day and feel confident with the job we did. We know we will not be perfect but that we will be satisfied with the job we did.

Practicing letting go!.....

8 comments:

Bonnie said...

You're living my life!! You and Steve are great parents--keep up the good work. I'm doing what I can for the grandkids--the only thing I really can do--praying for them daily.

Anonymous said...

I think Steve would have let the 20-year-old help and not tell you.

It is hard to let kids grow up and not check up on them to make sure they are doing OK without you. With phones at least they can call when they think they need you.

~joanne said...

I KNOW Steve would have tried that approach!!

I think they tried that approach but they couldn't get the cables on right???? She actually gave them the cables..she said she had a spare.....

julie said...

Those ladies at Burger King are very helpful. Is that what BK lounge stands for?

The Hendersons said...

Good job joanne! You've only got a few more years to really let go.. way to get started early!

The Hendersons said...

Oh.. and BTW.. being a the parent of a male.. I can tell you that there is a little bit more to the story you might not have gotten. For instance.. explain how a battery runs out in the time it takes to get a hamburger. And who is this mysterious 20-yr old woman with jumper cables? Hmmm... yeah, Tyler totally told you the whole story! Sure. Uh-huh. Yep. NOT!!!!

Vicki said...

Did you at least get any food from the BK Lounge ???? Love their onion rings! This makes me laugh because this is what we call Burger King too! Did we call it this in H.S.??

I hope my kids stay 11 and 10 forever, I'm enjoying them too much.

~joanne said...

Oh the really crazy part...I have a sensor on my lights...so you never have to turn them on! I'm still not sure how to get them on if I had too!

He said they were only in BK 45 minutes??? Tyler still is pretty up front about what goes on..I don't think he would decieve us. Does that sound like a mother talking or what??

No Vicki..I don't think we called it that...I don't think...I don't know...