Our son Jake graduated junior high school this week. I can't believe how fast it came. I have included a few photos below. There's a picture of our toddler (with a foreshadowing of his becoming a Ducks fan), who is now a towering 6 feet tall. (Well, he towers over me, there's still that elusive inch to catch up with his dad.) It's followed by a picture of him and a little girl Haley in his class in kindergarten. Then there's the photo of the graduating class. I believe Haley is in that photo so too, 2nd from the right. And then Neal and I, proud parents of the graduate.
Yesterday, first day of summer I took the kids to Disneyland for a little while (the blessing of passes). There was a man in line in front of me alone with his 4-year-old son. I remember when Jake was that age, the two of us hanging out at Disneyland, riding rides, stopping to take pictures with every character.
Now that little boy is becoming a man, a good man, I think. He's kind and patient (like his dad); he does have my sarcastic sense of humor, at time much to my dismay. I can't belive how fast the years have gone by, and there are more behind us than lay ahead before he leaves our nest, walks out into the world as a man of his own. Wow.
I am a proud mom. I'm sad, this is a sad stage, not so much for Jake but because the school where he has done much of his growing is gone. I'm sad Victoria and Ethan won't have the same enviornment to grow in. But the Lord spoke tp me that perhaps what they need and what Jake needed aren't the same thing. I am hopeful we are making right choices about where to begin their futures, and praying that as Jake enters into high school, he will affect his new world more than it will affect him. I'm glad I have the son I can hope that for.
Jake's treacher wrote something in the yearbook, as her letter to all the students that has really stuck with me, and I am choosing to cling to it these days, because it is a truth I am grateful for.
I do not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.
