Time for Twinkle to Fly

Spring grew closer and closer to summer. Sweet Cheeks had her end-of-the-year band concert. She performed with her flute, and we enjoyed hearing her well-practiced performance.

The days grew closer and closer to graduation. I could not believe that the two year mark had come. I felt like I just launched Firstborn. Twinkle and I gathered pictures and her art work and all her million pins for sports (I told her she looked like a 5 star general!) We created a pallet board to display at a graduation luncheon I would soon host, then to later use at graduation night on her table.

She spoke at church on senior Sunday and shared where she would be attending university, and most importantly thanked our local church for their impact on her life since age 3 when she arrived.

I found myself wanting to capture little snaps of life here. We have a tiny (lovely) yard. And my kids are some of the most grateful and resourceful people I know. Here they have stretched garden hoses to make a four square spot. Their childhood reminds me of how we used to make things work before we had so much.

I found myself looking at pictures like these back before all her adult teeth were in.

And then as she was cleaning out her room, she found an old journal. We wrote in it from the time she was about 5 until she turned 10. In fact, the last entry was her 10th birthday. She would write a note to me and secretly leave it by my bed. Then I would write a note to her and secretly leave it by her bed. I'm not sure why we stopped. I suppose we both knew she had outgrown our little communication network. But I wrote to her one last time on her 10th birthday. Then she kept it, for a very long time. So just a few days before she was set to leave on her senior trip, she wrote back to me and left it by my bed. I suppose I had almost forgotten we once wrote to each other like that. When I read what she wrote to me, I cried like I had not cried in a long time. So much time. So fast. So much joy. So much change ahead. So much gratitude. So thankful to the Lord. She is walking with Him, and I believe she always will. And my job is done. I thought my heart would explode. I told her that no matter what I had to leave behind in Turkey one day, that journal would be in my carry on bag.