March Forth! Marssige Edasi!

In exactly three years, three months, and three days (9 January 2008), our son Chris will turn 18 and we will kick him out of the house.

Will he be ready? Will he really be an adult? What should we be doing (and how should we be ... being) during this short time to prepare him?

I have all kinds of parenting books, including many about raising teenagers. And we are also grateful to have good models, including local ones in the Harrison family, of how we would want him to turn out.

But in the end, it is completely out of our hands. It will be up to him to make the choices that will either give him a good life or not, lead him to honor God or not, make us proud or embarrass us.

Decisions about how much his allowance should be, what his chores should be, how much time he should spend on the computer every day ("do as I say, not as I do!"), and a million other things, some little and some important, are the building blocks that will help create the man he will become.

It is very interesting and somewhat unique to have 7-month-old baby Peter, who is learning how to eat solid food (bananas and mashed potatoes) and to crawl, and also 14-year-old Chris. Having Peter has allowed Chris a glimpse of how very much he is loved, because I tell him and over and over that his feelings for Peter are a reflection of our feelings for him. ("You know how you feel when Peter is crying? That's how we feel when you're upset!")

It is a thrill to see how excited Chris gets about playing patty-cake with Peter. It is a bit scary to imagine him with his own baby in perhaps another 14 years!

Please pray for Chris as God brings him to mind. Pray that he will get all his homeschooling work done! Pray that he will be safe as he is out riding his bike. Pray that he will find more friends here, especially English-speaking teenage boys who live in Tartu! Pray that he will make good decisions about girlfriends. Pray that we will show him respect while also maintaining authority when necessary. Pray that his friends in America will be an encouragement to him and not a reminder of what he is missing by not being there.

Three years, three months, and three days ago (3 July 2001) was the day before we took up our first appointment. We were staying at the Training School on furlough, and packing for the move from New York to Pennsylvania. We remember this day well! In some ways, it seems that a lifetime has passed since then (being officers has aged us considerably, I'm afraid!). In other ways, it seems like just yesterday.

We know this time with Chris will go by quickly. That knowledge is one of the benefits of being parents for so long. I hope we will cherish and enjoy it and use it well!

Evelyn (a.k.a. Mama!)