Believing is Seeing...

Friday, my family and I made a trip to Minnesota, to visit our beloved and cherished "adopted" daughter Erin, who is a freshman at college. Literally, Erin WAS our adopted daughter this weekend, as it was parent's weekend and WE got to be her parents for it!

We've known Erin since the minute we arrived in Wisconsin seven years ago, when she became our first regular babysitter when we just had one child. Since then, Erin has become part of our family, is Clara's Godmother, and is one of the people we are most thankful for in life (as a shining example for our 3 girls and for us as well).

Anyways, since we have known what Erin's world has looked like for the past 7 years, it felt really unsettling for us to think of her off at college, with no idea what "college" was like. Our girls kept asking questions, and when we'd talk to her on the phone, it was hard for us not to be able to picture her new world.

So we decided we'd better go check it out. And we are glad we did.

First off, it was fun for Kristi and me to see someone we care about so much to be doing so well. It was encouraging to meet a few of her new friends from Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, to see her dorm room plastered with Scripture verses and pictures of friends and family, and to see her in her new element. It was apparent that she was right where God wanted her to be, and she was content.

Secondly, it was so good for our girls to get some "Erin time", and to know that even though she lives away, she hadn't forgotten them. She was the same Erin they loved and loved them. There is something very comforting about that, especially when you are 1, 4, and 6! We walked around campus and she showed us her classrooms, we ate lunch in her cafeteria, we saw the library where she studies. In other words, we had our black and white phone conversations painted in color for us, and Erin's world came alive for our family.

Now, when we talk to Erin on the phone, her world is an extension of our own, and our world was made a little big bigger and more wonderful. That is the joy of Christian fellowship and love, (even across state lines!).

Sometimes, believing is seeing.

PLUS, Lucy and Clara got to spend the night in their first college dorm. "It is loud sleeping in the dorm, Daddy." Yes, it is. This was maybe a little early for their first college visit, but...

Thanks Erin! (And thanks God for Erin!)