{pretty, funny, happy, real} - visiting Kendra!

| a weekly capturing the contentment in everyday life |

| pretty |

I got to spend the weekend with my girl at the University of North Texas. Her sorority held a Mother's Day tea.  The best part was meeting so many delightful young women who have become her dear friends this year.  (and their mamas!)

I am unbelievably proud of the courage and fortitude and fierce tenderness this girl carries into the world each day of her life.  I think it's OK to say now that I was feeling a bit concerned about her first year in school -- that she would struggle finding "home" in a new place.  Within the first week (maybe even the first day!) she'd already plowed down that fear with her relational tenacity.  

Thanks be to God.

| happy |

Spring in Texas keeps me here.  I was delighted to discover large sections of charming Spring-green landscapes on the route between our house and Denton.  This, in spite of the fact that the trip is basically one long interstate with Dallas and Fort Worth in the middle.  

Oh, how I love a good road trip. 

I was a bit limited in my ability to snap roadside photos, but trust me when I tell you that Ladybird Johnson's legacy lives on just beautifully along the Texas highways.

| funny |

The plan was for me to stay on Sunday long enough for Kendra and I to get a phone call from Alex with some Very Important News.  I have yet to figure out how a mother of adults makes her children do things The Right Way According to Mama. (and if YOU are a mother and find yourself judging me, I only say "Stop it right now. Your day is coming.")  I've decided Guilt Trips and Manipulation will become my best options.  So Kendra and I staged this photo to "innocently" text Alex as a subtle reminder that his time to do things My Way was running out.  Appropriately, he did not respond to this magnificent display of impatience at all.  Smart boy.  Wonder who raised him?

| real |

How do I describe the privilege of parenting adults who are savvy enough to include a stop for Kombucha-on-tap with a side of pour-over coffee?  

How also can I describe the exquisite pain/pleasure of the kind of conversations in which both parties get to say how they really feel and also get to give and receive forgiveness?  Forgiveness for 5 minutes ago, 5 weeks ago, 5 years ago.  It is both very real pain and very real pleasure.  

May I take this moment to share a witness (as they said in the old days)?  

Parents, we need Jesus always and forever, amen.  Your kids need Him, too, but you go first.  The path that leads to you and ends with you is a broken, insufficient path that will not even come close to meeting your children's very real needs and desires.  On your best day, you'll be able to give them a couple of good things they'll remember more than the bad.  If you, instead, lead them on the path that ends at Jesus, they will know where to find everything they really need and desire.  I'm beginning to understand that parenting adults means that instead of only leading on that path, I now get to walk beside my children as we run head-long together into His arms. 

This is real. And I'm beginning to see that it is very good.

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