Summer 2015 Update, Part IV-a: The Kids (S)

I will do a brief update on each of the kids so that no one post is too long.

Celebrating 20 years of life.

S came back home last October and things are going well with her since then.  There have been obvious struggles of learning how to parent an adult child living at home, but our willingness to work at it and her willingness to extend us grace since it's our first time learning to do this have helped.  That and a lot of communication and prayer.

In June, we celebrated her turning 20.  We missed her last two birthdays because she lived elsewhere, so it was super special that we got to celebrate with her this year.

To celebrate, we created a Photo Scavenger Hunt based on her interests and divided the family into two teams (S spent half the time on one team and then switched to the other team for the second half).  C drove Z and J around (with S, for the first half) and I drove H and O around (with S, for the second half) and we took photos with different combinations of team members of the items on our list.  It was a super fun way to spend the day and not spend a whole lot (except gasoline) and I think it was one of the more fun family days we've had in a while.

Afterwards, I compiled all the photos from the day and made little keepsake photo albums through Walgreen's so each person could have a memory book from the day.

S spent the evening of her birthday with her friends.  They went out to dinner and then out to Galveston to hang out at the beach and Pleasure Pier.  We sang to her and ate homemade blueberry pie on Sunday afternoon (photo above).

She is settling into Texas life well.  She's not sure this is where she wants to stay and live for a long time -- the weather and insects can be daunting -- but for the meantime, she has a good job at the local Boardwalk and is making many friends through work.

S is also considering pursuing college.  First, she is finishing up her final high school requirements through San Jacinto Community College ("San Jac" as the locals refer to it).  Classes begin on August 3.  If all goes well, she hopes to begin programming classes there after that.  She has begun teaching herself how to use SQL through Khan Academy and really enjoys it (taking after her daddy).

She got her driver's permit this year and has started driving lessons and does very well.  I think there is something beneficial about giving her the space to decide when she was ready to learn.  The pressures of learning to drive earlier were too much for her, but now, she sees that it will be a great benefit to her life and her desire for independence, so she's a much more willing participant in the process.

We are so proud of our daughter and the young woman the Lord has created her to be.  The road has been long and winding, with many hills and steep cliffs along the way, but it has all led her to this place in her life where she is more accepting of us as her family and more accepting of her responsibilities and roles in the world.  We have great hope for her future.