the greatest of these is love

 

my girl came home yesterday

 after wrapping up a superb freshman year at UGA.

{that's her very cool little instagram shot above.}

cliche as it may be, i honestly can't believe how fast the last year went by.

that day when we loaded up the car 

& left her in her new world about did me in.

seriously.

in 20 years i've been pregnant 6 times.

celebrated 19 mother's days as a mom

nursed four babies

changed endless diapers, taught four little ones to walk 

took 4 girls to their first day of kindergarten

loved on. prayed for. fed.

showed them jesus

& hopefully filled the love tanks of four daughters.

so 

to turn the page signifying the end of that phase with my first born

for the first time

was honestly

just too much.

friends that have gone before me told me

"once they go. they're gone. it'll never be the same"

to begin to set the table for 5 not 6

to have days where i didn't hear her voice

for her to be all dressed up & not photograph her as she heads out ( ya'll know that's a biggy)

was just plain hard.

but there was so much goodness this year!

she chose fantastic friends to surround her

& encourage her in her walk with the lord.

she plugged in & loved on so many new girls.

she rocked her honors classes & made dean's list.

she volunteered at her church.

she had a ridiculous amount of fun

&

our relationship is awesome.

i love being the mom of a young adult

& watching her make her own choices

& dream her own dreams

and basically just watching her chase the things that matter most to her.

she'll be here this summer working as an intern at our church

probably with the middle school-yay for caroline!

 

ya'll may have seen this video circulating through 

facebook & twitter recently....

you must find 8 minutes 

& fall in love with these two young people

& see jesus ....

the greatest of these really is love ya'll