In A Conversation

I got home, grabbed the family laptop and got caught up on the news of the day after a day full of rafting with my Senior class (SO much fun!). Priorities, I know, hey?

The only other one home was my sister and soon the rest of the family trickled in.

It wasn't long before my mom and dad and sister were gathered in the living room where I was on the laptop and we started talking.

I don't know about you, but family time is one of my most treasured parts of the day. We eat every meal together that we can (unless either my mom or I am working), but I grew up with my parents both "working" at home, so meals eaten together were almost a given.

Nowadays we eat breakfast together, do some devos together, eat supper together and before I go to bed, I still go say good-night to each of them. More often  than not, I end up talking for half an hour about my day, sometimes even longer.

My parents are some of the best people I know. They know me like no other. They are my friends, my mentors, the ones who laugh at me with love in their eyes, who truly understand my motives, my abilities, my passion, and yet guide me when I need it. I can't explain how much I value them...

So I explained about my rafting trip, from the puncturing of my raft (had to be mine!) to the rapids, the camaraderie, the food, the wetsuits, the jokes, the most-likely-to list, and everything else that was involved in today. Oh, and add to that my sunburn that makes me feel like Rudolph.

Then came questions about the meeting they had just been to about our school and the spiritual elements involved therein. A couple of weeks ago, my dad had brought up the fact that this meeting was soon to take place, and asked for suggestions. (By the way, kudos to N + R who represented the students there, sounds like you did a fantastic job!)

It wasn't long before my mom had to go grab a piece of paper to write down all the ideas that we bandied around, putting words to the thoughts that I've had for years. It's truly only as I'm leaving this year that I've realized just how much God has worked in and through me here at this school.

The facilities are so old that my mom can walk through it and point out the classrooms and what class she had in there and with what teacher, but the teachers are what make this school fantastic. They care about my life beyond my academic marks and rejoice more over my growth than an increase in grades.

There's so much I would love to see happen in our school, so much that I get excited about because God has great things in store for those who look to Him to fulfill His Word and in a school that would totally focus on Him for its every need and direction. Oh, it gets me so excited!!!!

I love thinking big pictures, spewing out ideas, molding them into what would work and getting excited about the impact that they would have. I LOVE it.

And we moved on to other related (and not-so-related) things, including my sister's day at school and other things such as how weakness are strengths, and how humbleness is better than bravado even when it could hurt you, how the future is a scary thing in terms of relationships and independence, how leadership is being a servant, how each one of us has our own sphere of influence and many more things.

Let's just say that I was enlightened, lifted up, felt joy, worshiped and gave thanks for a conversation like this. I'll miss conversations like this when I move to another province next year, although Skype does do wonders! Not that my family is always intellectual or debating things all the time, by any means. But having conversations in an environment where I feel so secure and valued that I can say anything and don't feel put down when some else has an opposite idea is a blessing. To pursue my passion of big pictures and ideas and brainstorming and through it all be able to praise Him.

Ai... I am blessed!