Prayer Dinner

Good Monday morning!

NEWBIES - We have a group of new readers to the blog, so once again, I'm going to walk through the "How It Works" process of A Simple Life. Feel free to skip this part and move on to what interests you if you're an "Oldie." (And I mean Oldie in the nicest sense of the word!)

I try to stick to the following schedule: Monday - Party/Events; Tuesday - Recipes; Wednesday - Seasonal Traditions; Thursday - Dates (spouse and children) and Weekend Family Fun; Friday - Book of the Week and Weekend Happenings. Saturday and Sunday there will be no posts. I very, very rarely stray from the above plan.

Now, when you click on the blog, I may have some notes for friends who have left comments on the blog earlier in the week. I may have some musings I want to talk about. I may have other websites with info to share with you. I may have a story or two about something going on with the Faulkner Five. You just never know.

If you are new, I would like to point you to my sidebar and ask that you read Josh's Journey. It's the main reason I started the blog in the first place. We have learned in the last four years ignorance is NOT bliss. The more people know about any mental illness or disorder, the less powerful the stigma of the illness. We've learned this the hard way.

I'll also be writing the next few months about a new journey our family is taking with our firstborn leaving the nest and starting the next chapter of his life away at college. I'm not sure if it will be funny, sad, bittersweet or a mixture of all the dozens of emotions running through my peri-menopausal body at this particular time of life, but it will be chronicled... like it or not!

NOTE TO MY FRIENDS WHO PRAYED FOR ME THIS WEEKEND - Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am praying for your kids as well, and for those of you who haven't sent a child to college yet, I will not forget your kindness and thoughtfulness when your time comes. I will be there for you, too.

SHOWCASE PIC - I am going to use this picture for a multitude of things. This week, we're pretending Sparkle is missing Austin so much she doesn't have the will to go on. I see the potential for using this pic at least once a week.

GALLERY PICS - The Gallery Pic is simply another JSU picture of Mikie and Austin. There will be more pictures each day this week of different things going on, but since I posted all the "moving to college" pictures over the weekend, we're a little weak in the Gallery today. Don't worry. It will grow.

BARRY MANILOW BACK-UP SINGER REVEAL COMING UP THIS WEEK - Remember the friend I talked about several months ago who sang back-up for Barry Manilow? Well, she will be revealed this week. I spoke with her and we are having our picture made together within the next five days. I know you are as excited as I am... maybe more so! For the Newbies, go back in the older posts and read April 12, 2009 for the entire story. I'm not saying which day the reveal will take place. I want to add a little suspense to the blog this week.

AUSTIN UPDATE - The Austin Update will be on the blog often in the coming weeks and months, I think.

Friday night, I was strangely calm... until about 10:30 when we still had not heard from "the boy," as Mikie calls him. At 10:31, I was coming OUT OF MY SKIN. "He was supposed to call once a day the first week. Not for him, but for me. It was a rule. Why hasn't he called. Something awful has happened, just like I knew it would." And my tirade went on and on and on (until 10:34) when Mikie said, "I'll text him."

"Thank you," I said as I started my breathing exercises. Two minutes later, the phone rang, and I answered it before the first ring was finished. "Phone" was the only word I heard before the click. It immediately rang again, and the only word I heard this time was "broke." Well, it didn't take a genius to know that he was having phone trouble... and that Mikie was going to have to get in the car, drive 90 minutes one way and give "the boy" a phone! (That's a total of 180 minutes both ways. That's a long trip at 10:34 on a Friday night.)

Two more phone calls with the words "O" and "kay," and that was all we had. (Mikie was saved. He didn't have to make the 180 minute trip two ways to give "the boy" a phone.) We kept working until we had a complete sentence, and knew that he had survived his first day, but the phone was definitely broken. We communicated he would have a new phone Sunday when we came to JSU to attend church with him his first Sunday.

Saturday morning was much the same communication-wise... na-da. For some reason around noon, the phone started working and we were able to hear everything was going very well, and he was not severely homesick, and he was meeting people, and he loved band and his section leader, etc., etc. I was breathing on my own again.

Saturday night found me not doing well... again. Something about them not coming home and sleeping in their own bed. "This can't be right. This can't be the 'natural order of things,'" my mind kept repeating. But it is... and will continue to be.

Sunday morning found the family driving to JSU to attend First Baptist Jacksonville with Austin. But first, we had some things to deliver to his room.

Now, the dorm rules state you can sign in at 10:00 a.m., but you have to sign out by midnight if you're a visitor. What the rules don't say is there are no such rules during band camp. Roxie and I were walking down an all-male dorm hall at 10:10 Sunday morning when we heard running water.

HELLO! Bathroom door wide open and showers being taken. Luckily, there were walls (if not a closed door) and a nearby stairway where Roxie and I quickly escaped. No harm done. (No one is going to be able to say I sheltered her TOO much!) I was so traumatized by what "might have been," we went across the street from the dorm and sat on a wall and waited for the men to come out to meet us.

Church was good and we met several of the ministers. That church in particular does a lot on campus with the Baptist Campus Ministries. After church, we met Mike's folks and ate at a local all-you-can-eat buffet. Austin again seemed fine, although he was nervous about section initiations and a couple of other things coming up this week. But we're all taking it one day at a time... just like millions of other parents in the world who are sending their kids off to school... or to serve in the military... or high school... or middle school... or some other unknown situation. The Faulkner Five are not "special" or "unique." This same scenario plays out all over the world every year.

And thankfully, God is in the car or on the plane on the way to each and every destination with each and every family and child. And unlike earthly parents... He doesn't have to leave the dorm rooms or the classrooms or the boot camps. He gets to stay. Thank you, Lord. He gets to stay.

Just a funny little side note. Austin sent us an e-mail late Saturday night, and the last sentence said, "It is sobering how my food supply is getting smaller and smaller." I can't tell you how many times Mikie has said the same exact thing these last few years as the boys' appetites have gotten a little bigger. At least "the boy" is eating.

PRAYER DINNER

This was new to me, but I'll be doing the same thing for Josh and Roxie when their time to go out into the world comes around. We had Austin's favorite dinner (Italian chicken) with the Faulkner Five and Grandmother. (You can invite as many or few people as you would like for this special dinner.) It was a simple meal... a quiet evening really. There was nothing huge or party-like about it.

After the meal, we all went into the den and we sat down and we took turns each saying a prayer for Austin. Some of the prayers were about safety, some were about being thankful for the time we were given with him in our home, some were blessings prayed over Austin. All of them were meaningful and personal and sweet.

No, this isn't a big party or event, but it can be a very important, memorable time with your family. It was a good way for us to reflect on one part of Austin's life and to pray for him as he begins another part all at the same time.

A Prayer Dinner would ALWAYS be a good way to start a new chapter of someone's life.

Have a lovely Monday. If your kids start back to school today, I hope everything goes well. If you have a couple of days left of summer (like me), savor those moments before things get so busy with school and fall activities. Check in tomorrow for a new recipe. We've got a lot of things to talk about this week!

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.