Give Me a Sec while I Sit Here and FEEL

It's been a big day for Josiah.  And so, because of that, it's been a big day for my heart.

It started with Josiah having the opportunity to preach a sermon--his second ever, the first having been on Mother's Day of this year--this morning for our church.  His sermon was called "What Makes a Church Successful" from Acts 2:37-47, and David grabbed a photo of him while Josiah was preparing before the service began.

I loved Josiah's first sermon (which was on prayer), but I noticed today how much more comfortable and confident he seemed to be so maybe I loved this one even more.  He reminded me so much of his dad (who happened to give the talk for communion today), and I am extraordinarily proud of him (well, of them both).  ;-)

And then Josiah and I hopped in the car and headed north, all the way to Patrick Henry College where Josiah will be spending the next week at a Speech Camp.

 We had never been to this college before, although we have heard so many good things about it; and my admiration of it was only increased by our time there today.  It is beautiful and rigorous and impressive in so many more ways than I want to take the time to write about tonight.

 But the main thing today is that for the next week, this will be Josiah's home.

 He's been away from home before, of course, but only for things like choir tours or speech and debate competitions--and always with people he knows.

 But he knows no one here--or didn't until we got there this bright, sunny afternoon.

 I expect by now he already feels like he knows some people.  ;-)

 He's not exactly shy.  Not anymore.  :)

 We got to go on a campus tour which was very interesting...

...and got to see their residence halls named for the famous homes of presidents and other leaders in American history...

 ...and we got to see Lake Bob.  ;-)

And then after a very informative meeting, it was time for me to say goodbye to my treasured firstborn and head home.  Not without taking a selfie though.

 I'm not very good at taking them...

 ...so when another student walked by and asked if he could take a picture for us, I was glad to see yes.  ;-)

And then right after this, I fought back the tears as I hugged this amazing son goodbye and got in the car, leaving him behind.

That felt strange.

He's still only 15 (just turned 15, really), and he's still approaching his 10th grade year (not 12th), but boy did it ever feel like he was getting ready to go off to college!!!

That felt REALLY strange.

When we were considering having Josiah participate in this, Jeff suggested that, if Josiah agreed, we would give this week at Speech Camp to him as his birthday gift, and...well...you can tell that Josiah said yes.  :)  I'm so happy for him that he gets to do this and so excited to hear about all the things he learns and does during this week.  But I'm mostly looking forward to just seeing him again with my own two eyes and hugging him again.

Tonight, I feel so many deep emotions; it's too hard to put them into more eloquent words.  So now, I'm just going to stop writing...

...and simply let myself feel what's in my heart.