Here are some pictures of her last evening at home. Her belongings from the college totally exploded in her room upstairs, with spill-over into Abbi's room (Alli's old room), as she began to sort into piles what she wanted to pack.
"How much does this suitcase have to weigh??? Guess I'll need to take some heavy books, and several pairs of flip-flops out, and take a duffel."
So my Wednesday morning started at 6:00am. Since I ended up sleeping with one eye open, so I wouldn't oversleep, I pulled myself off the couch at 5:45am to begin waking our sleepy household to get ready for the big send-off. And I do mean BIG! I have never been a part of an SST send-off, but I believe it must be bigger than college graduation itself at GC. Many people, many tears, much anticipation and excitement. By the way, for the curious, SST stands for Study Service Term. Basically a semester of foreign study and service.
After all the good-byes were said, Abbi & I left with Alli's car and made a quick stop at McDonald's for breakfast and then after drying both of our tears I dropped Abbi off at school. The "men" in the family went to Waterford Mill Inn for breakfast before the school-men had to be at Bethany.
Adios my precious child!
After dropping Abbi off I headed to Village Inn, where I was sure I could find my Mom for a little "Mommy-loving". How strange that at this stage in my life as a Mom, I still need and find comfort in the arms of my own Mom. Life is Precious!
So back to my original question ... "How do you....?" You place her safely in the arms of God!
You can follow Alli's travels by linking to her blog listed at right, and also GC does a wonderful job of posting on their SST website: http://www.goshen.edu/sst/nica08/
