I used to look at moms who were saying goodbye to their kids going on missions or to college and think how it will be sad because they must miss them, but there is so much more to this shift for the whole family. On the day that we dropped Joel off at the Stuttgart airport we came home and I walked into his room and just cried. He had packed up (most) of his things and I knew I was going to eventually get to work on cleaning and prepping it as our guest room for the next two years but I didn’t want to think about or do any of that in the moment. In the days since he left I’ve realized there is SO MUCH MORE to this whole transition than simply missing him around.

My oldest graduated high school and turned 18 last week! It’s a big milestone happening right in tandem with our overseas move…something this kid is “used” to doing. We just counted it all out and he has moved 10 times in 18 years!