As part of our family vacation this year, we stopped in Lynchburg, VA. to visit with some family and also to begin checking out Liberty University as a potential college for our oldest daughter, Michaela. As we toured the campus yesterday, I kept asking myself, “Is this really happening”? Obviously, this time in Michaela’s life didn’t take us by surprise, but it still feels surreal as we embrace this moment. Perhaps it’s because we have been preparing her for the “college” season of her life for the last 16 years of her life. It may also be because I realize how HUGE those college years were for me, not only in preparing me for adulthood, but also by setting the entire trajectory of the rest of my life.

Over the next few days, we’ll venture further south as a family, and meet up with some of our old college friends that we haven’t seen in about 10 years. These were friends who were roommates and in our wedding. We’ll talk about the old times and catch up on the new. Through it all, I know that we’ll walk away with a deep appreciation for ALL that God did in our lives over those college years and it will once again bring me comfort and peace in knowing that God is so big that he will do the same for our daughter Michaela when those college years come around for her too!