A Labor Day Without Labor

We just had a really nice weekend with our kids. Staci surprised us by coming home after class Friday. Shay was working and I was watching Ashy. After his nap, Staci and I went to see Gram and left Ashy with her while we shopped for groceries. Ashy is getting very strong willed and is so full of energy. He really takes a lot of love and energy to keep him moving in a right direction all day. I am really grateful that I have a job that allows me to be such an active Grammy in his life. He has finally started calling me "Nana" when he addresses me. Before he would name everybody else in his life but didn't call me anything. I guess "Grammy" was too difficult. So I wonder if that means I should start referring to myself as Nana now. It just seems weired to have Shayla say "Where's Grammy?" and he'll look at me and say "Nana".

So anyway, we watched RV Friday night after Ashy went to bed. It was light and funny. Saturday Staci and Jerry drove to Manhattan to watch the Topeka High cross country meet and Staci's friend Jacqueline run in it. Then they met Shay, Ashy and me in Wamego for Justin's football game. It was cool and rainy - pretty good weather for the first football game of the season. Saturday evening we had GGma and GGpa over to eat brisket dinner with us, then we watched "just my luck". Not worth renting, if you ask me.

Sunday Jerry, Staci and I went to church at TBC together. It was really nice to have Staci there with us. Then after brisket sandwiches, all 6 of us headed to Lake Perry for a few hours of boating. Temp was upper 70's so I thought it was pretty chilly, especially after I got wet. But again, I really enjoyed the cool weather, after our recent heat wave of 100 degree temps for the past month or so. Fall has always been my favorite season, and it's hard to get "fall fever" without cool weather. It was really fun for me to see the kids and Ashton having such a good time on the boat. Watching Shayla snuggle Ashy in a beach towel and hold him close for warmth and comfort brought back memories of doing the same thing with her in my parent's boat.

This morning we went over to lake shawnee for our traditional Labor Day breakfast picnic with GGma and GGpa. Again, it was really cool (jacket weather) at first, but by the time we left to come home, it was short sleeves weather. Then Staci had to pack up to head back to KSU to be at her job in the cafeteria by 1:30. There were moist eyes all around as we once again said our goodbyes and she got back in her Prelude with a fresh supply of bottled water and snacks for the next few weeks. She has had some homesickness, made worse by phone calls from home and trips home. It must be hard to go back and forth between 2 very different worlds like that. But I imagine the homesickness would be much harder without coming home. I enjoy her times home and would really miss having her in our lives if she chose to stay in Manhattan for longer stretches, but I can't help but wonder if the trips home make it impossible to fully integrate the experience of being in college. I mean, isn't the experience of being "on your own" and hanging out with friends part of what one goes away to college for? I wouldn't know, since I never did it, but I'm just wondering. Well, the next few weeks and months will tell I suppose. Either she will start spending more time in Manhattan and like it, or she'll spend more time in Manhattan and decide it's not for her. OR she'll continue to come home frequently and probably decide to just stay home next semester. I need to just "chillax" as Staci used to say and not try to figure out that which can't be figured out. At any rate, her trips home are bittersweet as it's great to see her and enjoy our family life, but then again to know that she'll be leaving us to go back to a world that we aren't a part of and really have no way of knowing what it's like. As I prayed for her today after she left, I just had to tell the Lord that I don't know how to pray for her. But it is comforting to know that He knows just what it is she needs, and He will supply it. I do pray for her heart and mind to be protected from lies and corruption and for her to have good friends to connect with. Beyond that, I can just cry out to the Lord to meet her where she's at and to draw her closer to Him.