In June, I will celebrate 39 years of Motherhood. This weekend, the last of my brood left the nest. The two youngest lived at home while attending the local university (considered the Harvard of Technical Schools). The baby – he’d married his high school sweetheart while he was doing an internship for a copy in the middle of his engineering program. Their home is technically 1 hour and 50 minutes away. After his internship, he spent most of a week with us finishing up his Electrical Engineering classes and the rest at “home.”

“You’re going to miss this,” he’d tease, about the never-ending chocolate milk glasses he’d leave for me to clean up, or the remnants of dinner he’d cook up at about 10 p.m. after he’d finished studying. . . because, well, college-student hours.

“You need to cook the good-stuff, Mom,” he’d say. “I won’t be here much longer.”

No – I won’t miss the mess of chocolate milk glasses and late night dinner fixin’s to be cleaned-up.

I will miss him walking through the door, though. I will miss his voice, the conversations, the button-pushing, the hugs he’d give to make my cleaning up easier.

He graduated Friday. Afterwards, he said simply, tiredly, “I want to go home.”

Home isn’t the Blue Cotton House anymore. It’s where he lives with his sweet Mikah.

I’m going to miss him in the daily. His nephews that I watch while their parents work during the week – they’ll miss him, too.

After 39 years of raising boys – they have their own homes now. They’re taking care of their own chocolate milk glass messes and late night fixin’s clean-up. They sleep best in beds that aren’t in my Blue Cotton House.

Am I sad? LOL – I have been preparing for this since my first son graduated college and married in 2009. The second married in 2015. The third marriage came in 2022. The fourth marriage came in 2024. The last wedding will be in the Fall this year. My heart fills with joy when they meet and marry the one who brings peace to their hearts. I know when they leave they now in the best place for them.

Two now live over an hour away. Three live in town. I knew I would have grandchildren before my youngest left home. I knew in some way my house wouldn’t be totally silent. Right now, I’m planning on what the daily schedule will look like with two rambunctious grandsons during the summer. No, the nest won’t be bereftly empty.

There is a paradigm shift, though. Thirty-nine years ago, it was just my husband and I. We were a young married couple learning. . . learning how to cook, how to meet a budget, how to find what we needed through yard-sales, learning how to be married one day at a time, learning, too, how to have a relationship with God as an adult. Then we had our first-born–and everyday for the next 39 years, we learned new things, new responses, learning to choose love in the hard, learning to see each child as God sees them, learning that the rough and tumble of brotherhood is normal, that ten-year-old boys are blue and it’s not because I broke them but because it’s a stage. I learned love languages and how spiritual gifts talk to each other. I learned the difference between conditional and unconditional love and learned how to love unconditionally.

I learned that a house full of boys is a treasure in a world-culture view that didn’t value them. In my heart there are stories full of love, laughter, and sweet goodness. There are also stories full of tears –tears that God collected and keeps, tears cause this mother to run straight to Him, tears that taught that He stands with me –after I’ve asked and asked and asked–that it’s time to just stand with Him while He takes care of it. I’ve learned that the most important part of living is in the wait of a prayer sent out – and to stop waiting permission to love: Love anyway. I’ve learned to be hands-off and hands-up. I’ve learned that God loves the lost and wants them saved, so much so that He pursues them. In the process of learning that lesson, He broke my heart for the lost. . . and, maybe more importantly than any one lesson, I’ve learned that I miss it, that I’m a sinner still – and that God loves me so much that He wants me to tell Him about it, and I know He won’t give up on me in the telling.

Thirty-nine years ago, I was a shadow of the woman God designed me to be. Friday, my friends, wasn’t the End of the Story. In The Lord of The Rings, Galadriel says, “I Will Diminish, and Go Into The West, and Remain Galadriel.” That’s not God’s plan for you or me! There’s another exciting part to this journey ahead – and I am excited for it, almost to the point of being ridiculously giddy.

Friends, I’m excited about this paradigm shift. I’m excited to turn The Blue Cotton House into a Getaway Destination where my kiddos who live further away can come for some Rest & Relaxation, some TLC. For the little ones who walk through my door during the week, I want it to be next-best-thing to being home. I am hopeful The Blue Cotton House will finally achieve a more consistent sparkle – with just the right amount of smudge to make it just-right-cozy.

Some of these Empty Nest Perks? Thirty-nine years ago, I was learning to cook. Now I know how to cook – and I am so looking forward to cooking for just the two of us, not for an army of boys.

I’m looking forward to all kinds of time with my Forever Man – time for all the things we enjoy doing together and haven’t had the time. I joked that we should be able to join the Young Married Couples – because, in a way, we’re back to just the two of us, where we were 39 years ago, except we can afford to go bowling now, or catch a movie, or go on a weekend-getaway, maybe even a trip to Venice, Italy. Lots of Pickle Ball? Rekindling romance? There’s a sweet charm knowing that there’s not five baby birds at home needing to be fed, homework to be done, missing soccer socks to be found, chocolate milk glasses to be cleaned.

I’m looking forward to a season to finish the stories I’ve outlined, brainstormed, started but haven’t had time to finish. . . ‘Cause, you know, all those chocolate milk glasses that need cleaning didn’t allow time for that.

A time where God takes the skill-set that He has developed over the last 39 years. . . and use it for something He has planned? Time to hear God without so many other voices in the mix? Time to thank him for all the things that needed Thanking For during the Crazy Busy of the Raising of these Boys to Men.

Tyler Stanton is his book, The Familiar Stranger, quotes Bobby Clinton, saying, “Both Scripture and church history indicate that pretty much everything God speaks to us until around our sixties is preparation. . . to learn God’s voice and live with such radical trust that your life becomes an open channel between heaven and earth.” (Dr. J. Robert Clinton, The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development).

Sixteen Years ago on Mother’s Day, I hit “Publish” for my very first Blog Post, “A Stick that Won’t Be Broken”. Today, there’s a Motherhood Paradigm shift going on within me – and I am bubbling with excitement about what He has planned!

(Next Week I will be back with the final part of the Faith’s Story)

Remember Me Monday: #131 Link-up

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
.    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!”  (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”

While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.

“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.

Let us delight in Him by telling the  stories of what He’s done!  If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!

Rules?  Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week! (Link opens Mondays at 6 a.m.)

Places I’m Linking at This Week:
  Instaencouragements, Legacy Link-Up, 
Let’s Have Coffee Wednesday 
Recharge Wednesday, Scripture & a Snapshot
 Grace&Truth, Sweet Tea & Friends