The letter we had waited for.......

This week brought with it some obvious signs of spring. The sun has been shining and melting the snow away from the yards and streets. It's time for soccer and golf and baseball. You can smell it in the air. I always loved spring because everything came to life again after the long winter. I look forward to seeing the green grass and the tulip bulbs sprouting.
This week also brought with it a letter. A most important letter, for Brittany. Her first college acceptance letter arrived on Tuesday. For those of you who have never had a senior in your house, springtime is also the time of reality hitting you over the head with a white four by eight envelope. Who knew they could pack such a wallop? Brittany decided to apply to three colleges and the one in St.Paul, Minnesota got back to her this week with the first line that everyone hopes for...."Congratulations you have been accepted to________for the fall of 2008!"
There were tears in everyone's eyes. I think that was because of the joy and the sadness all mixed together. I am so proud of Brittany for overcoming many obstacles in her academic life and pushing past a diagnosis of a learning disability that has brought her to the point in life where she can know she is going to college and will have the opportunity to pursue her passions and discover her call. I am also so amazingly grateful to an assistant principal at our High School who wrote the most moving, kind and heartfelt recommendation letter to this institution that he actually graduated from. He went above and beyond to help Brittany with her application process. There are wonderful people in our public school system and I am so thankful to God for placing this Christian young man at the high school for "such a time as this".
Brittany is still waiting to hear from the other two colleges and then she will make her final decision. One thing is sure.......as sure as the seasons come and go.......we will be sending our first born off into this world in just five short months. Bittersweet. Gratefully. Marveling all the while that this time in our lives is truly now before us.