Today has been a Super Bowl Sunday unlike any other I've ever experienced. To say I've been distracted would be a major understatement. My mind has been "across the pond" most of the day. Typhoo tea, double-decker buses, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus. All things that I experienced as a teenager in the late 70's. But someone else is about to experience them this time.
Last Saturday, the 24th, we took Jentry to Love Field and put her on a plane bound for Nashville. Yesterday, the 31st, she left Nashville with a group from Lipscomb University headed to London to spend a semester "abroad."
Many of you read my "Peanut Butter Sandwich" post in August of 2013. We had just returned from taking my Angel Baby to Nashville and I was trying to process the fact that my little girl was 680 miles away and I was a feeling a little powerless.
At 3 o'clock this morning she texted from Heathrow Airport, where they had landed safely and had just cleared Customs, or whatever they call it. Living in Texas, I think of it as Border Patrol. This time, however, she was 4,745 miles away and it seemed like a world away.
I slept through the text and the attempted phone call. Upon awakening this morning, I learned that Teressa had been in contact with her and discovered that she had felt a little ill on the flight. I spent the next several hours without taking a full breath. She texted about 4 PM, 10 PM London time. She was going to bed and was exhibiting no real interest in the Super Bowl. She said that it had been the longest two days of her life. But a shower, and anticipated rest had made her feel a little better. I finally exhaled.
Jentry has dreamed of studying abroad since she was 10 years old. When she learned that Lipscomb was adding England to its Global Learning Program, the decision was clear for her. She was headed to Nashville for college and probably, by her Sophomore year, she was heading overseas. Maybe, I thought it would really never happen. Well, it has happened! How am I gonna get through the next three months?
It truly is the opportunity of a lifetime. I am SO excited for her! But that doesn't make my role any easier. This world is changing. And it seems that most of the residents of this Planet are breaking their standards faster than they can lower them. That causes me anxiety. No, that really scares me to death!
My prayer life has certainly changed in the last few days. And I am RE-learning the same lesson everyday. God doesn't have any grand kids! He just has His kids. And my Angel Baby is one of His kids.
"England swings like a pendulum do. Bobbies on bicycles, two by two.
Westminster Abbey, the Tower of Big Ben.
The rosy red cheeks of the little children."
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