A Child Leaves the Nest

We have now successfully(?) moved one child out into the world. I guess the success remains to be seen. At any rate, Rachel is now an official resident at the Waterview Apartments on the campus of University of Texas at Dallas. She is officially a college student.

Her classes start this coming Thursday, August 16, almost two full weeks before Stephanie will start school this year. Rachel will be majoring in Psychology. I think she might have a minor in English.

Yesterday's (Saturday, August 11) move went very, very well. In fact, it went more smoothly than we could have asked or imagined.

We arrived at around 1pm yesterday afternoon (we chose to go late because the guys delivering Rachel's new bedroom furniture wouldn't be coming until after 4pm), and Rachel got signed in, paid her first ever month's rent, and got her keys. Yes, I said "keys." FOUR of them. She quickly figured out what three of them were for, but between her and all of her roomies, could not figure out what the fourth one was for. It wasn't until we were having dinner with our dear friend Lindsey (a long time P.A. at UTD) that we found out that the fourth key is for the clubhouse and study rooms.

Anyway, we got to the apartment (first floor---YAY!) and started moving stuff in. I got lucky and got a parking place for the van right in front of the building Rachel lives in. I took in a couple of things and came back out to find three P.A.s standing behind the van, asking, "Where are we going?" And they proceeded to grab stuff out of the van and carry it to Rachel's apartment! Without us even asking for any help! Wow!

Everything got moved in, arranged, and then we waited for furniture. When we first arrived, two of Rachel's new roomies were there, Melissa and Lauren. Melissa was just leaving for the day, so we didn't really spend much time around her. A bit of information, here...Rachel met Lauren and Kayla on orientation day, and they hit it off famously, so they requested to room together, and that request was, miraculously, granted. Lauren was adorable! We met Kayla later (she had gone back to get more stuff, including a couch that her dad donated to the cause), and she, too, was wonderful. Christi and I both felt very comfortable around both girls and their parents.

The furniture arrived around 5:30 and was set up quickly and efficiently by the Ashley Furniture guys. That's a plug, by the way...if I had not been supremely satisfied, I wouldn't have mentioned the name of the store. They were great. The bedroom suite is beautiful (I had never seen it...Christi and Rachel picked it out), and fits perfectly in her little room.

Rachel called Lindsey, she was free, so we took her to Chili's for dinner. Afterwards, we swung by GameStop so Rachel could get a memory card for her new PS2 that we gave her, and she found a used wireless guitar controller for Guitar Hero for $29. Then we dropped her and Lindsey off at the apt., gave big hugs and came home. Oddly, there were few tears. It was emotional, yes, and I'm getting some tears right now, as I type, but it all went so well, and we felt so marvelous about the whole thing. It simply felt, well, right. I don't think it could have gone any better.

Praise the Lord. And many thanks to all who prayed.

TTFN, y'all!