It's a New Season

The girls' dance ministry director has just been offered a wonderful job opportunity in New Mexico and so she has very suddenly had to leave us. The girls found out on Sunday just in time to have a little party with her and say their goodbyes. It was really hard. Hailey has been with her since first grade and it is her first big "goodbye." Anyone who knows Hailey knows that she is a very sensitive person. She cries on the last day of school, she cries when someone else is hurt or upset, she cries during sad movies. In a nutshell, she is just like me. My heart was ripped apart when I saw how badly it hurt her Sunday to have to say goodbye to Miss Stacy. I am going to do my best to make sure she stays in contact with her in the coming years because she will always be an important part of her life...and Holly's too, now. Another wonderful family is leaving our church too, and their 17-year-old daughter has been like a big sister to Hailey since we came to that church. I listened with tear-filled eyes as Hailey lamented that everyone was leaving her...first Katie, and now Miss Stacy. It's so hard to be a kid. Even harder to parent that kid and not be able to do anything to make them feel better. She is having to learn the hard way that there are seasons in your life and sometimes different people and different relationships for the different seasons. It's a hard lesson to learn...one that I have had to learn very painfully many times. I pray that God helps her transition easily into the new season that he has in store for her.