It's been 2 weeks

It's been 2 weeks since Dawn left for college and she's already come home for a weekend visit.  She was sweet to want to come keep me company while Dan is out of the country for 2 weeks (Haiti).  He went to Haiti to be with a new Sister Church team as they met and began to make forever relationships with brothers and sisters they never knew they had.  [That part of the trip went very well!  He said the Haitian church received them exceptionally well - the town's mayor presented the team with the key to city.  That's a first for our teams!] 

The 2nd part of Dan's trip is administrative meetings with RMI's missionaries and the RMI national staff.  Rob and Becky Thompson, RMI's VP, will be flying to Haiti tomorrow, Tuesday, to join him.  They will see the house they are to live in, take measurements and make plans on what they will need when they move there in March.  Rob and Dan will also be meeting with all the Sister Church pastors and School Directors.  

We are relieved to see that Tropical Depression Ana seems to be heading north of Port-au-Prince and the Cayes area.  Hopefully it shouldn't interfere with their trip there.  A great site to follow tropical weather is http://www.stormpulse.com/. 

Back to Dawn's visit.  I have been "home alone" while Dan is gone, and this weekend was her last chance to get home before classes start, so she came home to keep me company.  We had a great mother/daughter day (garage saleing, a movie, shopping and supper at PF Chang's) on Saturday, then she was off to the beach with friends and a girls sleepover here at the house.  Of course, there's laundry that needs to be done before she goes back!

She's settling in at Trinity:  Getting to know the area (all the essentials....the mall, Target, Walmart, the beach and the grocery store), getting to know the school staff, getting to know the team, oh! and her roommate situation was changed (Julianna will now be her suite-mate and Yolanda will be her roommate).  She's enjoying it and looking forward to the start of classes.

It was really nice to have her home again!!!  I sure have missed her.

The start of college life

Being the first one to arrive, Dawn was able to choose her room.  Yes, that's a full size frig and microwave in the room.  Since Trinity doesn't serve breakfast and some weekend meals, they provide the frig and microwave in each 2 person room for the students to fix their own meals.  The rooms are spacious and the furniture is nice.

She chose to be by the nice big window.  We were able to find a place for everything and get everything in place.

What did we do before the invention of those stacking plastic drawers?  The desk area will have to serve as part dresser, part kitchen counter and part study desk.  Dan was able to get her computer and printer set up and running.  Now to get some studying done!

The first practice - meeting teammates, getting new equipment and warming up.  Dawn's roommate, Julianne, is standing next to her in the white shirt.

 

The first of many pep talks from Coach Mark.  Classes start Aug. 26.  Their first tournament is Labor Day weekend in Clearwater, which we hope to attend!

How do you say goodbye?

How do you say goodbye to someone who is leaving for college?

You invite her friends to join her at her favorite sushi restaurant, Mr. Mee's.

You make sure her brother, Devon, is there.

Then you go midnight bowling.

You rejoice that the siblings are finally getting along!

You make sure to include school friends.

And include church friends.

And volleyball friends.

Yes, include lots of volleyball friends!  Left to right, Courtney (Mississippi College), Dawn (Trinity College), Brad (Warner College - the only men's volleyball college team in Florida) and Anysia (St. Leo University).  They were the 4 musketeers this summer.  If they weren't playing volleyball, they were at the beach, or just hanging out.

The family!

[By the way, the going away party was a great success!]

My thoughts exactly. (A friend had this on his blog.)