Standing on The Threshold of Adulthood

"RING RING". The phone buzzed as my husband was in the kitchen making dinner and I was in the yard pulling weeds. Ken checked the caller ID and saw that it was from our daughter, Sarah, and yelled out to me, “HONEY, Sarah is on the phone” as he picked up the receiver and pushed talk. As I walked into the kitchen with dirty hands, I could hear muffled sobs over the speakerphone on the other end of the line and a faint voice that I did not recognize as my daughters. It was hard hearing my sweet daughter in such a weak state from 300 miles away and me not being able to wrap my arms around her and tell her it was all right. "What's wrong honey?" I tried to etch out of my throat, holding back my sobs now; and that's when it all started, that's when everything changed.

As her mother, I had encouraged Sarah to start looking at colleges at an early age. Starting when Sarah was a freshman in high school or even earlier, we would take weekend family trips to different places in California, enjoying the sights, but also trying to open our daughter’s eyes to new places and help her figure out where she wanted to go once the time for college applications came around. Ken and I had prayed about several different opportunities that had presented themselves through Sarah’s acceptance letters back from colleges.

After much research, talking to precious alumni, and talking with the soccer coach who had offered Sarah a place on their team, Sarah finally decided to choose a private school, Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. Though at the time it seemed like it was the perfect fit (other than the price tag that came along with it) we slowly realized as a family throughout her first year there that God was making it evident that He had other plans for Sarah. 

Sarah was on the Westmont Women's Soccer team her freshman year, and we couldn’t have been more proud of her for being chosen to play for a college team! We attended as many games as we could (which was not many as we lived 300 miles away) and cheered for her the few times she got to go in, but we could easily see that it was the hardest team she had ever been on before.  I remember her calling me one day and telling me of types of workouts they had done that particular week, where she felt as if she were going to pass out after or just wanted to lay in her bed because her body hurt so bad; but she toughed it out and made the most of it. She didn't get much playing time, but she worked her butt off to try and earn her spot on the field. Not long after that is when we got the call, the call that changed it all.