Growing up...Kites and kids

Today Tommy got a call from his best friend Will, lives across the street. Actually it was a text and it was on my phone since we are such terrible parents our 12 year old doesn't have his OWN. "Can you play golf at Sugar Creek at 11:10"...hmm Will was NOT asking me to golf but Tommy. I sat at the car spot reading it while they changed the oil and rescued the light saber. I texted him back for Tommy "is your Dad going too"...text back "nope just me and Colby and you" (he thinks he is texting tommy at the time...)

I sit there for a moment...

I have let him go to the driving range alone, but that is at a place I know is safe. I know people there, he usually is there with Drew. It is a "private drive", therefore I feel more secure. There is a large gap in space between the parking lot and the driving range would be impossible to grab a kid out of there. But this would be golfing 9 holes with 2 boys ALONE on a public course.

I prayed for a moment...thought for a moment. Heartached for many moments...he is 12 but he is my little boy. How do I allow his wings to grow if I don't ever let him try something new. But there are weirdos, and kidnappers, and kids that say things I don't approve of all around....(as I type this a HUGE part of me wants to run and get him RIGHT NOW) At what point do we release little bits of him to this world...and trust that God goes with him everywhere and knows the plans He has for him and knows his heart more than I, as his Mom, ever will.

Let me back up...last year Scott and I heard a man speak at a bible camp. He was talking about Kites and Kids. How our children are like Kites and we have the string. If we don't allow the string to get any longer we are not allowing them to learn to fly on their own. If we let too much string out too fast the kites can be out of control...BUT as parents if we pray, trust in God with our children and release the string little by little we are empowering our children to learn to fly and to grow their wings. There will be a day when we can no longer hold onto their kite strings. We will need to release the string completely. We need to trust that God will care for them. They are HIS children after all and not our own. Are we doing our job as parents if we don't ever release a little bit of their kite strings?

So today I am putting a little slack in the string of Tommy's kite...he is golfing with his buddies. I am praying non stop in my head, getting very little else done. His little brothers are making a gigantic fort of some kind upstairs which normally would bother me, as it disrupts the order of the pillows...but today my concern is the Kite of our 12 year old. If you read this and it is still between 11-1:30 pray for Tommy and maybe more importantly pray for me.

P.S. Update as of 12:26 PM on hole 5. Having fun...still safe. Only 4 more holes to go!

UPDATE as of 1:18 on 9th hole. Colby's Mom is there to pick them up.

UPDATE as of 1:38 Garage door opening...he is home. :)