our kari

There's this girl in our youth group...  well, I guess I should say she was in our youth group...

...who has brought a lot of joy to our family.

We love all the kids in our group.  We really do.  Each and every one.

But you see, Kari plays soccer and her practices took place on the fields nearby our house, so we got to see a lot more of her.  And we live 35 minutes away from our church, so most of the youth kids don't really get to hang out at our house as much as we would like.  But Kari was a "regular."  A very welcome regular.

Plus, Kari was always willing to volunteer to watch the kids during small group at our house if she had a free night.  Now that's sacrifice.  Giving up a free night that she could've done whatever - to babysit who knows how many kids - and without pay!

She left for college last week.

We knew it was going to happen someday, but we weren't really prepared for it.

It was especially hard for Tate.

He had to wear these sunglasses to hide his puffy, tear-stained eyes.

The girls were sad to say goodbye to the one who taught them how to tackle.

And tickle.  Whenever Kari was around, tickle wars were sure to ensue.  And they always ended up wanting to gang up on me.  Poor, innocent little me.

For a long time I was able to use the "I'm pregnant" excuse.  It doesn't quite work anymore.  Although I did lie to her last week and tell her I was pregnant so she wouldn't attack me.  Unfortunately, she saw through my dishonesty.  I'm pretty sure I won that battle though.  I usually do.  I'm so much stronger than her.  ;)  hee hee

Last Wednesday, Kari stayed over until 1:30 a.m.  We had a good time, like always.  I kept thinking, "It's okay.  She'll be back next month."  Then she sprung this on me, 

"So... I probably won't see you until Christmas."  

Christmas?!  What?!  That's like over 4 months away!  Now that's just ridiculous.

This is how we felt on the inside.

But we couldn't stay sad for long.

We know she'll be back and love every minute of college.  Okay, so maybe not those minutes at like 3 a.m. when she's cramming for an exam.  But all the other minutes will be lovely, I'm sure.

Crazy sidenote - Right in the middle of typing this, Kari texted me!  And it's the first text I've gotten from her since she left.  Of course she's too busy for us now, you know with pre-season soccer stuff and whatnot.  ;)  So we'll take any little bit of communication we can get from her! 

We love you, Kari and we're praying for you!  Enjoy college!