What a great weekend! [My daughter] and I were blessed by the conduct and content at the Maidens' Quest Retreat in The Woodlands, Texas. En route home, she said, "I wish this would go on and on!" I agreed. What a change....

In the beginning, I paid no attention to the notice about the retreat. I have never allowed [my daughter], now 15, to go off on "churchy" events after seeing some of them in action. Many just pass for a chance to drink alcohol, to be around boys, and to be swayed away from Momma and Daddy by peer pressure and into peer dependence. I know: I was raised in "church." My husband and I have been very protective of our children. Some would say "over protective" but, in a day and age when little boys are kidnapped in Houston while taking out the garbage in their own yards, I don't think parents can be "over" protective.

For her part, [my daughter] was not interested in going to the retreat, feeling like it would be a time of someone trying to browbeat her into the "typical" homeschool girl mold: stay home, don't go to college, be happy waiting quietly for Prince Charming. This is not what God has called her to, and she is sensitive about being pushed into other girls' lives. You cannot be a medical missionary without going to college, and the Lord seems to be strengthening this call upon her life. She does want to marry, have children, homeschool them all, be a helpmeet to her husband - but she has a deep desire to live the life God laid out specifically and individually and personally just for her. We're believing that God will accomplish all of these things He has laid out for her even if we cannot see it right now.

So...with us both reluctant and with me not being able to be with her on Friday because my husband was on duty and our 13-year-old son NOT yet able to babysit for his three, new younger brothers, I dropped my "baby" off with y'all. I cried. I know you probably cannot imagine how hard that was...but one day you will. Really, I was placing her firmly in the hands of the Lord, Who loves her and had encouragement to share with her all through that weekend. My thoughts and prayers were with her, of course, as I changed diapers, potty trained, squelched arguments, changed more diapers, etc...but I wasn't "there." I'm thinking that was a taste of what's coming: I know I can't always be with her -- but I know Who is!

[My daughter] was refreshed and encouraged during both days, and she needed it. Our life with the three new little guys is a moment-by-moment battle, but we know Who will win! Breath-by-breath, we're weeding and re-planting. From waking to sleeping, the adjustment is a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual battle. [My daughter] came to retreat exhausted, just plain exhausted. She came away refreshed, encouraged, strengthened -- and it showed immediately in how she was able to interact with her new siblings. She is her joyful self again.

She told me of how, during Friday's talks, you reiterated things I've said to her all her life -- not the tearing down of parents and parental authority or the "do your own thing," as I've seen in the past at "teen" events. Rebekah was also amazed that no one tried to shove her into a life prepared for someone else. It was as if, through y'all, the Lord was again giving her permission to live the life He's planned just for her. That was very freeing for her.

I can't say enough about Maiden's Quest and the young ladies who've allowed the vision to be birthed in their lives. Y'all are amazing testimonies to the sovereignty of God as well as His creativity. Whatever we can do in the future to help, we'd like to be a part. Meanwhile, we're praying and are very much grateful.

~ A Grateful Mother