Sorry for the dry spell, dear friends. It's been a long, slow week at the Vanderburgs', and not necessarily in the best ways.

A got sick on Tuesday (or earlier, that's just when he really started hitting rock bottom) and so I've been trying to help get him well again. This is by far the sickest I've seen him - he missed work three days this week because he felt so awful, and that's been the second time he's called in sick in about 6 years he said. Luckily there are no perfect attendance awards in grown-up world, or I think he would have tried to push through just to say he did. However, with a 100+ degree fever, a horrible hacking cough and lots of headaches, I'm thankful he has been given a chance to rest.

Our little man-child John showed up yesterday. He's a former youth of A's from the church he was at in SC, and now, John's been accepted into the school where I work to go to college. He is so excited to be here and start. However, unlike most college kids I know, there is no big "move-in to the dorms" weekend for John - he's staying on our couch with some clothes and books until he talks to housing and gets moved in.

Tomorrow morning, hopefully, we'll go garage saleing and find some necessities for him before he moves into the dorms - pillow, sheets, bedding, lamps, folders for school, alarm clock, etc.

I've been a college student (not too long ago!) but honestly have no idea how to begin helping him shop for things for his dorm room. A) He's a boy, and boys and girls are fundamentally different in their decorating tastes B) We're starting from ground zero with stuff for him.

We joke a lot about John being our man-child, but honestly, I've never been that great with kids, and suddenly finding myself playing "mom" to someone that is 19 years old is kind of baffling. How do I translate my college experience: Two carloads of stuff, parents, color-coordinated sheets/bedding/decor, tearful goodbyes, etc., with helping this great kid start this phase of his life off right? He's not going to have his parents here to help move him into the dorm. He won't have carloads of stuff to move in. There won't be family with him at the family events, and my heart just breaks for the whole situation.

Pray for us this weekend as A recovers (or tries to) and as we try to figure out how to help this kid with this huge transition in his life. I am thankful that our Lord is bigger than sickness and bigger than college and that he cares for these two guys infinitely better than I will ever be able to.