On Monday the 31st, we drove Chris to the recruiter's. They took her to Denver and checked her into a hotel. We ended up meeting up with her down there and got to spend the afternoon and evening with her. It was really nice and relaxing ~ we went to the nearly empty Downtown Aquarium, had dinner at the Hard Rock Café, walked around the 16th Street Mall a bit, and finished up with desert at Yard House which is inside her hotel lobby.
But let me back up a minute, because just minutes after she checked into the hotel, God blessed her. Or us. Or both. As she was checking in, another young lady was checking in as well. Turns out this girl would be her roommate for the night. She, too, was shipping out the next day, and she, too, would be doing CTI. That's pretty amazing, frankly. In northern Colorado, Chris didn't know anyone else shipping the same day, and she had yet to meet another CTI. This girl was from Alamosa, and, assuming everything goes normally over the next two months, they will go through boot camp and then on to Monterey together.
Tuesday was a tough day. It was a lot of waiting at the MEPS, and waiting, especially for something like this, tends to cause anxiousness. We arrived around 9 as we were told her swearing in would be around 10, yet it actually didn't happen until noon. Still, those hours next to our clearly nervous little girl who didn't get much sleep the night before were precious to us.
Obviously it was hard to tell her good-bye. I am told that she will be a different person when we next see her at graduation from boot camp, all for the better. I am looking forward to seeing her mature and, I pray, gain confidence in herself. I have a general idea of what happens each week in boot camp, and I will share as it comes up. Right now she is still in "processing" as far as I know, and her actual training has not yet begun. Although it may have. I really don't know!
{Here's a creepy thing I wish was available. I wish the military would let the recruits sign up on some sort of website that would allow us parents to check in and just see their status - where they are at in processing or training, etc. Just knowing that simple piece of information would set my mind to much greater ease.}
This is an excellent article on what happens the first day at Recruit Training Command. It also adds to the significance of the following details, I think, because if you read it, you will find that recruits do not to get to sleep until their second night there.
Okay, here's where the story gets good again. :) Are you ready for this?
On Wednesday morning, I woke up, and Robert asked me how I slept. I said, "All right, although I woke up a lot. Must've been 6 or 7 times. Each time, I just rolled over, said a prayer for Christianne, and fell right back to sleep. How about you?"
He said he experienced the exact same thing.
Came downstairs to find Mom sitting on the porch. I asked her how she slept. She said she kept waking up all night, but each time, she would just pray for Chris and go back to sleep.
Isn't that amazing? I felt like our baby girl was covered in prayer all night long. She wasn't allowed to sleep, and we were able to support her throughout the night by lifting her up. On the way to the airport, Mom and I were talking about it again, and Mom said that it was like when the two guys had to hold up Moses's arms while the Israelites were in battle:
So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek,
while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed,
and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses's hands grew weary,
so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it,
while Aaron and Hur held up his hands,
one on one side, and the other on the other side.
So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people
with the sword.
Exodus 17:10-13
Even better ~ when I shared this story with my friend the next day, she too, told me that she was up at 4:30 in the morning with Chris on her heart, and was praying for her at that time as well. I figure that was about the time I finally settled into some good sleep, and it encouraged my heart to know that others were also praying for her as she worked her way through the processing system at RTC.
Many, many people are praying for her, even today. I dare say maybe even a hundred! It is humbling and amazing and fills my heart with joy all at the same time. God has her. She is His, and I can trust Him.
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