I took a week off writing here. I spent the week getting ready for a graduation party. I looked at pictures and built video. I sorted through videos and converted them and packaged them. We turned the backyard into a party space.

Nancy took a week off working. She spent the week cleaning and planning and shopping and cooking and recleaning. She found recipes and created treasure chests and pink flamingos.

We were getting ready for a party. We were getting ready to celebrate Hope’s graduation from high school.

Friday afternoon, I realized that I needed to ask a question. We had done a lot of preparation and had talked a lot with Hope. However, twenty-four hours before the party, I wanted to make sure.

“I don’t know what the perfect graduation party is supposed to be. I don’t know if we’re doing this right. But I need to know: Hope, is all this okay? Is this what you want for your graduation party?”

She smiled.

“Yes,” she said.

We had our party. We had our fun. We watched Hope smiling her way through conversations with people she was too shy to look at a decade ago. Then she was off,  off to other parties, to time with friends, while we cleaned up.

By Saturday evening, tables were returned, the kitchen was cleaned up. We were ready to collapse.

Hope showed up in time for bed. When she came to say “good night”, she also said it.

“Thank you.”

I think that God is like that.

We work along doing what we think he wants. And then we stop and ask, “Is this is it?” And he smiles. And then we do the work, hard and stretching and according to plan.

He says “thank you”.

And it is worth it.