Dating Advice ...just because we need something to laugh about around here...

Taking in a teenage daughter at this early stage in life has been interesting to say the least. With our biological children barely out of diapers we didn't expect to deal with a few things for several more years. God has a funny way of throwing things at you when you least expect it.

I've already sat in the passenger seat of a car, white knuckling an armrest, shrieking for dear life as a newly licensed driver shrieked back, "But I'm NOT in the ditch!!" I've already argued about the length of a pair of shorts. I've already tried to make a teenage girl realize a teenage boy WOULD notice the difference in coverage when she took a seat, and turned a deafened ear to her protests when she tried to negotiate her way out the front door. I've already sat through freshman orientation at college sitting among teary eyed parents who can't believe their babies were all grown up. {I personally couldn't believe I was there as a parent figure. I felt out of place. Like a disoriented student who was so lost and confused she didn't know where to go...} I've already taught how to budget, balance a checking account, and manage bills & cash flow. All things I didn't expect to do for at least ten more years. We really can't complain though. As far as teenagers go, we got a good one. We are blessed as stand-in parents. Our teenage daughter is very mature. For instance, after breaking up with a 'serious' boyfriend she made the commitment to not date her Senior year of High School & actually followed through with it!! Recently the subject of dating was re-visited. Dad and I had differing opinions relating to something I have since completely forgotten. The joke was made that Dad had very little dating experience since he had only dated one person; whereas, Mom had a vast array of experience because she dated the whole cross-country team. {For the record I so DID NOT date the whole team, not even close; and, I didn't have all the experience I was accused of having and any experience I did have was gained before I chose to make Jesus Christ the center of my life and the center of my dating relationships.} Anywho... the result was Josh's first lecture on dating. The following is directly quoted as best as I can remember... you're going to enjoy this!

"Laugh if you want but only having one girlfriend is not a bad thing. You need to treat dating like you would treat buying a car. {yeah... he went there...} You don't hop in the first car you see and buy it. No. You walk around the car lot.. you take time to look around... You don't test drive every car you like either. That's what Mom did. Just ask her, test driving a bunch of cars is not much fun. Nope, you've got to wait until you find the one you really want. The one you have to have - even if you can't afford it. The one you would do anything to have. The one your willing to save for.. to wait for. You don't do anything until you find that car. The Car. Your Car."

Seriously folks! I couldn't make this stuff up. I'm just so glad I was his car!