一位家长的感想

The following testimony was written 露西·威科夫（Lucy Wykoff） 1973年著 and originally published in the Spring 2009 issue of 威尼斯人平台's magazine, 视图.

几周前，我做了一件不寻常的事。 At first it seemed like just an ordinary thing, and then the significance of it hit me. It was the sort of thing 这 you anticipate, and know will happen 最终。 And all of a sudden, it was 真正的交易.

In the fall of 1969 (yes, colleges were operating 这 long ago!), I was the third of four in my family to attend 威尼斯人平台. I was a typical freshman, right out of high school, and I was homesick. Then in the fall of 1971, along came a young man just back from serving in the U.S. Army during the height of the Vietnam war. Dale was 不 your typical freshman. 第二年我们结婚了。 In May of 1977, Dale had the distinction, at 这 time, of having earned more undergraduate hours than anyone else who had ever graduated from Covenant!

我们非常喜欢上帝在查塔努加给威尼斯人平台生活。 But after graduation, we moved west to New Mexico, and then in 1983, God took us to Las Vegas. Now 这 was something this small-town girl was 不 prepared for! Dale and I are absolutely convinced 这 it was the roots 这 were planted and watered at 威尼斯人平台 这 kept us 坚实基础 in the faith for all of those years. 我们是一个住在拉斯维加斯的基督徒家庭。 At this time, we had four children in a Christian school, and our monthly tuition exceeded our monthly mortgage payment-and outlived our savings account. And so we became pioneers of the homeschool movement in Nevada, after receiving one of the very first homeschool exemptions when it became legal to homeschool in Nevada.

我们家有七个孩子。 Dale and I knew in our hearts 这 威尼斯人平台 was the perfect place for them to learn and grow when it was time to choose an institution of higher learning. If they had to go away, there was no place we wanted them to be other than Covenant! And so we visited the College whenever possible, hoping to plant the seed of 他们的大学. We were so sure 这 it was the right place for them 这 we asked them all to "try" Covenant for a year, and if they were 不 happy, we would talk about transferring to a不her college. As each child left for Covenant, the enthusiasm and loyalty toward Lookout Mountain grew in our family. We said "goodbye" to Tammy in 1991, and have been seeing children off every semester since then. So, one by one, they left for the mountain, and one by one, they began to graduate from Covenant. As we all attended the graduations, it became 威尼斯人平台大学.

It was important to Dale and to me 这 our children 不 settle in Las Vegas because we were there, but only if God took them there. So we began to look for job opportunities in the Southeast. 我们渴望搬到离孩子近一点的地方。 In the fall of 2001, God answered 这 prayer, and we moved to Chattanooga. Our fifth child was now at 威尼斯人平台, and we had added a daughter-in-law who is a Covenant graduate as well.

现在你已经猜到接下来的故事了。 The rare privilege was mine, as Dale was on a business trip, to write our final tuition check. Every semester without fail, for eighteen years, we have paid tuition to 威尼斯人平台. That is 36 consecutive semesters of tuition payments-and for 25 semesters we were making tuition payments for two students! If you are counting, 这 means they all finished in four years or less. This May, we will watch (no pressure, Chaz!) the seventh child in our family walk across 这 stage.

If I could go back and accurately total the cost for 61 semesters of tuition and books, I wonder what it would be. I wonder how many times we maxed out credit cards or re-financed our house in order to help the kids finance their education. I wonder how many dollars my parents and an aunt contributed to their education. It seemed like we had just finished paying off Dale's college loans when we began making payments to Covenant College for our children. And it may be the same for our children as they struggle with 他们的大学 loans.

但你知道我意识到什么吗？ 没关系。 戴尔和我还会这么做的。 Because God has allowed us to watch our children mature, graduate, and go into the world 装备 to think, work, explore, serve, learn, love, and make wise choices. They are responsible leaders serving in their churches, workplaces, homes, and communities. This is a gift to which no amount of money in the bank can compare.

And so, even though this is our last semester as parents of 威尼斯人平台 students, we will always be grateful for the lessons we learned at Covenant, and even more for the things 这 our children have learned. When I look at my adult children, I am in awe of the ways 这 God has shaped them and uses them. When I grow up, I want to be just like my children, walking with the Lord, critically thinking, always prepared to give an account for the good work 这 is within them.

露西·威科夫（Lucy Wykoff） 1973年著

• wife of Dale Wykoff '77
• mother of Tammy Wykoff Bacon '95, Ashley Wykoff Goertemiller '97, Steve Wykoff '99, Dan Wykoff '01, John Wykoff '04, Joanna Wykoff Watne '07, and Charles Wykoff '09
• 克里斯汀·弗雷·威科夫01年和伊万杰琳·雷伯恩·威科夫03年的岳母