Glimpses of the first week of school

John: Guess where we ate lunch? In the gym! It was great. (ahhh, simple pleasures)

Ashley: I made a new friend; her name is Abby.

Sara: During our free time at school we get to solve a mystery and you get to help if you want.

John: We had three recesses today. I don't know if we get three everyday or not, but it doesn't really matter. I like being in class. sigh...I love school.

Ashley: We got to sit on our desks to learn math today.

Sara: We played this great word game called Sparkle and I won twice! (I would so explain this game to you right now if I actually understood the rules)

Nathan: I love you Mommy (I've been getting a lot of I love you mommies this week. Nathan (or maybe I should say superman since he's been superman all week) and Sophie have also become very tight friends this week)

First day pics

The first day of school arrived with much triumph at our house yesterday. It was only a half day but I think the kids made the most of it. Here are some morning pics before they headed off.

Sara started the third grade and with that entered a new school. Here favorite part of the first day? Getting to sit on bleachers during the assembly. (They have no bleachers at the K-2 elementary so she's always sat on the floor during assemblies.)
Ashley entered the 2nd grade. She was little bummed because she has the same teacher that Sara had last year. Being a 2nd born child, one year behind my sister as well, I could relate to her feelings. She came home much more hopeful and happy about her teacher though. Her favorite part of the day? Finding out that the "theme" for the year was space and they got to make 2 dimensional space aliens with clay.

Big John or "John, John" as I like to call him, went to kindergarten. He was so very ready--more ready than his mom was. I really miss having him at home with me. He also has a great teacher (they all do--we've hit the teacher jackpot this year!) whom he really likes. His favorite part of the day? Coloring a school bus and making a new friend.

The annual back to school post

It is 4 AM and I'm awake. I'm trying to convince myself that it is because of the thunderstorm. That's probably what woke me, but I'm fairly confident it isn't what is keeping me awake. It is the first day of school today—one of the most heart wrenching days of the year for me. I'm sending my kids into a new environment and I can't be there with them. For two of mine this year it is a very new environment. Sara goes to a new school and John starts kindergarten. We went earlier this week and unpacked the backpacks, met the teachers, went over the dropping off and picking up drill, and generally convinced them that it would be fine and they would have a good time--now to convince myself. I cried praying over them at supper last night. A friend reminded me of one of Joe's infamous quotes yesterday, "We are raising adults, not children". For me, 75% of learning at school has nothing to do with academics. It has to do with learning how to apply their Christian worldview in the world. I'm not really concerned about today. My thoughts are on what I know will happen this year---life will be unfair, feelings will get hurt, friends will be ugly at times, fears will overtake them as they face academic and social challenges. The biggest part of me wants to shelter them from all this harsh world has to offer, but is that raising them to be adults? Is that how life really is? Obviously the answer is no. So I am thankful that I can send them to school, have them see life's challenges, and be able to offer them a glass of milk, a warm cookie and the Bible's answers when they get home at night. While I dread this day, I also know from experience it is the beginning of another year of in-depth conversations with my kids about the hard things of life. And my hope is one day they will be an adult ready to serve Christ with all their hearts in this fallen world and the pain of this world won't rattle their faith. So tears will be shed, I'll pray and I'll pray and I'll trust the Lord with my child today, tomorrow and the next day.