First Days

The first morning of school...it was a mad dash! Gobbling down breakfast, grabbing lunches from the bottom shelf of the fridge, and taking backpacks lined along the wall near the front door. There was very little time for philosophising or emotions. We had a moment of small peace during family prayer...then we were out the door.  

So many firsts! This was Leasie's first day of Middle School - how blessed she was to have her big sister there to ride the bus with and reassure her that all would be well. First day of 4th grade for Tman and Meya.

This was also my first day as a full time high school teacher. I had all the mixed emotions you can expect. (Am I doing the right thing? Will I be a good teacher? Will I be a good mom? Can I balance the stress of teaching? Will my children need therapy in the future because of this decision?) But mostly I felt blessed to have this opportunity to make and save some money, do something I LOVE, and get to experience school with the kids. (I could NOT do the full time gig without Yuli - our full time maid/nanny/amazing lady! - more to come about her in future blogs). 

CJ took the picture below of us as the buses waited in our driveway. I like the way it seems a bit dreamlike with the out-of-focus light over my shoulder. This is the way I remember the morning - almost dreamlike in the frenzy and excitement.

Just one week later, CJ joined us in the "firsts" category. She started Kindergarten! This beginning did not occur without a few hiccups. We had wanted her to join us at Jakarta International School, but she did not meet the age cutoff. Last spring, we tried everything to convince JIS to make an exception. We had VA county school information sent, we involved the embassy liaison, and even tried to pull strings with friends who serve on the JIS board of trustees. I thought maybe I'd have special pull as a JIS teacher. But JIS did not budge.

CJ was ready for Kindergarten, and if we were in the US she made the VA county school deadline. So I was very frustrated by the denial. But I picked myself up and got to work investigating different school options. We found a wonderful Montessori school...just walking distance from our house. We got approval from the embassy and registered her. In the end, I think this is exactly where Heavenly Father wanted her to be. It is a good fit. And although I would have preferred she was close to the rest of us, she has a wonderful teacher and only 5 children in her class - so she gets lots of teacher attention.  

CJ is used to being left behind...so you can imagine her excitement to be one of the "big kids" finally going to school.

There were no tears from me on this happy day. You can read past blogs about first school days where I was an emotional wreck. Not today. I knew CJ was ready, and I knew she was going to be happy. (There was also the fact that Owen suffered a major head wound the same morning while exercising, and we were bandaging him up and making medical arrangements for him. Oh the trauma!)

I love this picture of CJ at 6:30pm that same evening. During family home evening we looked over and saw her head bobbing in pure exhaustion. We carried her upstairs, changed her into pjs, and she slept until morning.