Be still my poor, pounding, Momma-heart…my munchkins are so grown now!

Getting ready for school, getting them off to school, getting them home from school, and getting them use to school has taken up pretty much my every waking minute lately. Oh yeah, and then soccer, and lamb sorting (lamb harvest is just a few weeks away!), and now Mr. Fix-It and I are teaching 4th-6th graders at church on Wednesday nights. We’ve had friends over for football and friends over for lunch and friends over for shooting…sigh…life simply never stops. At all.

As I’ve noted on our Facebook page, the crew is in our local public elementary school this year. I’m not really emotionally up to a big dissertation on this topic right now. Suffice to say that it is what it is and we’re making the best we can out of it. No doubt there will be many (many!) more words on this issue later, but for now we are drowning the situation in daily prayer and throwing ourselves at the foot of the cross, and we’re making it work.

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Fall has not come in with turning leaves and sweatshirt weather around here. The first week of school was one of the hottest, most humid weeks of the entire summer! I was surprised the crew didn’t even ask to wear shorts. I guess we’re all so ingrained in having a strict dress code that the idea of wearing jeans every day already stretches our imagination to the limit right now. {smile}

The Ladybug even asked me to cut her hair this year! Usually I’m lucky if I can get an inch off just to even up the bottom. This time she asked me to cut more, so I cut about 2 inches, then let her look, then cut two more, had her check and then cut some more. We ended up taking off about 5-6 inches. She seems to like it. It’s easier to brush, but it’s suddenly got more body and wave than she’s used to.

Our Cowboy is feeling pretty hemmed in with school. Rules and desk work and having to behave and get along with people all. day. long…that’s not his preferred learning environment. He’s more of a wide open, free spirit, imagine and create and play learner. He needs a lot of activity breaks, which he had all summer. He’s missing that. But he’ll bow to the routine again soon enough.

And our Speedracer?

Well, it’s his first year of all day class. He’s used to half a day and then lunch and nap–even over the summer. By the end of the day, he’s ready to veg out for a few hours. Homework is new this year too, and he doesn’t find that much fun either. I think this year is really going to push him to mature–and being the strong-willed child that his is, right now he’s pushing back with some tantrums and meltdowns. {sigh} This too shall pass. I’m seeing a big jump in maturity at soccer, so I know he’s got it in there. {smile}

You know, it’s been lingering on my mind how hard we have to fight to put our own past behind us sometimes–especially as Christians. We have to choose a different path–and not just from the world, but from our own history. Right now this public school choice is the hardest one I’ve faced in my new walk with the Lord. Not just bowing in obedience, but trying to understand what the Christian walk looks like in this situation. There are so many things in my personal past in public schools that I know are not our choice for our family. The solutions I was given for things like bullying are not necessarily the solutions we want our family to choose. They are not necessarily what we think is right as Christians. (Prayer was not my Dad’s go-to solution for bullies. Or anything else at school, really.)

BUT…it’s hard not to revert to a familiar mental and emotional position as familiar experiences come up with our children. I’m trying to guide them in a direction I’m not familiar with.

That’s a real challenge.

It looks like this might be a year of real growth for all of us.

How are the first weeks of your school year going?

And on an unrelated note–did you see that jean jackets are all the rage again? The Ladybug loves them. There’s one at Crazy 8’s that’s 40% off right now ($5 shipping every day!) that we might pick up for her for Christmas. Today only, Fall Favorites are 40% off at Crazy 8!

I remember going through a jean jacket phase myself. I wonder what happened to that old, well-worn, well-loved hand-me-down? I believe that’s what they like to call “vintage” these days. {smile}