Sunday, August 17, 2014

Kindergarten take 2

Back to school night :)
It's that time, my Adah is off to Kindergarten.

I cannot believe it.  My girl is 6 and ready to GO!!!

Mom, not so much.  It's the shift in life that is hard.  I will no longer be the primary adult in her life, most of her prime time will be with someone else, somewhere else.  I trust the teacher and the school, but still ... it's bittersweet and leaves me with doubt.

Did I do enough to prepare her?
Will she make friends?
Did I use my time with her well or just fill her with ideas and attitudes that her teacher will struggle with?
Will she fit in so as not to be the weird one, but not so well as to not be herself and all that God has made her to be?

I'm trying not to be the weird weepy mom, she is ready.
She is excited.
The timing is good.
We waited until we were sure she was ready.
But ... I'm still sad.

So here lies the challenge, being sad without causing her sadness and worry.

So, here is my plan, get my words out HERE, then get a good nights sleep.  In the morning, get up and PRAY for God to use me in Adah as she leaves for Kindergarten and Michael as he heads to 4th grade.  Snuggle with my kids, because they all still like that and need it to start our day well.  Make pancakes, because that was the special request tonight.  Leave the house at 7:45, because they moved the start of the school day up by 10 minutes - whoever made that decision doesn't have small kids - 10 minutes!!!  It may as well be an hour, it changes EVERYTHING!!!  Get pictures of everyone, get them to school, more pictures.  Walk Adah to class give make sure to tell her I can't wait to see her and hear about her day.  Take Gideon by the hand and leave the room, trying to keep Mr. Social from visiting all the rooms on the way out of the school.  Get back to the van, buckle my buddy in, THEN cry, but get over it quickly, I'm going out to breakfast with those who have gone before me.

I talked with Adah and Michael tonight about our goals for the year, well it ended up being more my goals for them.

Michael: Do things on purpose with purpose.  Try hard every day, even if you can just float through, don't settle - do your best.
Learn in your head and heart who you are in God's eyes and how he can use your strengths.
Develop friendships, get a true blue buddy.
Be kind to everyone, even those who are hard to be kind to, stick up for those who are picked on.
Have fun, everything is better when it is fun, don't get too busy or serious to miss it.

Adah: learn to read so you can love and learn about the world and people through books.
Be a good friend and make a good friend.
Make mistakes and learn from them.
Have fun, all good things in life should have a bit of fun in them - especially school.

I think I need to make some goals for me in this school year :) but that is another topic for another day.  Time to head to bed, time to pray for grace and courage, and time to enjoy this next stage of life with me and my G.
Back to school night - Michael was thrilled to get his picture taken, can you tell?
My 2 school kids :)
Thinking on all this I remembered that I blogged before Michael started school and WOW I'm predictable it is a similar experience.  end-of-week-of-michael 













Adah is 6!!!

I missed Adah's birthday blog somehow, so before I wrote on KINDERGARTEN, I felt I needed this one here too.  Since this blog is for my processing and my kids to read after I'm gone, I don't want to miss her birthday.

June 14, 2008 a day that is unforgettable to me and although it was six years ago, feels so recent.

The day Adah was born was a great day.  I didn't know I thought she was a boy, until the doctor told me she was a girl and I said "REALLY????" then as I looked at her in all her newness I kept saying, "I can't believe she is a girl ... It's really a girl ... Wow, a girl ..."

God knew what we needed, a girl.  Our house needed sparkles and twirls and high pitched stories and giggles - I didn't know it, but Adah is what was missing.

I didn't know what to name a girl.  I had a list of boy names, but nothing for a girl, until a few weeks before she was born, up late helping Joy write a paper over the phone, searching the Internet looking for Biblical names I found Adah, liked it immediately and then looked at the meaning ... beautiful addition.  (Ava had been on our list, but then in Ikea we seemed to trail a family with a little Ava and by the time we all checked out Ava was off my list.)  Then on June 14 I met Adah, indeed a beautiful addition, perfect name for the perfect girl for our family.  Not perfect by any means, but perfect for us.

She has been a beautiful addition to our family for 6 years now, so I will give you 6 of my favorite things about Adah - notice I said 6 of not 6, the list is very long.

Adah loves life.  She loves music and is always singing (slightly off key) and dancing.  She loves nature she picks flowers, rocks, sticks, you name it she has probably picked it up.  She then "investigates" things she finds with a magnifying glass.  We often have the "Mom, did you know..." talks.  She finds dirt, mud, and all things fun and filthy delightful.  Rain boots are an important part of our wardrobe.  How can you be girly and love mud?  I don't know, but Adah finds the balance.

Adah loves people.  Adah doesn't meet people she makes new friends.  She will say that's my new friend, I'll ask what is her name, she will answer I don't know, but she is my good friend.  Maybe that is what I will be like when I'm senile, I don't know her name, but she is my good friend.  She can take a bit to warm up to adults in an unusual situation, but once she does, watch out.

Adah is interesting.  You never really know what she is going to say or ask.  Some people may call it challenging, but those are the people who always feel challenged.  I think it's interesting, she isn't like everyone else and at this point doesn't feel the need to be, she is brave in herself.  She recognizes that is just how I am, feel, look ... and I hope it lasts forever.  Wouldn't this world be amazing if we were all good with who and how we are and expect other people to be who and how they are and look at each other as interesting instead of challenging.

Adah is a girl.  She giggles, she twirls. She loves dress up and is imaginative.  She can play and play and play with her dolls, stuffed animals.  She loves her brothers well and gets rough and tumble, but does it in her own dainty way.  She softens rough edges in us all.

Adah is quick. She is the girl who is always ready.  I don't have to talk her into changing plans or doing something different, she is up for it.  She tries new things and charges fearlessly ahead, leaving us catching up with her.  God is going to use this in a mighty way.  I've been praying that he will allow her wild spirit to lead her to His gain and that I will hold her tightly in my heart and prayers but with hands open when the time is right.  That the taming will come to help her move ahead in wisdom, but not in causing her to stop in fear.

Adah is mine.  Well, mine and Curtis's, but it's my blog I can claim her as my girl.  I look at her and remember her beginning, she was a good baby.  She didn't sleep well through the night consistently until she was 2, but that was OK.  I wouldn't trade those snugly moments with her for anything - well when she was 18 months, I probably felt differently - but now the blessings overwhelm me.  She knows how I work, better than I know how she works, but we are figuring that out.  She struggles with no meaning no, but so do I.  When I see her snuggled in her bed at night, I feel blessed because God trusted me with her and I didn't deserve His trust, but look at it with hope, knowing that He would only do that if He truly believed that I would be the best mom to help her grow into the woman He needs her to be to accomplish the plan He has for her.  My goodness, what a gift.