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