School, School, School

Yesterday we all started back to, or just to as the case may be, school. Hayden's a senior - oh my goodness am I that old?- Allison is a sophomore - I might be that old!- Katie is in 7th grade -that sounds about right - and Max started preschool - I'm not that young! I think it was a good day for all - by the way I teach 8th grade American History and am the 5th grade assistant...someone has to pay the tuition for these little darlings! I was not very stressed about Max starting his preschool and being away from me all day, so since I was sooo calm, and although I had my camera with me and took pictures of my 5th grader's first day, I totally forgot to take a picture of Max's, that sounds about right for me! Max went into the room just fine, tentatively hugged me and then walked over to start playing. The hug was strange but looking back I think maybe he wasn't sure if he wanted to hug me and then me leave. He did really great in the morning but when nap time came he got a little anxious and they brought him to me for a hug and kiss. I told him to lay down and suck his thumb and rub his ear and after he wakes up Mommy will come. I asked if he wanted Daddy to come get him, he said no and went back to his class. At the end of the day I walked into the room and he sat and waited for his teacher to finish speaking and to say "okay" before he came over to me. I am thinking that must be a little hang over from some of the more structured time at BFF (his orphanage). On the way home he told us all about his day and that he sucked his thumb and rubbed his ear just like I told him to and he went to sleep and then Mommy come. It was very, very sweet. The rest of the evening at home went fine, he talked and talked about his day. He pulled Katie's (okay so the backpack has her name on it but he doesn't know that...yet!) his back pack around the house, and I tripped over it at least 100 times, and he came to me over and over for hugs and reassurance. Last night when it was bed time he wanted both Veldon and me to be there and then he struggled to actually go to sleep, he wanted to be held and then he wanted to lay down and rub my arm. Finally, after about an hour I held him tightly for a long, long time and he fell asleep. I don't think our day at school messed anything up for him, I think he enjoyed it and it will be an asset to him in the long run, I do however think it gave him a little bump to be away from his parents in a setting that was eerily similar to his orphanage. I think perhaps it was hard for him at nap time because they slept on mats on the floor in a very similar manner to the orphanage and sleep is such a vulnerable time for children.

All in all I am so grateful for our school who allows me to work there to pay our tuition, to interact with other kids, to teach history, which I adore, and to be close to my children. I am grateful for free preschool for my Max and I am grateful for all the wonderful friends whom I work with and asked me all day how my sweet Max was doing and how I was doing. God has been so gracious to us. If someone would have told me 15 years ago that I would be homeschooling my children, I would be living in GA and I would have adopted a child from Thailand with some special needs and waited for him for 31 months I probably would have laughed at them, (actually I always suspected I would homeschool one day) we had turned down churches in the SE because we weren't interested in living in the heat, and here we are in the deep, deep South, in a place that feels more like home than any since we married!