Day 1 of 1

Open house night....

So I sent my first kid to her first day of school of her first grade year. Yep. It happened.

I seriously had flashbacks of trying to shoosh her to get her to sleep when she was 2 weeks old...then cleaning up smeared poo off her walls when she was 2, and then when she was 3, making her sit in the car and swallow her peas (that had been in her mouth for 1.5 hours, after dinner) before we went into small group. I remembered the gazillions of mornings we've had together watching PBS kids and having a casual breakfast with her bunny blankie in tow. I pictured SO MANY mornings cuddled under the blankets in my bed. I remember when she turned 4 and took her first shower. And here I was, encouraging my BIG GIRL to get out of the shower so she could get dressed for SCHOOL. As I was driving her to school I just couldn't help but drift into a daze. No tears at that point, just kindof a shocked state of mind that I was "releasing Ellie" into the world.

What a weird feeling. And really... I seriously don't like it. Maybe I'm crazy or just simply over emotional right now cause it's been a tough week. But really, I don't think so. I just LOVE spending time with Ellie, Emma, and Griff. I'm not one of those moms who does a cheer when she turns around and walks in the house after her kids get on the bus the 1st day of school. (Not that there's anything wrong with that). I just LOVE my days with them; they are precious and they are fleeting. And I also feel an incredible responsibility for them. It's gonna be even HARDER work to model, correct, train, discipline, and instruct, now that she's not under my roof for 6.5 hours a day. Whew.

I was overwhelmed when I walked down the hallway away from her classroom. Her teacher was in charge and yet her teacher wouldn't really be involved in every little thing of Ellie's day. She would give rules, give assistance, teach a few things, and manage the classroom. But she wouldn't ask Ellie what she was thinking when she made her "that hurt my feelings face." She wouldn't make sure she ate her fruits and veggies at lunch...BEFORE her treat. She wouldn't remind Ellie that when a classmate cut in line in front of her that she should say "that's ok, you can go first..." and WHY Jesus wants us to treat people like that. And she certainly wouldn't remind Ellie to stop and pray and ask God for help or courage when she felt nervous or overwhelmed. So yeah...I drove away from that school just praying those things over my sweet peanut today. And man oh man did I ask God to intervene!!

The girls sang this super cheesy song at VBS this summer about being a sunbeam. I'm now needing to somehow gently help Ellie remember that she gets to BE THAT this year not only to her sister and brother...but to lots of other people that may sometimes be tough to love. And man do I get that---people are tough. And girls are worse. ;)

So here's to a new year and a crazy new kind of routine!! School day ended at 3:30, dinner on the table at 5:30 followed with our attempts at lovingly and firmly walking her through relational STUFF, baths, playtime, book time, prayer time, bedtime. Whew. I'm wiped. Now we do it all again tomorrow...

And what's even crazier is to think that the other two munchkins in this picture...

will be doing this in the blink of an eye. SAVOR EVERY MOMENT!!!!!!!