Last year, we were introduced to the dual language program in our school district. I went for an observation one morning and I was nothing but impressed. It was decided that we wanted our kids to be a part of this...we wanted this opportunity for them. Not only to be fluent in another language, but what doors being fluent in Spanish would open for them...to be able to put "bilingual" on a resume or job application.
We are in week three of school. Kaitlyn is adjusting very well. She is soaking up the Spanish that they are teaching her. It was so neat to see one of the assignments she brought home...not only is she a little artist, she had written out what everything was in Spanish. She loves both of her teachers and has made many new little friends...who she already wants to invite over to play. She has discovered that a couple of her friends already know Spanish and she is amazed that they can speak right back to her Spanish teacher in class. It's cute hearing her talk about what goes on in there. She told Landon that if he doesn't know what to do, "Just ask one of his friends that speaks Mexican for help."
Landon, on the other hand, is having a tough time. I think he would be just fine if he stayed with one teacher all day, but he has a difficult time when he has to switch to his Spanish class. He says he doesn't like it over there because (I quote), "I can't understand because they don't speak Eng-a-lish". It's a total immersion idea and I think as the weeks go on, he will do much better. This is just a big change for him. Not only is he in his first year of school, it's full day kindergarten, and he is in the dual language program. I am proud of him. I knew it would be hard but he's trying. He loves music and gym. I have been informed by my little man that he has made seven friends...and only two of which are boys....one who's name in Falkin and the other Diego. It will take time and I just have to keep praying that one of these days we will have a tear free day at school.
P.S. - I am hoping to be able to join the parents class : Spanish as a second language. Not only would it be beneficial for me at work, it will also help in the future when my bilingual kids are conspiring against me.
I have been encouraged these past couple of days...out of the blue...pretty unexpectedly. And that little bit of encouragement from a few unexpected people has made a huge difference. It also got me thinking. How much of an encourager am I? How often do I go out of my way to encourage someone? It's not as much as I should....and it has been noted and put on my To Do list...starting right here in my own home.
We made it through the day with no tears (well, if you don't include Momma). I dropped Kaitlyn off smiling and I picked her up smiling. I dropped Landon off with his hand in his mouth (what he does when he is anxious, nervous, or scared) and picked him up with his arms at his sides. It was the first whole day for them both. From what they have told me, they did great and had a good day.
From my Kindergartner:
He didn't make any new friends.
He didn't go to the bathroom the whole time.
He was able to open his drink pouch and his gogurt all by himself.
He sat by a little girl and a little boy...the little girl chewed with her mouth open.
He got wood chips in his eye at recess...but didn't cry.
He stood in too many lines and had to look at his teacher too many times...but he likes her.
He didn't like wearing the necklace with his name on it.
He didn't have to go to the Principal's office...but a boy who cut should have.
He wants to be the goodest boy in his class.
Since he dressed nice today, he wants to dress bad tomorrow.
He wants to go back tomorrow.
From my First Grader:
I don't think there will ever be another September second that I don't think back to the one in 2008. There won't be another September second where I don't remember the phone call...the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach...crying off and on all day long...the look on my husband's face when he got home from work...the wondering, "what are we going to do now?"...the crying out to God.
I am so glad that on this September 2nd, my husband is not unemployed...that we aren't spending this September 2nd "celebrating" another anniversary. I really don't think my body, my soul, my mind could have taken it...and my God knew that.
It was predestined before the creation of the world that on that day in 2008, my husband would lose his job...my big fear of "what if" would happen. My world, my marriage, my little family would be turned up side down. I would struggle with God, plead with God, until I finally learned to wait on God and trust His plan. I would feel lost, lonely, forgotten before feeling loved, surrounded, and remembered. I would spend countless days on the floor of my bedroom, with the door locked, crying in to the carpet hoping the kids wouldn't hear me, but knowing God did. I would sob out loud while driving home from work late at night hoping it wouldn't be much longer. It was a roller coaster ride that I would want to jump off of. It was a season in my life that was sometimes more than I thought I could take.
My God knows me. My God knew how much I could handle with Him. He knew what I needed in my life. He knew what I needed to learn and he knew just how He could teach me. I can stand here today and remember the pain so vividly that it brings tears to my eyes. I can think back on certain times and get that feeling in the pit of my stomach. But no matter what I remember, what I think upon the past two years, I. am. thankful. My God cared for me so deeply, so tenderly...wrote a story so beautifully...and I feel beyond blessed, beyond privileged to have been chosen to walk this road. Two years ago, I felt...I thought...that my world had ended. I have learned as I walked this road with my God that it's on that day that the restoration began.
I stand here today and there is so much more I could say...or try to put in to words...but there is part of me that just can't find the words. My heart swells with thankfulness. Satan tried and tried over these past two years to ruin us...to ruin our marriage, to ruin our hopes and dreams, to ruin everything. He wanted so badly, I know, to take this time and twist it to make us believe that God wasn't there, He didn't care, He left us. My love is too deep for the One who first loved me. He never left me, He cared for us and ever detail so tenderly and it leaves me speechless before Him. Just speechless.
