If you know me you know that school is a big thing for us around here.  I for sure don't take school lightly.  I pray diligently for my kids schools, principals, teachers and classmates.  I feel that is the BIG thing I can do for them.  I have been praying for Pickle Elementary and the staff there since we decided to buy this house.  Us sending Cayden, and the rest of our kids for that matter, to Pickle is a whole different post that I'll save for another day.

From the get go in our adoption we have wondered what would happen with school when Amos arrived home.  You see, him and Deacon are 6 months apart (with Amos being the older one) and we have gone back and forth on what to do next year with him for school.  If we sent him to kindergarten he would be a young kinder kid and he is so behind because he hasn't known English his whole life.  If we didn't send him to kinder then him and Deacon would be in the same class their whole lives and not be twins.  I worried about them finding their own place in school and friends, etc.  Probably lots of worries that don't mean much in the long run, but worries that this momma had anyways.

We finally decided to send him to the preschool that the kids have been at the past two years.  They are fabulous there and I knew it would be great for him.  We had originally said the boys would be in the same class, but as the summer rolled on I noticed that they are doing great and Amos doesn't need Deacon to be there as much anymore.  He is becoming much more independent and seems to be able to be okay w/out Deacon's help.

During the summer I started to stress about how far behind Amos is.  It's hard when a child arrives home to their new land and family and A NEW LANGUAGE.  Since him and Deacon are so close in age I sometimes judge his “educational” progress with Deacon.  Which I must add is not right or fair, but I'm just being honest.  After my observations, Aaron and I started to talk about possibly trying to get Amos into the pre-k program at Pickle so that he could get a little more instructional help before the kinder year began.  That was good for me, because he was going to be getting a little extra boost before “real” school started the next year.  We decided to meet with a counselor at the school and get their opinion and possibly register him for pre-k.

Well that brings us to this past weekend when I was talking about this to a few friends that are in the education field and they asked how old Amos was.  I told them that his birth certificate says he's six, but we know he's really five and will fix/change that when we finally adopt him.  They then informed me that he can't even go to preschool because you can't be older than 4 to go to pre-k.  Oh that put my head in a tail spin.  You mean that my baby can't go to pre-k?  They then recommended that we put him in kinder this year and then again next year.  What?  My baby going to “real” school.  My heart is not ready for this.

Aaron and I talked about this over the weekend and we have come to the conclusion that we will go next week to …. oh my word I can hardly say it …. we will go next week to re… regis…. register my baby for kindergarten.  My heart is bursting with emotions.  Not bad emotions, but just emotions that are confusing.  I needed more time to get ready for this.  Sending a kid to kindergarten is a big deal and usually you know when it's going to happen.  I feel like this just came out of nowhere and now my heart is not prepared.

We haven't said anything to the kids yet about this.  I don't want it to not happen and then have to explain another plan to Amos.  That is always confusing to him.  I'm sad for Deacon.  He has been telling Amos all about his school all summer long.  It is so cute to see him explain all the fun stuff that you do at preschool.  I know that he was excited about having his buddy at school with him.  I'm sad for Amos who will miss out on so much love and attention from the ladies at the school that we have the other kids at.  They are so amazing and would have loved my baby well.

So, next Monday I'll head up to the elementary school to possibly register two kids for school.  My heart swells with so many emotions when I think about this.  So happy for my boys who are growing up, but so worried for my sweet Amos.  He is so innocent and in some ways behind emotionally and socially.  I will beat up any kid that is mean to him or makes fun of him.  you think I'm kidding?  I worry about his sweet spirit.

I feel so behind spiritually as well.  Had I known Amos was going to possibly be in “big” school in kindergarten I would have had such different prayers this summer, and this stresses me out just a bit. As my sweet friend Staci reminded me, God has already gone BEFORE me in this.  Although I feel as though the wind was just knocked out of me this weekend when I realized that my baby just might be going to big boy school this fall, I know that this did not knock the wind out of God.  He knows where my sweet Amos will be and has known all along.  He is preparing our paths and I know that he has hand picked Amos' sweet teacher for next year.

So this year I'll have 2 in big school and 2 in preschool, and then next year all 3 boys in big school.  Oh my word where has the time gone.  We will have Amos do kinder twice and so eventually him and Deacon will be back in the same grade together, unless Amos blows us all out of the water and does so good that the teachers think he can go on to 1st grade.  Oh my gracious wouldn't that be amazing.  Nothing is impossible with God.

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*a picture from the past – Sept 2008

Jamie Ivey