School

When it was time to put Garrett in preschool, we found one that we really liked. In all honesty, I looked at many online but the first one we visited was the one we chose. There is no way for me to express how much I believe that God led us to that specific school at that specific time. The Rock Star was placed in a class with a boy named Web. His mom and I became acquainted. Then we became friends. Then I fought through epic sweat and invited Web to Vacation Bible School almost two summers ago. (Evangelism is so not my spiritual gift.) She brought him. Then their family came to church. Then her husband accepted the Lord. Then she accepted the Lord. And I know that He would have reached them in another way if I'd given in to the rapid heart rate and copious amount of sweat and put that VBS flier back in my car. But I believe that in that moment, God used me to reach the lost. I believe that back when I first stumbled upon that preschool's website, God was setting everything into motion. And I believe that we have to look for opportunities wherever God has placed us.

We struggled to figure out whether to start Garrett or keep him in preschool for another year. All of his friends were off to kindergarten last year. We talked about it. We prayed about it. We beat a dead horse. Finally, agonizingly, we decided to keep him in preschool. And I know. There shouldn't have been anything agonizing about school. Make a decision already. But it really was a difficult one for us. People told me to absolutely start him. People told me to absolutely not start him. Eventually, we chose to keep him where he was for another year and there isn't a fiber of my being that regrets that decision. He's more confident. He's more of a leader. He's more ready. A mother sees these things and just knows.

So in the winter we were faced with the task of figuring out where to put him for kindergarten. We prayed. And prayed. And prayed. It's so clear to us that he was exactly where God wanted him for these past three years. We wanted to make sure that we put him where God wanted him for the foreseeable future. We debated trying to get him a transfer to a school several miles away that's on a traditional schedule because the idea of year round is foreign and abrasive to us. We debated getting him a transfer to the school up the hill from us that's on a year round schedule but has better test scores and services less kids. We debated sending him to the one around the corner. We debated several charter school options. All the while we just prayed and prayed that wherever our family is needed, wherever we might reach the lost for Jesus, wherever Garrett might shine his light--and it's a bright one--would be where God would lead.

It came down to four choices.

There were two charter schools in the mix, plus the school up the hill and the one we're zoned for. I prayed that if the charter schools were not in God's plan, he wouldn't be pulled in the lottery. He's so far down the list at one of them that there is no earthly way we'll ever get a call that he's been accepted. He also wasn't drawn at the other, although several weeks after finding that out, we received a letter stating that he's number seven on the list.

I applied for a transfer to the school that's a mile away and registered him at the one in our zone. The transfer was accepted so we decided to wait and see which school he got the better track at. But then, one day, I received a phone call. Turns out we couldn't have him registered in two places at once. I instantly and without thinking about it all, withdrew his name from the school we're zoned for. After so much prayer, I have to believe that God just impressed upon me that we're supposed to have him up the hill.

Last weekend we got his schedule. We wanted morning kindergarten because Garrett is bright eyed and bushy tailed at the crack of dawn. Our first choice for a track was D and our second choice was A. I was a little worried that he'd end up with PM B and we'd have to make due with a crazy schedule and a session that isn't as conducive to our child's personality.

He got AM D.

Our first choice.

At a school that I feel God led us to.

(Even if it is year round. Which, for the record, I still find foreign and abrasive.)

He starts kindergarten in a little over three months. He's ready. I'm pretty ready. But I'm going to try to make the most of these months left with my baby because, even though we waited to start kindergarten, and even though he is almost six (SIX!) I kind of still see this when I look at him.