The First Day

Today was a big day! Dallin is heading back pre-school for his first day, it is my one year work anniversary, and the girls first day at a new school.  Drew was so sweet to stay at home a little longer this morning to make sure we had a great start to the day. Good thing too, because it was one of those mornings where I was anxious and just wanted to hide under the covers! The girls were up in a jiffy, though, and were soon showered and dressed for their day.  Dallin even got dressed by himself too- once his undies got turned right side out.  What a big boy!

The kiddos each received a back to school father's blessing from Drew and each one was so beautiful.  I was definitely in tears- sometimes it is overwhelming to know that someone, our Heavenly Father, loves my sweet kids even more than I do, which hardly seems possible!  It is was humbling and powerful to hear their sweet blessings and beautiful to witness.  I am so glad that we are not in this alone.

 The kids were also excited to discover the message written on their mirror, although Dallin was appalled that I had the nerve to write on the mirror (!).  It is the scripture from Phillipines 4:13, " I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me." in both Spanish and English. 

 The girls were excited to ride the red bus to school this year, aka the mini-van.  Yes, we are rocking it mini-van style, though we like to pretend that it is an autobot and we have to thwart all of the other decepticons on the road.  It makes for a much more interesting drive.

 We also had a great talk about our goals for the first day.  I told them not to worry about Spanish, but to try and each make a new friend.  And the best way to make a friend is to be a friend.  Lauren, sometimes has a classic scowl that she likes to resort to in frustrating or confusing situations and I really wanted her to focus on smiling so others would want to be her friend.

 I walked the girls into the school and helped Lauren get situated in her class.  She begins the day in Spanish and she got to pick a cubby/locker, put her lunch card in the bin for casa/cafeteria, and get settled in. Abigail was all to ready to give me my kiss and make her way to her class.  What a big girl! And that was it.  I let my eyes water up as I left my babies in a brand new school and headed the three blocks to work.  The seed was planted and it's up to nourishing it now.

I was very nervous to pick the girls up and see how their first day went, but what a relief to walk into Melissa's classroom and find them both playing puppets with a new friend with big smiles on their faces.  Lauren was very pleased to report that she had made two new friends, Daisy and Natasha.  She sits by one in Spanish half of her day and the other in English. Lauren did say one boy yelled at her twice when she was misunderstanding Spanish, but she didn't seem to let it bother her and seemed to realize that it was more his problem to be yelling. Abigail made several new friends including a girl named Ana from Guatamale who doesn't know any English.  She said they were helping each other since Abigail doesn't know any Spanish.    Abbie is convinced this is the best day of her life thus far and I am so pleasantly relieved for a great first day.  What a blessing!