Another New Chapter!

As much as I still can't believe my little Rylee is 2, I also can't believe it's time already for Rayven to start Kindergarten! So many of my friends yesterday dropped off their babies for the very first time, and I sympathize. It's so hard to let them go, and it's also hard to accept that the "preschool" chapter of life has come to an end...

So before I tell you about our first day of Kindergarten, let me rewind about 18 months. It was February 2009, and we had just moved to TX. As a matter of fact, we were staying in nearby Canyon Lake for one week while we waited to close on our house. And it was THERE that it hit me: God was tugging at my heart to HOMESCHOOL Rayven. ME? Lord? Are you sure??? I'm not patient enough. We won't get along. I'll be so TIED DOWN!! I'm looking forward to going back to work when both the girls are in school. I'm sure I can't do this. As many excuses as I had NOT to do it, the tugging kept getting stronger. So I asked God to show me a sign. A billboard. A note from Him. A burning bush?? :) ANYTHING to make it clear to me that this is my path. And the VERY next day, I went to the clubhouse to do a little Longaberger work. Mind you, there's almost NO ONE at a resort area in February in the middle of the week, but there was one lady, and she happened to sit at the ONLY table with an outlet, which I needed for my computer. I asked to share her table, and she gladly agreed. We began talking over the laptops, and then her son walked up. YEP. She was a homeschooler.

Ok Lord, this must be a coincidence. There is no way I'm going to do what SHE'S doing. My kids will be weird. They won't be social. They won't get to go to PROM!!!! Please, show me again if this is what you want from me. I prayed. And I prayed a LOT. And then that Friday, we finally moved into our house. And guess what? Our neighbors are very friendly. :) The ones who live just next door came right over to welcome us. And they have 2 little girls, close in age to my 2. And guess what else? They were about to start homeschooling their oldest for Kindergarten. Again....right there in my face. So God affirmed to me that this was my path, and that I CAN do this. But there was one more thing...Gonzalo.

I decided soon after we moved in, that I would discuss homeschooling with him and get his opinion about what I felt led to do. Much to my surprise, he was COMPLETELY against it, for a lot of the same reasons I was. He argued that our kids wouldn't be social, that they would miss out on the real world, and that I probably wanted to do it so I wouldn't have to get up early or rearrange vacations around school. Hmmm...good points! So I prayed: Lord, you KNOW I can't go against my husband. This must be something I've just got in MY head. This must not be from You, Lord. I can't change his mind. And that, my friends, was my ticket out of this journey. I thought, WHEW, that was close!!! :)

Although I still knew in my heart that homeschooling was what I wanted, I only mentioned it to him maybe one more time. He is very easy going, but when he is against something, he doesn't change his mind. After 7 years of marriage, this is one thing I know!! :) I accepted that she would be going to school, so I made preparations last year to get her ready for Kindergarten. I put her in Mother's Day Out 2 days a week to get her adjusted to "going" somewhere. I even planned our summer trips BEFORE school started. And then one day last October, he came home from work. I will never forget this day as long as I live! We had finished dinner, and he was wiping down the high chair. Without even looking at me, he said, "If you're still willing to homeschool the girls, I think it's what we should do." WHAT?????? Are you SURE??? I had already accepted that she would go to "real school". But at that point, I knew this was a "God thing", because only God could have changed his mind.

Fast forward to NOW. We started Kindergarten yesterday! I wanted to get going so that we will finish in Mid-May. We had a lot of fun!! I hope today goes as smoothly as yesterday did. I'm still nervous about teaching reading, but I know with His help, I can do this! Here are some pics of our first day.... She is such a big girl! ;)