Happy 12th birthday to Travis
Week #2! This week was Travis’s birthday, Chandler’s first cross-country meet, two soccer games, parent/student orientation, and a day of subbing in kindergarten! We are not bored, but we are definitely in the balancing stages of life as we juggle a lot of events and activities.
There are things that we really, really like about the school, and of course, there are things that we aren’t crazy about. Just as the church is made up of imperfect people, so are Christian schools and ministries - I know because I’m definitely a part of the imperfectness! I would love to say that we’ve adapted and adjusted and we feel like we are fitting in, but the truth is that hasn’t quite happened yet. Travis is in sixth grade, and he’s been struggling with loneliness. Wyatt is in 7th grade and he’s struggling with were he fits in. Chandler is in 9th grade and he’s feeling overwhelmed by schoolwork and homework and it feels like Algebra 1 is kicking our butt! Garett is a whole new kettle of fish as we try to navigate through his IEP, what that looks like, and what would be best for Garett. Emma likes her teacher and she hasn’t found the school work to be too hard yet, but she has asked every night to go back to the school in Maine. So yeah, we are adjusting but we are not adjusted yet. Please continue to pray for that transition to come. I’ve been staying busy with prepping in the library, working in various classrooms, and trying to figure out which way is up these days! I realized that menu planning is going to be imperative as we are going to get really tired of quesadillas! Thankfully, it’s a quick meal, but I don’t want to eat it for five nights a week! Maybe one of these days, I’ll get my act together and make some freezer meals to have on hand.
Chandler ran in his first cross-country race on Monday. I was expecting there to be more teams and more students participating, but it was a small race (probably about 50 boys). I have a study hall that I cover the last period of the day, so Emma and I barely made it to the race on time, but we did! In my cross-country years, the girls ran first and then the boys had their race. For the event on Monday, the boys went first. It was a humid day, but the school cross-country teams did very well. The boys had runners 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, so that was exciting. Chandler won his first cross country race, so he was excited about that. He also didn’t realize how tired he would be on the way home! Haha! I very much remember those days of running, and how the adrenaline crashes and leaves you exhausted shortly afterwards! It was a good experience for him, and we are thankful that he is able to participate on the team. Thankfully, Roger was able to pick up the other boys from soccer practice so that was helpful.
Tuesday was also a long day as the boys had their first soccer game. The team is pretty large as there are 17 kids on the team in grades 6-12. They are playing varsity level teams with students in grades 9-12, so there are some big players on the field. Travis really didn’t get any playing time at all (a minute at the end) and Wyatt had a little bit more. They were both disappointed, but we are working to remind them to be faithful and that they have several more years ahead of them. Garett and Chandler played almost the whole game, so they were very, very tired. I don’t usually make comments about the reffing styles of the games, but this was a rough one. It’s confusing to the players when the ref doesn’t know which side is getting the throw-in or who kicked the ball out of bounds. We didn’t win the game, but they did score, so that was exciting! Hopefully, they’ll continue to improve throughout the season, and I’m excited for them. Playing sports has provided an added incentive to keep on working on their homework and grades.
Wednesday is the day that we get to come home earlier than usual, as there are no sports practices on Wednesdays. We were able to be home by 4:00pm and that was quite nice. The church we visited on Sunday does have Wednesday night services, but they were having a church meeting on committees and budgets. It was nice to be home a little earlier, and I ended up needing to go to Wal-mart to pick up a few groceries as we did not have enough to make it through the week of school lunches. It’s going to take a bit to figure it all out.
On Thursday, I had the opportunity to substitute teach in Kindergarten. Kindergarten is one of my favorite grades, and I was happy to be asked to sub in there. Someday maybe I’ll have the opportunity to have my own classroom again, but for now I’m happy to have the opportunity to sub on occasion. I also filled in for after school care. The school offers after-school care for those parents that are unable to pick up their child at 3:00 pm. There is a charge associated with this service, but there are still quite a few kids that need this as an option. So, while the boys had cross-country practice and soccer practice, Emma and I hung out with the after school kids on the playground. It didn’t pay to go home after soccer practice as there was a parent/teacher orientation meeting @7:00pm. Thankfully we had already made plans with Travis to celebrate his birthday on Saturday- there was just not enough time in the day on Thursday! We attended the meeting which was basically a meeting telling the parents what was going to be required of them and their student. It wasn’t exactly new information, just stuff that’s already in the handbook but most people don’t read. Garett did win a $25.00 voucher to be applied to school expenses, so that was nice! Chandler said that he was praying the whole time that no one would pick his name because he didn’t want to walk up in front of all those people! It was a late night, but thankfully Friday was just around the corner. We did manage to sneak out for a snack between practices and the meeting, but we are looking forward to a meal around our table on Saturday night and a few gifts for Travis.
Travis is 12 today! (Thursday) So the boys are now 12, 13, 14, 15 for the next week. We are so thankful for our sweet youngest boy. Travis is a hard and diligent worker. School does not come easily for him, but he works hard at it. He is a blessing to have in our family, and he’s quite funny at times. My prayer for Travis this year is that he will be able to understand his school work, find a special friend at school, and keep working on becoming the man that God wants him to be. I sure do love that boy!
The boys had a soccer game on Friday night also, and Roger has been able to get off work a bit early so that he can watch them play. Garett and Chandler are both starters, and Wyatt has gotten some playing time, but Travis is still waiting for his turn. It’s disappointing for sure, but they are playing teams with players in the 9th-12th grades. The team played hard, and they really worked together, but they still lost 0-1. We are looking forward to the day when the team will win a game- well, we hope and pray that will happen!
Saturday was a day spent at home! Hooray! Our house likes us to be home to cut grass, take care of the garbage, and do laundry. The boys have really stepped up in helping out with laundry as their school clothes are limited, but we did spend part of the day doing “catchup”. We did have a special family meal to celebrate Travis’s 12th birthday, and he opened his presents from his Aunt Jen, us, and Wyatt bought him a birthday present also. Travis asked for tractors and farm machinery for his birthday. I love that he hasn’t outgrown wanting to play with farm toys, and he and Emma can spend hours playing “farm”. Every once in a while, Wyatt will join in too, and I want to keep them little a while longer. Wyatt said that he wanted to get a birthday tractor present for Travis because he wanted to play with the tractors too. It was a low- key day, but we need those kind as the weeks are busy with sports and activities.
On Sunday we visited yet another new church. I’m telling you that I did not expect finding a church to be this hard! We were invited to visit this church, and while I think it would be an awesome church for some folks, we probably aren’t in that category. The message was sound, the people were friendly, but it’s probably more conservative (often can come across as legalistic) than we’d like to be. I have nothing against hymns, but I don’t want an only diet of that. I’m happy to dress up for church, but I’d also like to know that I’d be welcome if I didn’t choose to wear a skirt or dress to church. I’m thrilled for people that love that church, and the pastor was welcoming. However, we will keep looking. We’ve visited more churches than I thought we would and yet nothing seems to say “welcome home” and the peace that Roger and I should both have is missing. Please continue to pray for us in this. We have another invitation to visit another church this weekend, and we will probably visit there. We know that God is faithful, and we know that He has a plan for us. We continue to wait and pray.
We are beginning another week of school this week, and it’s a full one with one away cross-country meet and two away soccer games. We are doing our best to be at all of the kids games, but it’s a challenge! But it’s also very important to us as parents to support our kids in these endeavors.
Cross- Country
Thank you for your love and prayers! It’s been a week of adjusting to “new” things all the way around, and it’s exhausting! We are thankful that God brings us through each new adventure, and that He continues to know exactly where we are and what we need.
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