A good season

As I sit here looking out the large front window of my office, I'm struck by where we are in life right now. The school year is about to conclude and soon we will be the parents of a fifth grade girl who is busy becoming a young lady, a third grade girl who is forever forging her firm spot in our family with her sometimes trying grit, and a first grader who has (beyond our greatest hopes) successfully completed his year of Kindergarten at a new school. All three have had challenges and successes this year, but as I look forward to the freedom of summer ahead, I can't help but feel a little bittersweet that this school year is already behind us.

K and his aide working on letters

We worked hard this year. All of us. K's Kindergarten year has been a season full of blessings and growth. We had no idea what to expect when he started that first day--would he make it through a full day every day? Would he be able to keep up with his peers? How would they treat him? Would he make real friends? Would he access and master the curriculum? We are thrilled to say that the answer to all those questions has been an unequivocal Yes. And every day I drop that boy off at school and he gives me a tight hug and a juicy kiss on the cheek and trots down the hall backpack swinging side to side on his back, I marvel. There is a small community of people--professionals, family, friends, donors--who make it possible for him to get a top-notch education. More than that, he loves and is loved. He blesses and is blessed. He gives and receives friendship. He comes home and shares what he has learned--Bible stories, telling time, addition, subtraction, sight words, phonics, how plants grow, how chicks hatch, how God loves. We will never grow tired of all his growing, though we sometimes sag under the work of it.

Fun Run at school

A has made great strides this year, too. It's been a challenging year for her socially as she grows more aware of the dynamics of relationships and the complexities of learning in a group where not everyone does things the way she does, or learns the way she wants to, or behaves the way they should. We've learned a lot together about what makes her tick and fills her up and too what empties her delicate heart out and wears her down. We have a brave little introvert on our hands who finds the busy-ness of a school day mentally exhausting, who needs plenty of alone time and quiet play and freedom to replenish herself for each new day. It's a challenge for her and us to navigate her strong will and sensitive spirit, but we've seen her grow, too. She shines at math, reading, and art. She loves music, beauty, animals, and running. She has an intricate imagination and piercing determination.

Field Day Teammates

E is busy growing up these days. After all, she's headed for her last year of elementary school in just a few months. I don't know how that is possible, but here we are. I can see that sometimes she finds us just the slightest bit annoying.  She needs her own space more often than she used to. She pursues her own interests with a level of focus I still don't possess in adulthood.  Horse back riding, reading, writing, spending time in nature (usually scaling trees), mountain biking, rock climbing. and inventing plays and games with her friends. Sometimes she is still a little girl, and sometimes that old soul of hers (the one we noticed even when she was an infant) spouts wisdom past her years. "Mom," she'll begin in a tone that says, "I love you, but really." She's learning to see herself as separate from who I am, from who Mark is. She enjoys being her own person, and in that sense, I think adolescence will go gentler on her than it might have. I hope. In school she shines. She loves the order of a school day and the challenge of high expectations. Her boundless curiosity means she's rarely bored there. She tells me lately she can't wait for summer so she can write more stories and explore outside. E loves nothing more than the gift of time. In that way, we are just alike.

Mark and I are gearing up for a summer of more time together as a family. The school year fragments us in many ways. We move through our days dividing and conquering the tasks of parenthood. He is about as involved as any dad could be in the kids' lives--a benefit of teaching. But he is also terribly busy at odd hours of the day and night. We've made our house project wish list already and tacked it to the fridge--house rehab being one of the things we really enjoy doing together. We're firming up travel plans and together at home time and thinking about how to help K retain all the progress he's made throughout the school  year. Who will tutor him in what and when? How much therapy will we commit to? How can we insure all three kids have plenty of time to just play?

I'm back to gazing out the front window again. The day is all June and the breeze is cool and the house is quiet. I'm feeling the tug to go sink my hands in the dirt one more time before the kids need picking up and carting to and fro. Wherever you are, praying this finds you hopeful and refreshed in the new season.

Memorial Day weekend