Everyday Monumental Occasions

Noah is starting his last year of elementary school with Mrs. Harris as his teacher.

It should be noted that Anna's first day of school was actually the second day of school thanks to an early encounter with strep.  Anna, and her teacher, Mrs. Mallon, are hoping that this is a one and done strep year for Anna.

Jonah has started his year  with Mrs. Fredell, the same 1st grade teacher that Noah & Anna both had.  How do we get so luck?

We are a family that has always celebrated milestones - all the traditional baby milestones, sporting events, starts of school, starts of summer, learning to ride a bike without training wheels and on and on.  I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that any milestone for Jonah holds more weight for me.  I have an appreciation for the fact that these are all milestones that almost were not -  that these are milestones that we have fought with all of our being to get to.

Jonah started first grade this year in the public school, in a general education setting.  This is no small feat to facilitate.  Jonah has a 57 page IEP document and a team of 14 people to ensure that he is kept safe and is given all of the support he needs to be as successful as he can be in school.  This is a big letting go for me, and everyday I have to stop myself from creeping around outside the windows of the school to peer inside and see how he's doing.

We have talked to Jonah's team, and laid it out.  The problems and challenges that we will have to resolve and overcome in Jonah's education are the problems and challenges we prayed to be able to solve.  Life would be simpler without these problems and challenges, but that would mean that we wouldn't have Jonah to be solving these things for.  We will never loose sight of being grateful for the chance and reason to solve these.  We have heard and done our hardest of hards, and there isn't anything an educator can say that will be too hard to hear, because, if they're talking to us, that means Jonah is still in the game.

It has been a long while since we have affirmed the verse that carried us through Jonah's treatment, but even in the everyday monumental occasions is it true - "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (loose recall of Joshua 1:9).  As we embrace this exciting new milestone, we again have the opportunity to practice being strong and courageous - different reasons for all of us.  We have the chance to remember how faithful God was to us before and use that past to fight back being afraid or discouraged - knowing that God is journeying along with us.  Jonah going to 1st grade is as much about Jonah as it is about Noah & Anna having their brother in school with them, about Julia finding herself without being together with Jonah all the time, about us, as parents trusting enough to build relationships with his team and letting them care for him too.  Jonah going to 1st grade is about celebrating the everyday monumental for all of us.