The first day

First, let me just state the obvious...I shed a lot of {joyful} tears this morning. Joseph has come so far, literally, and it humbles me that God made ME his Mama. I find it all quite overwhelming, and I am just so thankful to the One who has stitched our family together so beautifully. God is so good.

Last night, Madi was so excited to make lunches for the three of them. She is just such a terrific big sister. Those kids have their moments, for sure, but when it comes down to it, they are so close.

This morning after the usual 6 a.m. round of cartoons in our bed, Madi jumped out of bed excitedly and announced that it was Joseph's big day. She rousted him up and swept him away to get dressed for the occasion, in a First United Methodist tee shirt, of course.

The kids ate their breakfast together and, honestly, it was one of our more organized mornings to date! Likely because big sister took on such a big task to help me out and get them ready.

 

 

I took some pictures of the (silly) boys before we got in the car, and we made sure we had everything we needed for his first day. Yesterday, I had asked Joseph to make a choice...would he rather walk Charlie to his class first and then go to class himself, or did he prefer for Charlie to walk him into his classroom. Surprisingly to me, he chose the latter...he wanted his brother to deliver him to class. Melted my heart.

A friend, Julia, who had wished Joseph a good day had also suggested that he take an apple for the teacher. Joseph totally embraced this great idea, and I wish you could've seen his face when he marched in the classroom and handed Mrs. Bivins that apple. Actually, I wish you could've seen her face, too. So, so special. 

We took some more pictures, and my heart was overflowing...so were my eyes. We put his things in his cubby, and he found his way to his seat, right next to his friend, Henry. It was crystal clear that Joseph was so ready, and it felt so right. I kissed him goodbye for the morning, and wiped the tears from my eyes.

I hadn't been out of the building for ten minutes when my cell phone rang. It was the preschool Director (and friend), Peggie Nasin. She asked me if Joseph had ever had a nose bleed before. Interestingly enough, he had. For the first time in our presence, Joseph had a nose bleed over Christmas break at my parents' house. The wild part was that Joseph totally knew it was coming on, and guided me to the bathroom (with his head tilted back) for tissues. I had no idea until he produced blood on the tissue. This had obviously happened before in China, because our son knew exactly what to do. It stopped after a few minutes, and he went back to what he was doing. Our festivities were such a whirlwind (and we were hoping the incident was a fluke) that I never even thought to mention it to Peggie.

Anyway, once again, Joseph knew exactly what to do, and handled the situation like a champ. Peggie held him on her lap, while he applied pressure and stopped the bleeding. When I sent her a text later, she replied that he was doing great. In an odd way, I think this might've been a good thing. Right out of the gate, Joseph had an opportunity to show them just how responsible and self-sufficient he is, even under the duress of a language barrier!

Last week, Madi had asked Joseph what he wanted to be called at school, and he announced to all of us that his *new* name is Joey. I had to laugh today when my friend, Jen, commented that she'd asked her son, Beck, (Charlie and Joseph's buddy) if Joseph had a good first day. Beck responded, "Joseph told me today, I don't like the name Joseph, my name is Joey." He's staying true to his words!

When I picked him up, I confessed that I'd been tearful all day, and Mrs. Bivins said there were so many emotional moments for her, too. At one point, she found him sweetly watching over her shoulder, and she felt compelled to ask him for a hug. She got one.

At the day's end, Joseph emerged so proudly from the classroom with his stack of papers and lunchbox. He refused to hand anything over to me. In his true form, I am sure he'll squirrel away every single paper he's given, and that's just fine.  I am lucky that he even allowed me to photograph anything...but he was happy, really happy, so I guess he let me slide today...

Time for school.

Exactly one month before we arrived home with Joseph, I had posted on Facebook regarding an education plan for our son-to-be. I knew, at that time, a "plan" was all we could hope for, and no concrete decisions could be made until we knew him better and had explored all of our options.  

Since Joseph turns six next week, he should--technically--be enrolled into Kindergarten, but all along we felt very strongly about keeping him home for his first few months to adjust to his new surroundings. We believe that part of our plan worked out perfectly, as many of his transitional *kinks* have been worked out and he has adjusted more beautifully than we ever imagined. 

In November, Joseph and I toured the Kindergarten program at Banyan Creek Elementary School, where Madi attends school. I liked what I saw, but in my heart of hearts, I yearned for him to be at Charlie's preschool, First United Methodist Church, for so many reasons. One, he's been escorting his brother to school for three months now, and he feels completely comfortable there. And two, the schedule of M/W/F from 8:30 - 1:30 makes for a perfect transition into American schools. Most of all, I desperately wanted this child to have an opportunity to learn through play. He loves doing crafts, and looking at books, and all the things that preschool entails. I just knew that Joseph needed, and deserved, to experience Pre-K 4.

But there was one major hurdle...there were no available spots, and we would pretty much need a miracle for something to change. Three classes, ten children per class...the chances weren't great.

My faith never wavered though. I felt peace about it all, and I believed that God would work this out, somehow, according to His plan and that Joseph would land in the right place...the school where he is meant to be.

Then, in early December, it happened. I heard it from a close friend that a family at school would be moving out of the area at Christmas time. As that family's miracle came in the form of new employment for their daddy, our family's miracle came in that one lone spot opening up just for our son.

But it's even more special to us than that. Because the opening happens to be in Mrs. Bivins' class--the same Mrs. Bivins who taught Madi, the same Mrs. Bivins who taught Charlie last year, and the same Mrs. Bivins who loved on our sweet Daniel so much when he'd deliver and collect his big sister to and from school (I wrote about her in With an Open Heart!).

Joseph starts school tomorrow, and we are thrilled for him to begin this new and exciting chapter of his life. We are also overjoyed that Joseph and Charlie will get playground time together each day at school! 

Please, please say a prayer for him, if you would--that he is not anxious or upset and that he assimilates into his class without issue. We trust that this will be the best thing for him, and it's certainly the best place.  God knew.

Pictures to come...