Saturday, September 15, 2012

Back to School

I can hardly believe I am about to write the following words.  Never, let me repeat that, NEVER did I expect God to bless our family in such a huge way in such a short time.  In our women's Bible study about a year ago we were doing a Beth Moore study and one of the themes was "Expect the Unexpected".  So here it is...

Last year when we took on the bulk of the kid's educational needs as they were all living with us for the majority of the time, we were shuffling 4 different schools in our neighborhood.  Different start/end times, different locations, different administrations, different uniforms.  We found a rhythm and it worked, but we desired to simplify the process as soon as it would be possible.

In our involvement and close observation of the public schools around us over the past two years we discovered a lot of the heart breaking things you are probably hearing in the news off and on.  A lack of funding for extra-curricular activities, teachers stretched to their limit, important staff being laid off (like the fantastic social worker that helped Dante last year).  The teachers we interacted with were great, but we started to learn that the kids were not getting all the education we thought they were.  Our fourth grader didn't know how to read or write in cursive, our oldest was not prepared enough to flourish in PA Cyber.  We had enrolled the oldest in PA Cyber instead of sending her to the local public middle school again and she enjoyed it and passed, but it was not a good fit for her and we knew we couldn't do it again this year.

When we realized that 3 of our kids would be in public middle schools next year (yikes!) we started researching charter schools and filling out lots and lots of applications all with different deadlines and paperwork needed.  We sat through the lotteries, feeling helpless and quite pitiful as our children we reduced to a random number spinning in a wheel at the front of the room...and the disappointment as we left with not even a chance.

One of our co-workers at Cornerstone suggested that we look at the Christian school that their kids go to and my first thought was, that sounds nice, but there is no way we can afford that.  But after our other options thinned out, we started to research how much it would cost to send the older kids.

To make a much longer story, short, we figured out we could squeeze things enough to send 4 out of the 5 kids to Cedar Grove Christian Academy!  After the financial aid lady rolled her eyes at me several times going through our information and calculating all the possible options, we were sold.  The middle child had been accepted to a magnet middle school down the street from us and we thought we would try that for him because 5 would have stretched us too far.

[Let me just insert here - that after they were tested to get into Cedar Grove and we saw their education levels (the older 3) based on a national average, I was appalled at where our public schools left them.  Further affirmation that they need more support than they were getting and that we can offer them at home.]

A few days before school started on Sept. 6th we were talking with some friends of ours about this whole process.  They came back to us soon after and said, "We have prayed about it, and we really feel like the Lord wants us to pay for your 5th child to go to Cedar Grove as well." *tears*  He wanted to go to Cedar Grove so badly and participate in all the sports and extra stuff going on and now he could! There was room in his class - he tested - and was accepted into the school hours before the first day would begin.

So to summarize - all 5 of our kids are going to Cedar Grove Christian Academy.  The same place.  The same times.  The same administration.  The same uniforms.  Thank you Jesus!  The kids are in grades: Kindergarten, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th.

There are still hurdles to jump over, sacrifices to be made, and huge adjustments for the kids academically as they begin the year but the excitement and joy of solid, Christian education outweighs the struggle for us all.



Friday, September 14, 2012

Summer 2012

In my return to our blog and my assessment of past blogs I just discovered there were a few posts that started off great but landed in my "drafts" file and never got published, oh dear.  Yes they covered a span of a few months.  How do I write about everything that I've missed and all that is going on now??  To catch you up to speed on the basics of our summer:

Ministry-
  • Cornerstone Block Party (see previous post)
  • 3 VBS' were hosted through different groups
  • Food Cupboard continued as usual
  • We took 15 kids to camp at Victory Valley Camp - including 3 of our kids
  • Jonerik preached two Sundays in July
  • We met with some people to discuss the possibility of a neighborhood, faith based legal clinic in our neighborhood
  • Church picnic
  • Church swim party
  • Cornerstone Staff Retreat - 3 days at Camp Men-O-Lan

Family - 
  • Family vacation for a week
  • Swimming at various places
  • Library trips
  • Lots of picnics!
  • Older kids went to camp for a week
  • Jonerik and I got away for a couple of days for a VERY belated anniversary trip

I know I am missing some things, but you get the picture.  We have been spinning through the summer balancing a fairly new family structure and a running ministry that is thriving and challenging at the same time.  Joy and grief punctuate our routines as we are all learning to live a new way.  

Sometimes I wonder what genre of TV our lives would be.  Most days would probably be viewed as a crazy sitcom.  I mean, really, its the perfect set up for humor - 5 goofy kids who love to mess around in a small space, in a crazy neighborhood.  Other days - that would give the Hallmark Channel a run for their money - are filled with sentiment and reminders of the grief that we are all still wading through.  Still others would fall under the Drama category as each week brings crazy ups and downs due to the fact that we are working with other family members to raise these children and our ministry includes interacting with complex lives.

Most things can't be shared on a public site but one thing can be known for sure - God has been faithful to our family this summer (and all along).  How has He been faithful?  Again I can't list every way we have seen His hand move, but we have seen Him provide work for Jonerik and Emily both (I work part-time from home for a great non-profit), we have been surprised by people offering ways to spend our summer days and we have been given some days of true refreshment.

Am I just saying that to sound more "Christiany"? Not in the least!  Yes my husband is a "pastor" and we are "missionaries", but that doesn't mean we don't wonder what God is doing (or not doing) at times.  We do not have what we need inside of us, that is proven again and again.  We don't have the patience that is required, we certainly don't have the knowledge that we need on a regular basis, and we have no experience in shepherding children's hearts in such intense circumstances.  We are brought to our knees and each day we depend on the Holy Spirit to walk through these things with us.


“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; he will be with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.”  Deuteronomy 31:8