Jacob's 1st Day of School

(So excited to wear the "How to Train Your Dragon" shirt he chose)

Jacob started school on August 31st. He was so excited and had been counting down the days for approximately 5 weeks. Now you'll notice I said that Jacob started school on August 31st, rather than the first day of school was on August 31st. I took him to school that Tuesday and soon learned that school actually started on Monday, August 30th! Jacob missed the first day of school! It was definitely not my most fabulous 'Mother' moment. In my defense, the whole school situation had been crazy leading up to the first day of school.

As soon as we knew for sure where we'd be moving, we contacted the elementary school to arrange for registration to make sure we would get in. I even had my aunt Tami go into the school to pick up the paperwork. When she went in they told her that because a new elementary school had just been built, there would be plenty of space for all the kids, and to just have us come in when we moved to the area. The day we moved into our apartment, Jeff and I went to the school and found that they were already closed for the summer. So I waited until the day the office opened, August 17th, and called. The message said the school wouldn't open until the 19th, so I called again then, picked up all the paperwork and filled everything out and turned it in that very day. At that point, they told us that 1st grade was very full and they didn't know if there would be enough room, but they wouldn't know for sure until all the schools turned in numbers. So the waiting game began. I called the office multiple times to hear status updates. Finally they told me that there would be a big district meeting and they would know for sure on Friday, August 27th.

The principle finally called me back that afternoon, the 27th, and told me that the 1st grade classes were too full, so 10 1st graders would be getting bussed from the school to another school. I was so upset- we had tried everything we could, and now because they hadn't given my aunt the paperwork when she went in- because they told her not to worry about it- Jacob was going to be shipped off to another elementary school. That meant that either Jacob would ride the bus to school or I would take him, then he would have to get on another bus to the other school, or I would have to drive him to and from the other school every day. They also told me not to worry about going to the 'Back to School Night' that night because Jacob wouldn't be attending the school anyway. I was really sad about the situation, and there was nothing we could do. My sweet aunt Tami had been involved with the whole process too, and we spent a lot of time talking together about the situation.

I felt frustrated and couldn't understand why everything had to work out the way it did. Eventually though, after spending time talking about things with Jeff and praying about everything, we were both felt better about the situation and felt that everything would work out okay. We actually hadn't said much to Jacob about the situation- that's a lot of stress for a 6-year old to worry about. So rather than be disappointed, we tried to just be positive and make it a good experience for Jacob.

So Saturday rolls around, just 3 days (or so I thought) before school started. My phone rang. Would you believe it, it was the principle from the elementary school. She said that there was a child in the first grade who had just moved, so there was one more extra spot and that Jacob could have it! We were thrilled! So happy and excited. Now Jacob would get to go to school with his friends from church, with the kids in our neighborhood, and with his cousin. We felt so grateful with how everything worked out.

And that is my excuse for why I thought school started on Tuesday, August 31st and why Jacob missed his first day of school. We hadn't been able to go to Back to School night where the kids meet their teachers and get all the necessary paperwork, we didn't even know he would be at the school until Saturday afternoon, so I didn't have any information other than what I thought. It makes for a pretty funny story though, I was definitely feeling very human. But more than anything, I was just grateful that Jacob got into the elementary school. It was such a blessing!