HBC: The End and School: The Beginning

Our holiday bible club came to its closure in yesterday's afternoon service, to which we had especially invited all the children to bring their parents. We had exactly one parent attend apart from the regulars, but we praise God for that one parent who heard the gospel! She was duly descended upon after the service by a flock of eager welcomers, and if we didn't scare her off we may well see her again - or possibly her daughter and niece at the Sunday School.
Today was the big First Day of School event. Aaron was nervous, I was emotional, and Caleb was Caleb. Nick prayed for the boys before I left home with them - it made the whole school-starting thing seem so solemn and serious! We found the right classrooms and got their bags hung upon the right hooks; I said goodbye to Caleb first and he just stood there watching while Aaron and I walked away, almost as though he felt the separation as keenly as I did (though in retrospect he may have just been watching to see if I was okay!). At Aaron's classroom there was a desk waiting for him with his name on it, and then he was whisked away by a fellow pupil to be shown his shoe resting space and other such important things. I greeted his teacher and then left in a hurry...I knew both boys would be absolutely fine and probably love school, but I now finally understand how all moms feel when delivering their precious offspring over to the schooling system for the first time. Up until now I've always envied their freedom and wondered how they could mourn such an event. But I get it. There's a lot of letting go involved - a loosening of the apron strings; space given for the child to be taught by someone other than the parent and shaped by people around them rather than the parent alone. Now we pray even harder that what we have taught them thus far will stick, and that they will be the influences amongst their peers rather than the influenced. So what did I do on my first day of this long-awaited 'freedom'? After crying myself all the way to the shops and doing a spot of exchanging of goods, I had coffee with Nick at the church, then came home to clean the house. Exciting stuff for sure. Nick was home for lunch, then I scrapped in the afternoon. It wasn't long at all until the time rolled around for me to collect the boys - my beaming, bouncy, well-adjusted boys. They both had a great time and Caleb was already full of interesting information about Maoris and bumble bees. Aaron's first question was "what's for tea?"Had a phonecall during the day with feedback from Friday's interview - apparently it went well but I was again unsuccessful...on the grounds of being too expensive!! So we're back at the beginning with no prospects, but great hope that the Lord has a good plan.