She's been quite excited about starting to school, and we couldn't get to her "meet the teacher" day quickly enough... but when we left that meeting, she was in tears over leaving a change of clothes and a couple pictures of her that her teacher had requested we bring from home. And I'm not talking a little whining or a few tiny tears. I'm talking alligator tears for at least 45 minutes. She kept saying to me as she cried, "Mommy, I'm so sad to leave my pictures at school. Will you please go back and get them?" And of course what I wanted to do was scoop her up in my arms, march right back into school and get all of it. But I didn't. We brought her change of clothes home because I knew she could take them back in her back pack on her first day, but her teacher needed the pictures to use in the classroom. So instead of doing what my emotions where telling me to do (go get the pictures), I heeded what I knew in my heart was a teachable moment... a time for training for real life situations. One things for sure, in real life, we don't always get what we want just because we want it desperately. So I explained to Mary Scott why her pictures needed to stay and that we were not going back to get them and that I was sorry she was sad. And I explained it again, and again, and again. Still crying, she informed me she didn't want to go to that school. She finally stopped crying after some firm coercing from me. But she continued to make it clear to me that she did not want to go to school.
I seemed to have a new understanding that day of how deeply Mary Scott feels things and how she wants to be sure everything is okay and taken care of...
All that to stay, I was afraid her first day would bring tears and hanging onto my legs unwilling to go into her classroom. But I'm thankful not to report such behavior. Instead, she woke up excited and ready. When we got to school, she hugged me goodbye, walked right in and went to hang up her bag... and she saw her picture! Then she never looked back with uncertainty. She had an awesome day and enjoyed it very much. At one point she got to be the line leader and really seemed to like that roll. She made a precious little red hen to bring home... and she wanted to bring home everything else she had colored or written on, too. But she's getting the hang of it that sometimes certain things need to stay at school. She seemed more settled about leaving some things at school yesterday and says now, she understands why she had to leave her photographs at school.
This whole experience has sort of given me a glimpse of what it's like with me when God is telling me to do a certain thing and it's not what I want to do, and I don't understand, and it makes me sad and even afraid and uncertain... but I just have to do it out of obedience(even though sometimes kicking and screaming). And then on the other side, I get it, I understand why. And I'm reminded yet again that His ways are higher than my ways, His ways are perfect. 2 Samuel 22:31.
I'm really glad she's enjoying it and look forward to her having a great year. And I have to say, she looked so adorable on her first day of school. I stayed up the night before making her a new outfit to wear and boy did it make my heart sing to see her so excited about wearing it. She had so much fun twirling around in her little skirt, and she looked just as cute as a a button.
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