You get what you pay for!

I know that it has been a while since my last post (sorry Jaime!!!), but school is getting the best of me. Unfortunately, that means that my family, often, is getting the worst of me (when they get any of me at all!). There have been several things that have happened in the last month that were definitely blog worthy, and I wish that I had taken the time right then to post them. Then they would've been more fresh in my mind and the story would be more accurate. I'll do my best with the recap...

I titled this entry "you get what you pay for" for a very good reason. There are things that my kids have done in the last month to prove this statement to be true. First I will offer a bit of background.

When Hayden was just a baby, I brought up the topic of Christian private schooling. I didn't want to get heavy into the discussion, just wanted Matt to know that I was interested. I was blown off. Matt said to me, "Why would you pay for a thing that you can get for free?" That is a very good question. Especially if you were raised in the school districts that he and I both were. He started in the small town school of Stephenville in 1st grade (he went to Kindergarten in another town). I started my school in Kindergarten. We both continued through our schools until graduation. Although I wasn't raised in a truly small town, our school district had a bit of a small town feel. My parents were at least familiar with most of the parents in my school. They knew many of the teachers before we had them. Neither Matt, nor I, were in a school where our safety was in question. Both of our schools had exceptional test scores. I even remember that there was prayer in my school up until about the fifth grade. Even when that was removed, it was not replaced with something that we didn't agree with.

As luck would have it, or fate, or karma, or (more likely) God's will, Matt was placed in an elementary school when Hayden was about 18 months. Over the next couple of years, he was exposed to all kinds of unmentionable things. As Hayden got closer to school age, he began to question what he had said before. After a particularly hard day at school, he came home to tell me that he could not, in good conscience send our kids to public schools. The very next day I turned in our deposit to Southwest Christian before he could change his mind.

In the last year, Hayden has learned and grown so much. He is such a sweet boy. He can write his name, and can copy any other word you write for him. Just last week, he read his first book!!! I don't mean that he picked up a book that had been read to him many times before and recited it from memory. It was a book that was new in our house and his Daddy helped him sound out each word. Since then, he has read at least one other book. On the day that he read the first one, Matt told me thank you again for talking him into this move.

A couple of sweet stories that have happened in the last month:

I was always a bit hesitant to approach the subject of death with the kids. I thought they were too young and that we would discuss it later. In prayers, I would just thank Jesus for what he did for us. To my surprise, the week before Easter, Hayden told me in the car that Jesus had died for us. "But don't worry, Mama, he came back on the third day!" He first said that he was really glad that Jesus died. Then he said that Easter was his favorite day because "that is why we live". Still can't even type that without tearing up!

Wednesday night, I had both of the kids sleep with me because I missed them so much. In the middle of the night, Matilyn started whining about something and Hayden reached over to pat her. He said, "Don't worry, Matilyn, God is in your heart." What a sweet brother comforting his sister. Don't be afraid, he was telling her, God is always with us.

On Friday, I was helping Hayden get ready for school and he started talking about God. He just said that it makes God very sad when people don't believe in him just because they can't see Him. He said that we don't have to see Him because we feel Him in our hearts. He said that he could feel Him in his heart everyday.

It's moments like these that make me so proud of the choice that Matt and I made to send him to SCS. Sure, he could be attending a school for free, but would such things be reinforced on a daily basis by such a variety of people he respects? I know that a Christian education starts in our home, but I'm really glad to have such good backup!