First Day

Today was Christian's first day of second grade.  He woke up excited and a little nervous.  We ate our traditional "Special Day" breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes.  His Daddy prayed for him, that he would have a great day, and that he would make friends and listen to his teacher.  

Then, the four of us walked in the pouring rain to bring him to his new class.  We dropped him off at his building, which was appropriately guarded by school staff that firmly encouraged us to say our goodbyes at the door.  I watched our boy walk all the way down to his new classroom and his new teacher.  

And then I came home to a relatively quiet house.  It's always bittersweet, these first days.  Soon enough, this newness will become routine, but for now, it's still fresh.  In these quiet moments, I think of how proud I am of our son.  He is so incredibly smart and for the most part, enjoys school.  We encourage him to be a good friend, and to honor Jesus by doing what is right in his classroom.  He is growing up and I can't wait to hear his first day stories this afternoon.    

Hoping that everyone has great "first days" too!  My heart and prayers are with my friends who have kids going to school for the first time.  My advice, it's new and maybe a little sad, but it gets better.  It's so good for our kids to grow and learn and experience new things in life.  And whereas it seems like a level of completion (as our kids are now spending a good majority of the day at school), it's not the end, it's just the beginning of something new.  Looking forward to hearing good stories!        

*UPDATE*  First day of 2nd grade = huge success.  When we picked up Christian today after school, we were met with a huge smile and lots of fun first day stories.  Most importantly, he let us know that his new teacher was really nice and really fun, which in my mind is a good thing for a second grade teacher.  Thanking God for an amazing first day and hoping for many more great days of school this year :)