A Week of Firsts

Wow - what a whirlwind of a week (how's that for alliteration?)

The last 2 days have been fun and different and exciting, and have seemed to last about a week! Tuesday was our first women's Bible study at the church. We're doing a Beth Moore study on Daniel, and it looks like it should be pretty good. Frankly, I need the accountability to be in the Word each day; and I can't wait to start digging deep.

We came home from the study in time to snarf down some lunch and see Rachel off on her first day of school. She could hardly contain her excitement, and I did OK until the bus took off and I caught sight of her mop of curly brown hair in the window. She just seemed so . . . little. It seems like such a big step - and I kept thinking "She's going to be in school from now on until she leaves home", and of course this thought brought even more tears. But then Zekers and Kari Bou actually went down for a nap together, and having a couple of hours to myself was quite soothing!

We've had some bus issues and the 2 munchkins and I have waited at her bus stop for over 45 minutes each of the first 2 days of school, and Rach has come in on the wrong bus both days. Yesterday, no one had any idea where she was until the superintendent showed up at our stop to try to locate her - thank goodness. I think I'm going to print a large "21" on her forehead with a Sharpie marker today! But she has loved the first 2 days of school and I think once all the bus craziness is ironed out it will be a good year.

Wednesday morning was the first meeting of our church moms' group - something a friend and I have been planning toward all summer, for moms of kids 0-5. It was a long morning, but I thought it went really well. We had an interactive craft for moms & their kids to take part in for the first half hour, followed by a testimony and small group time. We're meeting in four small groups of 4-5; each is led by a more seasoned mom who has raised kids or is raising older kids. We ended with a potluck lunch, which I had to leave early to get Rach to school. We had 17 moms sign up, and 10-11 were there yesterday, which was a really good size group to start with.It's going to be fun getting to know more young moms as the year goes on.

Wednesday night was the start of AWANA. Rach is now a Sparkie and Zekers got to go to Cubbies for the first time. He pretty much knows the songs and some of the verses, just from being around Rach the last couple of years, and was SO excited to go. I asked him how he liked it afterward, and he said, "I was a good boy, Mommy!" I guess I did kind of hammer it into him that he needed to listen to his teachers - you just never know how Mr. Beef is going to react sometimes.

Wow - I was completely unprepared for all the paperwork - both for school and for AWANA. Rach brings home a notebook every day with papers, schedules and instructions for me to read. I've spent at least 15 minutes each day going over papers and signing things and writing checks.

But this morning, the kids and I are just taking it easy. I told them they could do an activity of their choice, so Rachel is painting, and Zekers is playing with play doh, and Kari Bou is eating play doh and spilling the contents of every drawer in the house. I suppose I will miss the mess someday . ..