First Day of School

Another summer flew by, and now here we are starting another school year!  How does time go so quickly??

And they're off!

Tyler - Junior year
Notice what Tyler took on his first day - his schedule wadded up and a pencil.
That's it.

Emily - Freshman

Freshman??  Seriously??

Bailey - 6th grade
Love her YW torch necklace!

She grew up over night this summer

Logan - 4th grade

   The night before school started we had our Back to School Celebration. I have friends who do this whole big awesome celebration - and I try to copy them.  They make a big, fancy, dinner.  They wear crowns.  They tell their kids their theme for the school year.  I tried to copy them - some things were hits, some were misses.
    I made a big, fancy dinner - this was a hit.  Anything smoked is a hit with these kids.
    I made crowns - and this was a miss.  My friends make crowns - and their kids love them.  They wear them through dinner.  They save them for heaven's sake!  I have a friend whose daughter has graduated from high school and has all of her crowns!  I made crowns.  And expected my kids to wear them.  And my kids looked at me like I was crazy.  My kids are way too old to start crowns now. If we started this in elementary school, it'd be cool.  And we could keep it  going.  Starting this with high schoolers will make them think you've lost your marbles.  Tyler wore the crown for a picture - because he's polite and accommodating.   The girls didn't mind them - Bailey even liked it.  Logan hated it - wouldn't wear it, wouldn't be in a picture with people wearing them. This was a miss.  A big ol' miss I tell ya.

                                          

Yes, Emily is her nightgown (though it looks like a hospital gown).

 She had been sick all weekend!

  Derek and I talked for a long time about what theme we wanted to give our kids for this school year.  We debated between several - Hold to the Rod, Kindness Matters, Faith, Aim High, Be Your Best Self and some others were tossed around.  We decided on Courage.  We talked about how this covers a lot more than meets the eye - this means courage to befriend someone who needs it, this means courage to ask a teacher a question even though you might feel dumb, this means courage to stand alone when it's the right thing to do, this means courage to share the gospel.  Courage can look like a lot of different things.  And boy do we need courage.  Every day. 

 

   I got the kids these cute zipper pulls to put on their back packs.  A few nights a week I'll ask at dinner if anyone had courage that day.  My kids have surprised me with their answers - "I emailed my teacher because I was confused about the assignment", "I sat by a new kid at lunch", and others.  I have been so impressed!  Courage - that's powerful.

Here's to a great 2017-2018 school year!