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| Pretty sure this will be the last year for holding the "sign"(-: |
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| Farewell smooches from little sis & brother |
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| Probably our most ridic purchase of the school season. ..we will leave it at that. |
This has always been my prayer for our children. Two and a half years ago, we prayed and prayed over the decision on where our kids would attend school. The Lord opened the door for us at Ada Vista(a local public school), which brought about a whole new appreciation and love for Immersion programs. We felt like we had won the lottery and were sure it was from the Lord. And still believe it was. But we soon learned that this was just a "stepping stone" in our children's education. It tore at our hearts that "our prayer" was not something they were hearing and feeling during their 8 hr long school day. It tore at our #1's son heart even more. In the meantime, we decided to enroll Aria in Grand Rapids Christian Spanish Immersion program for Pre-school. It would give us a very real comparison with two kids in two very different environments. We were still not convinced. What if all Christians pull out of the public schools? Who will stand for Christ? What if they become "immune" to hearing about Jesus' love for us day in and day out at a Christian school? What if we took those thousands of dollars we would be paying in tuition and instead spent it on children who have no access to school at all? We pondered it all. Then we took a step back, prayed some more and let God take the lead. And that's exactly what He did. He led our family to GR Christian with what we can say now as "Very clear signs".
So today was the BIG day....Kai started 2nd grade. His teacher taught at Ada Vista last year and was hired as their new 2nd grade SI teacher at GRCS. So they already knew each other and there was a mutual love growing. This morning as we stepped outside to take these photos, there was a letter on our doorstep for each of us. One for us and one for Kai. Here is a little blurp from the letter to Kai:
"Kai, I want you to know that you are special, and that God has created you to use your talents in the development of His Kingdom. Because you are a child of God, you are an important part of what we do in our class. You are going to bring your talents, thoughts and hopes to our class to bless others" It went on with more tear jerking words and included a little blue bag for him to put a representation of his "gifts from God" in it and bring into class to share today.
In the letter to us, " Dear Mr & Mrs Nieuwenhuis, Welcome to a new school year & GRCS! My prayer for Kai this year is that he will step into the role that God has designed for him as he develops his academic skills and understandings in pursuit of God's kingdom. I am looking forward to partnering with you in guiding Kai's discovery of God's grace and blessings in his life." And the letter goes on. I couldn't believe that she made this special delivery to our home and expressed our exact desires of our heart. Only God could have orchestrated that so perfectly.
Kai got to his new class and the kids (whom had only met him ONCE) all came up to him and were so thrilled that he was joining their class. I had two different Mom's come up to me and tell me that ever since his visit last Spring, their kids and families had PRAYED for us and our decision to send Kai to there. People we have never even met, sweet, pure kids that hardly know Kai, PRAYING for us. We were humbled and overjoyed that once again God showed up in a very real way. We thank God for every single step of this journey that has led us to our new school. Kai, I can't wait to see what God has in store for you this year. I just know it's going to be GREAT. Love you buddy.
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