Monday, March 9, 2009

First Grade, First Grade

First grade, first grade
It is cool
No better way to be in school
I will celebrate with my friend
I will celebrate til day's end
With a friend, til the end
I want to do it all again!

Very obviously, I am no Dr. Seuss! But, I remember first grade. I had an amazing teacher, her name was Mrs. Kley. She was very funny and do you know what I remember most? She made me feel loved. I was six, I knew I had the love of my family, but after the debacle we called kindergarten, I did not feel much trust for teachers. Mrs. Kley healed an assortment of hurts I endured at the hand of Mrs. Radbill, a teacher who had probably long overstayed her welcome.

Emily has a great teacher, a loving, prayerful teacher who accentuates the positive and works hard to extinguish any negatives. She is pregnant with her first child and we are busily planning some surprises for her:)

I thought I'd dedicate a post to first grade...it has been quite a year. A year filled with activities, awarenesses and altruism. I have been blessed to be part of all of these activities and I have to be honest, it is exciting to be able to see our child in her learning environment in addition to all the other areas we hang with her.

Parenting is hard. Some days I wish I could go back to the first grade where Dr. Seuss and a bologna and cheese sandwich cured the ills that swirled about us. As parents, we have to make the hard choices. We have to say "no" sometimes. We have to break their hearts sometimes or watch their hearts be broken (even harder), we have to be the adults, seek their best interest, share their joys and find the joys when their little hearts and heads are too in-the-moment to "see it". We are responsible for these beautiful creatures, we need to do our best to keep them healthy in mind, body and soul. We need to grow our children spiritually and grow ourselves spiritually that we might be an example to our little ones. We need to help them develop healthy relationships and pray for their friends and even for their spouses (many, many years down the road:)

As a parent, I am thankful for the opportunities to meet other parents. I take this responsibility with the seriousness that God issued it to me. For all the years I prayed to be a mother, I am thankful every single day for the manner in which God allowed me this gift. And it occurs to me that my heavenly Father approaches me in this very same way. He parents us and when I think of the love I have for my children, it is overwhelming to think of how BIG His love really is for us.

So, take this moment of Hundredth day, Snow days and Seussical celebration to go back to that time when you were six. It will refresh you, renew your spirit and help you as you make the big choices today. Whatever parenting point you are in today, you are not alone. We walk this line together, prayerfully and with the love of Him who loved us first. Oh, to be six again!


Celebrating 100th Day!


Threading 100 Fruit Loops - the sheer joy of it


Emily and her sweet friend Sarah


It's never a party until the cake arrives!! (Okay, that's my rule:)


Even Hannah loves a good snow day!


Our little redhead mid snowball fight!


Played all day...


Dr. Seuss Day began with the reading (and acting out of) The Cat in the Hat


There were green eggs and ham and plenty o' pink ink!


Em's friend Dieter, is he cute or what?

13 comments:

Linette said...

Heather-I really needed to read this! God has laid so many things on my heart recently and you said so much of what I'm feeling. I was just telling a friend what an amazing gift motherhood is...overwhelming but so amazing!!!

Jboo said...

Yes, first grade is such a magical year, isn't it! Great photos of your beautiful girls and such a lovely post. You have such a way with words!

Janet

Sharon Sloan said...

Yippee! A blog post! :)

Fun to remember first grade! I have a few very vivid memories from first grade.

Love the pix from 100th day and snow day. Glad our daughters are going through school together and sharing these memories.

As always, great pix!

mommy24treasures said...

swwet post... My Ms Emily is growing up...
Yes sometimes parenting is sooo tough... Thank God we have Him during the tough times.

Jodee said...

What a fun party! It looks like Emily had a blast!

Missy said...

I love this post sooo much! I feel so blessed to be able to be my student's first grade teacher. I take my job very seriously and I hope that I make many children as happy as you were as a six year old and as happy as Emily is. You have such great perspective on things. I so wish you lived closer so I could take you out for coffee and just chat : )

3 Peanuts said...

Oh what a delightful post. First grade is magical, isn't it? I love seeing photos of the girls and hearing what has been going on..I have felt so out of touch:(

We are knee deep in Dr. Suess here as Green Eggs and HAm is KAte' FAVORITE book, a must read everyday!

Hugs,
Kim

Anonymous said...

Heather,

well said!

Kristy said...

Heather!!!! This post was awesome!!! I loved it and tought it was just the greatest! And I love love love the Pink Ink!!!

Love, Kristy

Michelle R Photography said...

Wonderful post, as always! We just celebrated 100th day in Leila's first grade class, too. I love Emily's glasses! Oh, to go back for a day and have the responsibility... and joy... of a 6-year old!

Angie said...

Hi Heather! I have been lazy with my blog reading lately. Just thought I would stop in and let you know I was thinking about you this morning. I hope you are having a great week!
Sorry to hear that you have had a rough start to 2009, I hope it is much better from here on out. I will be praying, friend. Hugs to you today!

prechrswife said...

What a great post! :-)

The Byrd's Nest said...

What a wonderful celebration...being a parent for the second time has made us better parents than we were with James and Elisabeth. Your words are beautiful and so true....the most important thing we are working on with Lottie and Emma is the Lord in their lives and how He is always there for them. I pray they become so close to Him so early in life that whatever is going on in the world around them....it will not matter...they will have their Father.
Love you!

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