First Day of School Prayer

It was a tough good-bye this morning.
We held up traffic as he carefully walked up the big steps of the bus.
He waved out of the window, and I watched the bus drive down the road.

As our son with Down syndrome starts his first day of school today, this is our prayer:

Dear LORD,
You are such an awesome God!  You are so good and faithful to all of Your promises.  I know that You have watched over our son in the past few years, and that You will continue to do so, especially today as he has his first day of school.

Forgive me, LORD for my times of doubt and unbelief.  Forgive me for the times that I forget to trust in you and Your unfailing promises and Your perfect plan.

Thank-you, LORD for so many blessings.  Thank-you for an amazing, supportive, school community.  Thank-you for our principal, our advocate. Thank-you for compassionate and loving teachers.  Thank-you for our friendly, lovely bus driver.  Thank-you for older siblings.

LORD, please protect our son.  Please give the teachers an extra dose of patience when he doesn't listen and just wants to play outside on the slide!  Fill them with lots of patience, peace, understanding, and lots of energy (which they will need).  Help Seber to feel loved and included.  Help others to include him and also to be patient with him.  Give us wisdom to know how to best advocate for him and help him as he begins the part-time kindergarten program at our school.  This is so new to our school community, and so LORD, I pray for support, love, and acceptance.

In Your precious Son's name,
Amen

In Good Hands

"In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him" (Psalm 95:4).

In Good Hands

They thanked us for coming, while we were the ones using up their valuable time.

They had printed off pages of common sign words.

She had her pen and paper ready.

They were eager to learn as much about our son as they could in the short time that we visited.  

This week, we spent 45 minutes visiting with Seber's SK teacher and EA.  He enjoyed exploring his new classroom, and meeting his wonderful teachers.  We were very thankful for that opportunity.

  

We are SO blessed to be part of such an amazing community.  We are so blessed with a caring staff, a principal who advocates on our behalf, and SK teachers who are so keen to help our son learn as much as possible and to reach his potential.  They have such a desire for him to have a positive, enriching learning experience.  They are receptive to suggestions and seek ways to improve the learning environment which would be beneficial to Seber and all of the students.  They are loving, caring, and compassionate image bearers of our Lord, and view all their students as God's precious children.  We are so thankful for our amazing school community.

In just a few days, our son will be hopping on the bus with his older siblings.  His face lights up and he points to himself when we talk about school and the bus.  As crazy nervous as I am, I know that he'll be in good hands.  His older siblings will be fierce protectors and assist him when needed.  His teachers will embrace him with open arms, and allow his little, silly, loving personality to shine!  I know that he'll be in good hands with the staff and with his siblings, but I also know that He is being held in the hands of the One who holds the whole universe!!