First Day of School

Today was Gavin and Aubri's first day of school at Haven Montessori. Gavin's in 2nd grade and Aubri does half day kindergarten. The kids loved it! I think this will be a great fit for their personalities and learning styles. Both of them have great teachers too. Sara and I went through a mandatory "parents of Montessori kids" training on Saturday which gave me a better picture of what the kids will be doing and who the staff is.

Sara also started working today at the pre-school. The original plan was to start the actual pre-school this week, but they decided to wait a week to get a few more things in order. Sara was very stressed about the disorganization of it all last week. We volunteered our time most of the day on Friday to help get things set up, but there was still a lot to do. They are very lucky to have Sara there. She has so much experience and high expectations in teaching kids and setting up learning environments that it is really pushing them (the owner and other staff) to raise their own standards of this school. Things are coming together nicely now.

One of Sara's dreams is to start a pre-school that has a Montessori teaching style with a Christian focus. She may actually get the chance to do that with the help of this employer. They're building a new building for their pre-school next year and it can be whatever they want it to be. I have a feeling Sara's influence there could open up doors for something like this to exist. We'll see!

All of the kids had their first gymnastics class today as well. They all did great! I missed a few potentially great photos because our camera was acting up, there are a few in the Photo Album.

Gavin was the only kid in his class to be able to climb the rope to the ceiling. It must be 20 or 30 feet, I'm not sure, be he climbed it effortlessly. Aubri did really well doing exactly what she was instructed. She was all in her glory! Micah, surprisingly, stayed fairly focused through it all. He could do about half of what they wanted him to, but he's only 3 :)

It was a good day all around. It's kind of nice a have a family schedule again. We'll just have to be careful not to add too many other things. We're shooting for the "comfortably busy" schedule rather than the "insanely busy" schedule.

Oh yeah, to add one more thing to the day of new stuff, I was able to go motorbiking with a buddy from church. That was so much fun! I hadn't done that since I had my Harley dirt bike as a kid. I was a bit cautious at first, but I got more comfortable out there as time went on. His grandparents have 15 acres to ride on, and he built up a sweet dirt track to ride on with jumps, moguls, and tight turns. He also has a four wheeler and a little motorcycle, so I'm going to have to get the kids out there sometime soon too. Good times!

Big Decisions

Sara decided to take the part-time position with the pre-school. We both felt it would be better to ease into working again rather than going full-time right away. Sara was still very impressed with the montessori school, so we've decided to send Aubri and Gavin there this year. Aubri will just go half days, and then spend the rest of the day with Sara at the pre-school on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It seemed obvious to send Aubri to montessori since she's such and artist and creative thinker. We thought we were still going to have Gavin go to public school so he could have a little more structure to his day, but as we analyzed his learning style, his personality, and his gifts, we decided to give montessori a shot with him too.

Gavin's got a strong social interest, is a natural leader, and has some creative entrepreneurial tendencies. He's always talking about movies that he's going to make and often coming up with ways to sell things or ideas of how to make money. Montessori school can embrace these gifts and teach him self discipline. It sounds like they get a list of objectives each day (different for each kid depending on their skills and interests) and it's up to them to figure out how to accomplish those objectives through the day. Sara did a lot of research and has plenty of experience in the teaching world, so I trust her judgement with this school. The school doesn't cost anything either with this schedule, which is nice. If Aubri were doing full days and Micah was in it, it would be pretty expensive. All the kids will get free gymnastics with Sara's job too, which is a big bonus. The only thing Sara's a little worried about is Micah being a bit "clingy" when she's trying to teach... we'll see how it goes. Everything starts up next week, so life will soon feel a little different around here. Hopefully all the right decisions were made.

Busy Month!

Our new church is keeping me plenty busy this month. This weekend they'll close the church doors as we head to a family camp for the weekend. It's about 45 minutes away at a place called Lost Canyon in Williams, AZ. I've been busy planning for our four worship services that will be happening over the course of the weekend. I went and visited the space a couple weeks ago... it's REALLY nice... should be fun!

The church is taken advantage of the weekend away to do some major construction in the sanctuary. They're turning the direction of the room to add more seating. I've been busy discussing and coordinating the new audio/video and lighting aspects of the room. I wish I had a little more experience in some of these areas so I can make more intelligent decisions. Some of it will just be my best guess of what I think will work. Hopefully it all comes together in time.

The two services are full now and they anticipate 100-150 more people showing up in a few weeks when NAU starts back up. That pretty much guarantees that we'll be adding a 3rd service Sunday evenings. I'll have to do my best to coordinate volunteers in a way that people don't get burned out.

In addition to all of that, we'll be doing an outdoor service downtown Flagstaff the last weekend of August. It should all be pretty fun and beneficial for the Kingdom, but there's a lot of preparation and coordinating on my part to put it all together. Once September hits, it should be a bit more consistent, with the exception of the 3rd service most likely being added. I still love every minute of it even through the slightly exhausting portions.

Sara's been looking for a part-time job and was offered two different positions yesterday. She likes them both and is trying to decide what makes more sense. One is a full-time assistant teaching position at a montessori school. She loves the environment there and all our kids would get to go there as well if she was teaching (pretty expensive if she doesn't work there). The only obvious downside is the full time hours. The other position is a part-time teaching position at a Christian pre-school. She would only work 3 days a week there and Aubri and Micah could be with her while Gavin goes to a different school. She's considering taking this one and still having Aubri and Gavin in the Montessori school. We know the montessori approach would be a good fit for Aubri, but we're not sure about Gavin. The other advantage of the pre-school job is that it's affiliated with a gymnastics school so all our kids could get free gymnastics if Sara worked there. Sara needs to make a decision by tomorrow so she doesn't leave them waiting for an answer for too long.

God continues to bless us in so many ways! We are so grateful! We keep on meeting such great people and see so much evidence of God at work in every direction we look. His ways are still a mystery to us, but we're doing our best to be available to be used for whatever He has for us to do. What an awesome privilege!