Time to talk about some things I've been avoiding lately. Please bear with me as I walk you through some happenings in our life; this post will sound like a bit of a downer for a little bit, but I hope to leave you on a hopeful note, for I am in a place of hope right now, not sadness. Hang in there to the end, then, and don't feel sorry for us but cheer us on to the next phase of life.
I hate when good things come to an end, but here we are, facing two different endings all at the same time. I'm not thrilled. But I am trusting God for what comes next.
Before you ask, no, we are not yet leaving Brazil; that one has no end in sight. But, some very dear friends are leaving Brazil. For good. In a week. And I am not thrilled.
We met this family during their very first week in Brazil, and have been good friends ever since. We've spent at least one day of every weekend together, with exceptions only when one or the other of us is out of town. It has been a wonderful three & a half years of friendship, fellowship, togetherness, fun, laughter, sharing the ex-pat experience, watching our kids grow up together, and watching Brazil shape us all.
And next week, it will all be over.
They'll return to the US, not to any state anywhere near where we routinely visit. For good. And we'll stay here. For who knows how much longer.
The kids will, we hope, continue their routine of shared on-line gaming & skype-chatting while they play. We'll continue, we hope, to email and chat. We're planning, loosely, a US meet-up a year from now; turns out Walt Disney World is equidistant from both of our home states.
But our weekends will now be free.
Free, but not empty. We do have other friends, and we look forward to getting to know them better and spending more weekend time with them. We've also just now found a church we're willing to visit again, which is something we've been sorely missing.
It's very difficult to find a comfortable church when you don't speak the language (or the kids don't) well enough to follow the entire sermon; when the few Protestant denominations are mostly things you've never heard of and so don't know if you agree or not with the major points of theology they teach; when you come from a place with one hour long services, into a place with two hour services; when you want to be both anonymous and welcomed, but not feel like "the Americans" in a fish bowl before the entire congregation. But now we've found one that we like, and we plan to go back. Weekly, even. With the exception of The Adventurer, we're all excited about that.
The other ending is school. Our home school. My role as teacher is shrinking, as we're shifting the two older boys into an on-line virtual school. Beginning in September, The Writer will have all of his classes at TTUISD; The Artist will have half of his classes there.
There are a few reasons for this, but the main reason is the legality of doing what we're doing, where we're doing it. By enrolling the boys in a virtual school, we'll gain both an answer to give when asked "where do you go to school" as well as a bit of legitimacy that people here will recognize.
The other big reason is so that my time is free to devote to The Adventurer, who learns so very differently from how the older boys learned. His style of learning takes a great deal of time and effort, so out-sourcing the teaching for the older boys will free me to focus on the little guy instead, where my focus needs to be just now.
Which means our last day of school this year (Friday) will really be our last day of home school, ever, in some ways. Yes, the boys will continue to be at home, but I will be the parent, not the teacher. It's a shift, an odd feeling, but a needed one and I believe a good one. I look forward to what parenting a child through high school looks like when one is not also the teacher. I look forward to watching the boys thrive under someone else's instruction, and to really helping The Adventurer grow once he is able to have my undivided attention during school time. So, yes, an ending, but a hopeful one.
We'll celebrate on Friday, the end of our home school year. Goodbye eight grade, fifth grade and (no discussion on age vs. grade here) Kindergarten. Hello, "summer" vacation!
We'll gather on Saturday to say a different goodbye, Goodbye, dear friends. Hello, new adventure!
Two endings, back-to-back. A time of vacation to adjust to the newness, and a new church to help us through the changes. I look forward to what God has in store for us in this next chapter, and while I'm not thrilled with some of this, I am comfortable with all of it and hopeful about what the future has in store.
