a day of firsts

Today Charlie started kindergarten so I figured it was appropriate for me to get back on the blogging bandwagon. I decided to start a new blog after we left our last assignment of Suriname, but I got caught up living life in America for a few months, so I never actually got this blog going. We've now been in Tel Aviv for about a week and a half and I'm ready (I hope)!

Since we still don't have our car, a kind friend drove us up to the international school on Wednesday so we could get Charlie all registered. They had Charlie draw a self portrait and talked with him a bit. Then we were told he could start on Friday (today). For some reason I was thinking it would be a few more days before he'd be able to start. Friday just seemed too soon!

They showed us around the campus and gave us a pile of paperwork to go through.

Yesterday we went to a park to celebrate Charlie's last day of being home. Then last night we had Adam give Charlie a father's blessing to help prepare him for the school year. At bedtime Charlie started crying. He didn't want to go to school; he just wanted to stay home with me. He was so worried that he kids would think he's weird because he has a brace on his broken arm.

My heart was so heavy. How was I going to just put my baby boy on school bus and send him off to school all by himself? If we had a car I'd have followed behind and made sure everything went smoothly his first day. But I don't have a car so that wasn't an option. I sat in his room with him and tried to reassure him that everything would be great even while my heart was twisting and I needed someone to reassure me. Luckily he was tired and fell asleep. I was not so lucky. I lay in bed worrying for quite some time. What would I do if he started crying when the bus came? I knew I wouldn't be strong enough to force him to get on the bus if he were crying again. Eventually I drifted off.

Charlie woke up on his own today - bright and early at 6:30am. He was nervous and unsure but I could tell he was a little excited too. We got everyone ready and walked to the corner to wait for the bus.

We took a bunch of pictures while we waited. :)

 We saw the bus do a pickup on the other side of the park and worried that we'd missed it.

Then the bus came up our street and nearly drove past us because we were waiting on the wrong side of the street. And apparently they weren't expecting us. The assistant kept saying, "This bus is going to the American School. The American School." I assured her that is where we wanted Charlie to go. Charlie was so brave! He climbed right on, gave me a wave, and found a seat. And then, they were off!