Matthew's First Day of School!

I survived! I mean, WE survived. lol! Matt had a wonderful first day of school today. Let me start by saying our great God does all things WELL! February of 2010, I felt the leading of the Lord to take Matt & Cait out of the care of their aunt on their father's side. This was met with much opposition and pretty much spelled the end of my relationship with their father. He took this move personally instead of seeing it as I saw it. This move was for the benefit of his two children. Matt was barely talking and most certainly wasn't talking clearly enough to be understood. He didn't know his letters, numbers, or colors, but he knew every tv show known to man. I was a single mom, hard at work to make the ends meet. Their aunt was inexpensive child care but my two children were paying the price.
I endured being cursed out and fought with to get my children away from her. But here we are, 18 months later. My son Matthew began kindergarten today! When I enrolled him into St. Andrews Child Development Center, along with his sister last June, I didn't know what to expect.
What I soon gained was two brand new children.
Within three months time, both were talking clearly and Matt was even beginning to learn how to write. A year later, he can count to 20, knows all of his colors, shapes, and letters.
To GOD be the glory!
The decision to put him in a daycare was probably one of the toughest parenting decisions I had to make to date. I put myself at odds with his father and his father's entire family just to do what I felt the Lord wanted me to do. I didn't know back then that the sacrifice I was making then would reap such an abundant harvest.
This morning as I drove Matt to school, I affirmed him and told him he was going to have a great day at school today. Then I said to him, "You know what? Let's pray". I began to pray aloud and I glanced back to the back seat. There was my precious boy with his hands clasped to his chest and eyes closed, in prayer.

He learned that at St. Andrews.

In that single moment, all of the pain and tears I went through to get him to this moment in time were worth it. I  realized that the same God who assured me that I would have a son and to not worry about how I would care for him was the SAME God who had faithfully brought us to this milestone in his life.
His father walked through the door of the school and I almost burst into tears when I saw him run into his dad's arms. For all of our drama, past and present, what a blessing it was for us to be able to lay aside our differences long enough to celebrate our son's big day.
I'm eternally grateful to Marc for that.

We helped him settle into his new class room and waved good bye to him. He was very nervous, so nervous that he wouldn't eat breakfast. But I knew by the end of the day, that wonderfully personable spirit of his would make plenty of new friends and overcome any nervousness.
He proudly proclaims, "I'm a big kid now".
Yes he is. He's a big brother to his baby sister, and a kindergarten student of Greenville County. He's well on his way to being 10 times more successful than his mom or dad.
He's well on his way to being everything God created him to be.
I've got my work cut out for me though. There's forms to fill out and supply lists to double check. And let's not forget the homework. But we're in this together and God is with us, as He has always been.
We're off to a great start so far.
And we'll finish strong!