November thankful: teachers!

This being conference time and all, I have been overwhelmed with thankfulness for the teachers we have been blessed with in our lives and our kids' lives. They love our kids like they were their own; they desire success for our children, both academically and in their development as "kids of character." At a (wonderful, I might add) public school, we have been blessed with several teachers who love Jesus and who pray for our kids and all the kids my children interact with. What a blessing! I have struggled at various points as to whether public school is the right choice for us. I am pro-public school in the right setting--at the same time, I fully understand why people choose private school or homeschooling as well and trust me, I've had all of those conversations with myself and with the Lord numerous times. But each time I keep coming back to the fact that sending our kids to public school (for now) has been a much-prayed about and God-driven decision for us...not one we entered into lightly or by rote. And when I left 3 kids' wonderful conferences this past week, this decision has been confirmed over and over again. I fully believe that our kids are lights for Jesus in their school. Because their lights are shining, others can see their good works and praise our Father in heaven (paraphrase from Matthew 5:16). Thank you, Lord!

As a proud mom, I am also overwhelmingly thankful for the hard work and growth I've seen in each of my children since school started this fall. Zoe is reading!! She is a champ at math apparently and is the "queen of rhyming". :) After a bit of a rough start, Zoe is making great behavior choices and we are SO proud of who she is! Chars is reading well above grade level and is a superstar artist...he has started (just for fun, I might add!) creating his own superhero comic books starring Tate and Charlie as defeaters of monsters. Love that!! And Max...well...typical oldest child...perfectionist, rule-follower, hasn't missed a spelling word all year...all I can say is wow. Yes, I love these little monkeys, and I am SO proud to have the privilege of parenting them and watching them become who God intends. So very thankful.