A Time and a Season

After a lot of thought and contemplation and a little (okay, actually a LOT) of divine intervention, we've decided delay homeschooling a little and send Janelle to public school this year. It was a really hard decision for me to make, but I know it's the right one for our circumstances right now.

We met with Spencer's urologist today and he's scheduled for surgery in September. So we're going to focus on him for a little while until his kidneys are where they need to be. I knew it would be really hard for me to start the homeschooling thing and have to worry about Spencer at the same time. I'm definitely a little bummed about sending Janelle to school because I was so excited about keeping her home. But I know I will still end up doing it sometime. Really the homeschooling experience, though I knew it would be good for Janelle, was mostly for me. It was just something that I wanted to try. Fortunately Janelle is a smart and very social kid, so I know she'll be completely fine in school.

After I told Janelle that she was going to start kindergarten at school, she was a little nervous, so I told her we were going to do some really fun things to get ready for school. The first thing we did is take her to get her hair cut. Janelle loves to get her hair cut. I finally convinced her that there would be a lot less tangles (and tears) if we cut it short, so she said okay. My friend cut about 6 inches off! But I think it looks so cute short! (Thanks Becca!!!!) A few days later we went school supply shopping where she picked out a special Hannah Montana folder. Then yesterday we went to the outlet mall and shopped for a back pack and some new clothes. (This girl loves to shop...very unlike her little brother!) On Tuesday she had her little kindergarten evaluation so she got to see the inside of the school and some other fellow kindergarteners. And next week she gets to go meet her teacher. She's definitely excited about it now. I can't believe she starts in a little over a week!

Now onto an update on this crazy kid. (Not that you would ever know there was anything wrong with him just by looking at him!)
We finally had a follow-up with Spencer's urologist a week ago to determine the results of the radiation test he had about a month ago. The conclusion was that he was a prime candidate for a surgery called pyeloplasty where they go in and remove the blockage in front of his ureter that is preventing his kidney from draining normally. His urologist seemed really positive that this procedure would completely fix the problem and that as soon as he had it he would have a normally functioning kidney. He also explained that since he's still really little he would recover from it easily. So we went in today to figure out the details and set it up. Kyle and I felt really good about and were in complete agreement with what the doctor told us. I know that Spencer is in really good hands and will be perfectly fine. It will just be nice when it's over!

On the up side, now that I've done so much research on homeschooling and figured out the things I want to do, I've realized there are still a lot of things I can do to supplement Janelle's education, especially through Montessori methods. I'll post some of the things I'll be doing this year in another post for those that are interested.
I am so grateful for these two kiddos. Even though they drive me crazy...a LOT...I can't imagine my life without them! They've brought me joy like no other!