Thursday, February 04, 2010

Ok, This Was Fun...

Just a warning, this is NOT a harmonious or sweet. I've always promised to be incredibly honest when I decided to start blogging so I'm staying true to that. Today has been ROUGH! My mom got here on Tuesday night and I literally felt my body start relaxing yesterday and it is SO nice to have her here. The kids have just been glowing.

Today though was a different story (this has nothing to do with my mom.) Lee and I have REALLY been struggling with this whole school thing for Sofia. To put it lightly I have personally been literally sweating, got a fever blister and my emotions have been running on high. Lee is calmer in general but he has been struggling with it some too. We went to go visit a French school yesterday and let's just put it this way, we left within 5 minutes and I cried for the next 45 minutes in the parking lot.

My poor mom came at a time when we are having to make some really tough decisions and we just don't feel equipped to make them. My main purpose for this email is to ask for MEGA PRAYERS. We have been told "NO" by pretty much every school we have visited. They tell us we should have been on a waiting list TWO YEARS ago!!! I mean what in the world????

For those of you that don't know about education in Peru, public schools are NOT an option. In Latin America Peru is ranked like 149 out of 149 for education (149 being the worst.) Therefore are only options are private schools. Bring into the mix that our kids ONLY speak English and that narrows it down to bilingual English schools (we don't want just English because we want them to master Spanish obviously.) Take out a couple schools that cost as much as ACU and well that leaves several good schools that, oh yeah, WE CAN'T GET INTO!!!

Today was the first time I thought to myself "Ok, this whole Peru thing was fun, I'm ready to go back." I am very aware that others have much more important things going on in their life and this is trivial in comparison but if you have any time in the next few days I ask that you cover this in prayer. This has been a tearful and stressful time in the Fletcher household. Today I just wished that this decision would be easy like it would have been in Abilene. I wish I was just told where to go depending on the street I lived on and I just needed to decide whether Sofia was going to buy her lunch or pack it (dah, that would have been an easy choice) and would have felt good that she was going to learn what she needed, to be a person of normal intelligence. (ok so on a side note, I didn't even know how to spell "intelligence" and the spell check had to correct it! This is why homeschooling my kids is just NOT an option for us.) Unfortunately life is just not "easy" sometimes and I'm pretty sure God didn't call us to have life be easy but today I just needed it to be for a few moments.

So this coming week we have to go visit about 5 more schools, switch our original daycare that we had enrolled the kids in (and lose our enrollment fee :(), decide if we want our kids to learn German as well (this is NO joke, this might be one of our options), figure out how in the world we are going to come up with the funds (these schools run about $600-$800 a month for Sofia and Maddox to attend and were not talking about the mega elite schools here) and lastly we are going to do a lot of praying that God will give us a clear door to walk through (and hopefully very quick.)

We honestly had no idea what we were walking into with school options here and because Sofia is the oldest kid on the team none of us really had tons of info on how this whole process worked. You live and you learn I guess. Unfortunately my child might end up not learning her alphabet until she's 17 but oh well at least she's cute, haha. That's what I'm going to start saying to the next person who gives me a look like "oh poor American girl, she doesn't know that her kid, being almost 5, isn't suppose to be in daycare she's suppose to be testing for the FIRST grade!!!" Literally, they enter pre-school at 3, kinder at 4 and by five they are either in their second year of kinder or testing for first grade. I can't count how many times I've been asked which school she's entering in a few weeks and when I answer that "I don't have her in one" it's like I just burped out loud or something.
Ok, I'm done venting. I'm sorry if you had to read this but I can honestly say I feel better now. If you did read this, thank you for putting up with my written thoughts and for your prayers. If ANYONE has any ideas, words of wisdom, knowledge of any foundations we could write to on behalf of missionaries kids for schooling, know of any teachers that want to move to Peru to teach our kids:) or just sharing that you are willing to pray for us for this next week, we would TRULY appreciate it.
I promise that my next post will have a picture in it. Possibly even a video :)
Goodnight All
P.S. Have I mentioned how excited I am that my mom is here?? Thank goodness she has some good insight about this whole schooling thing. Especially since she decided to send me to a French Catholic school for one year in France and my male teacher smoked in the classroom and I was traumatized for life.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Preach! Lol. We have all hit a wall... this has been a tough couple of weeks. Something Pastor Pepe always reminds me of is that God never fails us. What a better time for your Mommy to be here, than when you are trying to be a mommy. I don't know how he will bless you and Lee, but I know He will. I don't know when, but I know when you look back you will see His blessings. It's like us finding a Dr. that studied 45 minutes from where I went to college. God knew exactly what we needed before it happened, and He showed us in His perfect time. I can't wait to see how God will provide in this situation! And know Amanda and I will be praying for your family. You guys have been such a blessing to us in this time. And I love your kids... that make me want to be a dad.

-Shaun

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry that you are having such a rough time with schooling options. I wish I had some bit of wisdom to share, but all I can do is tell you that we are praying for you guys and that God will open a door for a school you feel good about. For the record, I think Sofia is learning so much even if it's not in a formal school setting. She is having amazing life experiences that can't be taught in a classroom. She'll learn how to spell and read in time, but this time of transition into a new culture with a new brother and your family is invaluable. Hang in there, Steph! You're a great mom! Love you.
Summer

Jody said...

Keep your head up and continue to lift your prayers! God will Answer!Is there a way to get her on a wait list and put her somewhere this year that will just "get her in a class". (Maybe not a first pick or even 5th pick? but one that will get her started?) I hate that it's so hard for you and Lee. This has to be such a stress. It's that way for Casey and I here in the states :) You want the best for them and what's SAFE. Keep at it and it will work out. So happy your Mom made it safe and that you have her to turn to. She knows better than anyone, huh? Have a good weekend and we are praying. P.S. Tell Lee we tried....Baby will be here on April 15th. Dr. T set the induction date this week and we told him we would love it to be the 13th but he isn't on that day :) Love ya, Jody

Jody said...

Keep your head up and continue to lift your prayers! God will Answer!Is there a way to get her on a wait list and put her somewhere this year that will just "get her in a class". (Maybe not a first pick or even 5th pick? but one that will get her started?) I hate that it's so hard for you and Lee. This has to be such a stress. It's that way for Casey and I here in the states :) You want the best for them and what's SAFE. Keep at it and it will work out. So happy your Mom made it safe and that you have her to turn to. She knows better than anyone, huh? Have a good weekend and we are praying. P.S. Tell Lee we tried....Baby will be here on April 15th. Dr. T set the induction date this week and we told him we would love it to be the 13th but he isn't on that day :) Love ya, Jody

Larissa Smith said...

We've only experienced a little of this and are already unsure what to do. Shaye will be one of the only 3 year olds staying at her preschool this year; most of her friends are starting at the bilingual, elite schools. We didn't even know that was an option!

But hey, your venting isn't a bad thing at all. It probably at least made YOU feel better, right? We will be praying here in AQP that one of those five schools this week is just the perfect fit that God has ready, and that He just wanted you to learn a little extra patience before He let you see it. Nothing goes quickly in this country, so take a deep breath and keep at it.

Kate said...

Stephanie,

I'm so sorry about your frustrations! I'll be praying that God opens a door and gives you PEACE about Sophia's school! We love you guys!

Hannah Anderson said...

Praying about the school!! Maybe I just need to move down there and teach Sofia myself...=)

Anonymous said...

I wanted to comment and had a few thoughts in mind to share and then noted that Anonymous posted above spoke my very thoughts. How wierd! Then I read further and learned that it was Summer's comment! Do you suppose its genetic? I'm sure I have nothing more valuable to say than what your own wise and experienced missionary mother has to offer. I'm glad that her visit coincides with this decision time. For my part I'll hold your family in my heart and prayers. Sandra Pierson