Emily just asked to go to bed at 6:20pm, so this gives me a chance to write a blog post! Ah, the benefits of dropping the nap! Maybe it is also because it starts getting dark here at 4pm, so by 6pm, her body is telling her it's time to sleep. Actually, mine is too, so maybe that's not so good!
I was reminded the other day of an earlier blog post where I realized that helping Emily through this transition was how I was going to get through it myself, and I am finding that to be true again.
Emily's had a rough start to preschool. It was a bit unexpected considering that she went last year in the States and loved it! But we know that EVERYTHING in her life has changed in the last few months, so leaving her at a new preschool was proving traumatic.
After the first few weeks, she seemed to be improving while she was actually at school, according to her teachers. But the mornings at home were getting harder. As soon as she woke up and asked if she was going to school, she would start crying and wailing about how she didn't want to go. We felt so torn about whether we were doing the right thing or not. Are we missing something? Is there something about her school that is not right? It was very confusing.
One morning, she had started crying and ran back to her room after discovering that it was a school day, so I decided to go in there and lay with her for awhile. Maybe I could figure out what was going on. The main thing that she would say was how she was going to miss Daddy! I think Daddy makes her days at home so much fun that she didn't like the thought of having to leave him!
So through the Lord's wisdom, I said, "Okay, let's just take this one step at a time. Let's not worry about leaving Daddy yet. Maybe we should just get dressed first." So we started going through the "checklist" of what needed to be done before she could leave, and it completely changed her attitude! Suddenly, this was not so overwhelming anymore. It felt much easier!
As I thought more about it, I couldn't help but smile realizing that this is exactly how the Lord deals with me! Johnny's general disposition to the world is "Everything will work out alright!" And mine is to fret and worry and try to figure it all out ahead of time. But through this transition, the Lord has been teaching me that really I just have to take things one step at a time. Just deal with what is right in front of me. Otherwise, it's going to paralyze me, and nothing will get done.
So as Emily and I go through the "checklist" on the mornings of her school days, I am reminded to do the same with myself. Try not to rush ahead. What is right in front of me today that I need to do? No, I don't know how it's all going to work out or get done, but worrying about it is not going to help anything. I can pretty much hear the Lord whispering to me, "Let's just take it one step at a time!"
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