First Day of School, 2013

*sigh*

Summer is over.  I am never happy about this fact.  There's nothing I love more than spending every day, all day with my kids.  Seriously, I love to work in the morning (either cleaning the house, or weeding the garden), making lunch together (while watching Game Show Network), hearing the girls practice while I get on the computer, playing Super Mario in the afternoon, grilling something delicious for dinner and eating on the deck, and spending our evenings with John.  Who wouldn't love that life?  Yes, I'm a selfish being, and I hate to give it all up.

School began for the girls yesterday.  Johannah is a senior this year, and Glo is a freshman.  Lucky Glo, she will have Hannah to drive her to and from school each day this year.  We've been in this situation before, and believe me, the driven kids are never too happy the next year when their chauffeur leaves for college and they are left to take the bus again :-)

August proved to be a turning point for Hannie this year.  With no suggestion on my part, Johannah decided to apply to the Interlochen Arts Academy for the 2013/14 school year.  This is a private boarding school, held in the same place where we attend camp.  She went to the necessary meetings, filled out the application on her own, had the complete support of the viola professor there (Rene Skerik), and within two days, found out that she was whole-heartedly accepted by the school.  We knew that her attending could lead to some pretty amazing opportunities down the road, especially in regards to college scholarships.

One problem:  the cost of tuition.  For a student to attend IAA, it's about $53,000/year, and whether or not we had the money, I'm not sure we would pay that much for school.  Interlochen ended up giving her every possible scholarship, mostly because of her stellar academic record and because of the recommendation of Mrs. Skerik.  The final total (after begging and offering to sell our first born) came down to $37,000.  This is more than we paid for either Ethan or Mark to attend a year of college, and in Mark's case, was almost the equivalent of two years' tuition.

It just wasn't possible for us.  It broke our hearts to tell Hannie this, but there is a silver lining to this story.  From this experience, Johannah learned that she's a bonafide musician (which is a question all musicians constantly ask).  She earned scholarships for her ability to play the viola, and she's intelligent.  It gave us all confidence to know that she should indeed apply to any and all colleges she feels she'd like to attend.  She has a great chance of getting into most, if not all, of them.

And to her credit, Hannah never pouted, or showed any disappointment in us.  She knew it was a long shot, and she took great pride in just being accepted.

So, she and Glo got everything ready yesterday morning, and headed off to school.

Yes, that is a "My Little Pony" lunchbox that Hannah is proudly displaying.

One of those tender mercies that you never expect to happen but you're glad that it does happen happened for Hannah.  Mr. Drafall, the choir director at the school and one of my kids' only cheerleaders, commented on Hannah's shirt.  She promptly told him that she had been accepted to the Academy, but wasn't able to attend.  Without missing a beat, Mr. Drafall said he was relieved that she didn't go because she is "the goddess of the alto section".  Thank you, Mr. Drafall (and Heavenly Father) for comforting her wounded soul!

Ethan's "first day of school" was no less exciting than the girls'.  In fact, his was rather non-traditional!  This semester, Ethan will be doing an internship in Brussels, Belgium with the European Union Parliament.  I bought the plane ticket so long along, that it felt like his departure day was very far away.  Yeah, not so much.

After I got the girls off, Ethan finished up some last-minute packing, and we were off to Philadelphia.  I had paid a bit extra to get him a non-stop flight to Brussels, saving him the worry of his bag getting lost and the hassle of any layovers.

Up to this point, he has been off-the-charts excited to go.  As I tell any person who asks me "aren't you worried about sending him alone to Europe?", he was raised in Europe.  He has lived in Europe almost as long as he has lived in the States.  Europe is home.  No, I'm not at all nervous to send him off.

Yesterday morning though, it was all hitting Ethan.  While he's lived all over Europe, and knows how to get around with trains and such, and speaks four different languages, he was nervous to leave.  As he pointed out, he's never gone alone.  Either he was a missionary, traveling with other missionaries, or he was with us.  This was his first time without someone.

Thankfully, we had four hours in the car to talk about the blessing it is to be going, and by the time he got out of the car at the airport, he was super pumped to be returning.  I told him that I would happily go in his place if he thought he wanted to change his mind ;-)

(I did need to double check his luggage to make sure that Rebecca hadn't stowed herself away--she's tiny enough, for sure!)

This morning, as I got on the computer, I saw a FB notification from Ethan.  He obviously found his new apartment (getting his luggage from the airport), because he posted a picture of the view from his place:

I'm excited for him already, not to mention insanely jealous of this opportunity!

When I look at this next year, I don't see a time when we will slow down...until it's time to leave for Interlochen again.  No doubt this year will be filled with lots of Kennedy adventures and laughter and stress, but it's all part of life's journey.

Here's to the new school year!