And the winner is?

Posted by: terisue on: March 24, 2008

• In: Family and Friends | Parenting
• 5 Comments

Not me.  I have entered four lotteries in the past month and I lost them all.

Am I on a pity pot?  Maybe.  Am I frustrated?  Yes.  Do I feel like I’ve let my child down, even if I haven’t?  Yes.   Do I feel completely defeated?  Yes, in this moment I do.  For those that can’t handle a little sap and sorrow – quit reading now.  For those that dare to continue – consider yourselves warned.

Whit starts kindergarten in the fall.  Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) has home schools – meaning that you are assigned a school based on where you live.  We are not thrilled with our home school assignment – so much so that we will not send Whit to that school.  (For reasons that are not necessary to broadcast on a public forum, but for reasons that we, as his parents, have decided that it is not in his best interest to attend that school.)  We attended the magnet school fair.  We chose three magnet schools as our choice schools to put him in for the lottery drawing.  We found out the first week in March that we did not get ANY of our choices.  (Only to find out the next day in the Charlotte Observer that 52% of parents got their first choice.  How is it that 52% got their first choice, but we did not get our second choice OR our third choice?)   I have always loved Queens Grant Charter School.  Great school.  Great beliefs.  Great principal and staff.  Great parental involvement.  I entered Whit into their lottery drawing the day they opened enrollment for the 2008 school year, which was back in September.  I patiently waited months for the lottery drawing, which brings us to today.  Almost 300 children wanting less than 60 kindergarten spots.  Whit is number 107 on the waiting list.  Needless to say, we did not get in, nor did we get a desirable number on the waiting list.  We had four school options, none of which panned out.

Now, ask me where Whit will go to school for Kindergarten?  I have no clue.  I am a planner.  I am a list maker.  I am detailed and I am organized.  I try to look at things from every imaginable angle, so that I can be prepared for the weirdest of circumstances.  I am approaching what could possibly be the biggest part of my son’s life so far, and I have no plan.

I, therefore, feel defeated.  Even though Whit doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on, I feel like I have let him down.  I wish that we would have moved when we first started worrying about his home school, back when he was two.  I wish there were student loans or scholarships for kindergarten.  (Did I really just say that?!?)

I am reminding myself of the words my best friend spoke to me – “God will work it out.”   I know she’s right.  He knows if our house will sell, so that we can move to a better school district.  He knows if I should home school.  He will work it out.   He has a plan for Whit that will be revealed.  I  know He will show up – it’s up to me to find a way to depend on that.

Jeremiah 29:11 says:

“For I know the plans I have for you“, says the Lord.  “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

I believe that.  I really believe it.  So, tonight, I’m going to fall asleep repeating this verse over and over.  Knowing that my God…Whit’s God, knows the plan and He will reveal it to us when the time is right.