Adventures with Ahrens has a start date!

It's official- Ahrens Academy begins on Friday! The children will wake up in the morning to their last day of public school for the year, and I will have my last day of freedom before we do this thing called "educating the migits."  I am nervous, excited, jittery, and any combination of those, repeat.  Yesterday Charlie got onto the curriculum for about half an hour, and then today, Shay tried it out.  She remembered it, and he caught on quite nicely to the way it works.  I believe this is a perfect start for us, and while we are all eager to begin, it doesn't take the sadness from leaving, away.

I loved getting to know the families at our public school.  My children were greeted warmly by everyone, everywhere in the school.  From staff, to faculty, to the ever-present random PTA servant.  (For real, if those moms and one dad were to be paid for their time... phew!  They could retire before their children got out of school!)  EVERYONE that had a roll in caring for my children will always have a prayer said for them!

This is the hardest one...  We only saw each other once a week, and even then, for such a short time...le' sigh...  We grew really close.  We laughed.  We cried.  We cried 'till we laughed.  We enjoyed the students together.  (Actually, we laughed at them without them realizing it, but we will never tell them that.)  Anyway, to you, ALL of you, my DUCKS, you were the highlight to my Friday mornings.    

It was also a pleasure working alongside a truly sweet and considerate lady, Mrs. K.B.  Your friendship made me feel welcome when I was there.  Your three children are beautiful, and well-mannered--- ALL of them.  (I know what you are thinking.  Even though I didn't know Cole well, I could tell from his sweet drawings for his teacher ;o)  

I hope that we can rejoin the Liberty Elementary School family very soon.  Ideally, we won't need more than a year or two to catch up.

This was the online form we had to submit in order to home school.  The site was down for days.  Finally, tonight, it was available. While we could have started without it, I wanted all my "ducks" in a row.  You know me... ever the duck enthusiast.

One of their last mornings getting on the bus... I will miss my bus stop momma moments, but look forward to opening our garage door for "off the bus" play dates- more often! 

The next picture made me cry.  Everyone knows that my cousin lost his LONG and painful battle to cancer this summer.  Well, Scott was the "anchor" in his fraternity.  So, before he died, I explained that to the children, and in the last couple of months of his life here, he sent a stuffed dolphin to Shay, as that is her favorite animal.  Well, she immediately decided to name the dolphin, "Anchor," for her cousin that give him to her.  Since Scott passed, our family sees anchors in the weirdest places.  We say that Scott is "dropping an anchor," to let us know that he is around.   The anchor stories we have in such a short time are numerous and heartwarming, however, last night I got an anchor dropped on me that took my breathe away.

Charlie's very first ABA teacher, the owner of the company, had followed my blog and Facebook cries for help in recent days, and private messaged me her phone number.  She told me to call if I needed some help.   She was an immensely supportive and informational treasure to me last night. She is not only a specialist that has worked with special needs children for years, she is also a mom to one.  I admire her beyond words can adequately express.  Anyway, while I was taking notes on practically every last word she breathed during our 1+ hour conversation, she mentioned that there might be grants to help us afford some of our needs for Charlie.  She recommended this one organization, called... wait for it...."Anchor of Hope Foundation."  It took my breathe away.  I don't cry easily, and with all the emotion of this decision, I held it together well.  Then, today, I went to the website, and found the application, printed it, and when it was in my hands, and I saw the anchor in the top left hand corner, I cried.  I just knew it was from Scott.  If we get the funding I applied for, it would cover the cost of tuition for Charlie this school year!  It's a huge amount of money, when you realize that we are a single income family that lives at poverty level.  The tuition is $20 per month, with obvious need for consumable school supplies as well.  It was the most we could try to find in our budget.   When I think that Huntington Learning Center said it would "only" take five months, and SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS to get Charlie on track, it makes my stomach churn.  There's not a grant out there that will cover that, but I knew that Scott had his hand in bringing me to this foundation, and if it is meant to be, then this, will be covered.  If not, we know He always provides, and I really needed that hug from Above, so I will be grateful for seeing Scott in this process ;o)

I am a crazy lady when it comes to providing documentation.  I spent about three hours on the application.  I am dreading the Katie Beckett process.  Prayers going up for that.  That is the be all and end of all waivers for families like ours.  It might afford speech for him again. 

Finally, we are looking for service projects in our area, and if you can think of a way the children and I might be able to serve in a family friendly event, please think of us!  In the mean time, it will be fun to see everyone out and about in Canton as we all move forward!