A change of plans...our childcare saga.

Approximately four years ago, a church friend happened to mention to me that a lady in our church named Rhonda kept kids at her home.  Shortly thereafter I turned the corner in our church hallway and ran immediately into Rhonda.  She agreed on the spot to be Turner's primary caretaker when I returned to work and it was a magnificent three years for Turner at Miss Rhonda's house.  I am so grateful for the time and the attention that my sweet girl received from Rhonda and she will always be so special to our family.

Rhonda isn't keeping kids this year so Mark and I had started looking into alternative options for Turner for this fall.  But, when I got the new job I had to find summertime childcare immediately.  I was thrilled that our children's pastor's wife, Miss Natalie, was willing to keep Turner a couple of days a week for us. Turner and their oldest son Andrew are big buddies at church and Turner absolutely LOVED her time spent at the Snuffin house this summer.  Natalie was sweet to send me pictures from their days on several occasions! 

But, I still didn't have a clear plan for the other three days of the week when Turner wasn't at the Snuffin house.  I happened to be in conversation with a church friend who brought up the name of my former intern (a mutual friend to us both) and she suggested that Miss Lauren was looking for extra summer money.  I called her on my way home from church and she agreed to keep Turner for me three days a week. Within a few days of accepting my new position, God had provided childcare for Turner in an "in-home" environment similar to Rhonda's house. Turner and Miss Lauren went out on the town frequently to Frog Legs, the mall (Turner may now always be addicted to the Dollar Tree), Chic-Fil-A, and the playground.  At home they baked cookies and I still have crafts they made here at my house during the day.  It was a wonderful blessing to my sanity that God provided in this way, particularly as much transition as I was personally wading through on my own.

As I mentioned earlier, Mark and I had already explored options for the fall for Turner's school and we were thrilled to have her enrolled at a local Montessori School.  We loved the Montessori philosophy for our Turner and after receiving beginning of school information from her teacher and perusing her blog I was absolutely stoked about this educational opportunity for Turner!  Around August 1st, we were talking over dinner about who would drop Turner off at school each day when our phone rang.  I knew from Mark's face it wasn't good news and I knew from caller ID that the call was regarding the school.  Due to unforeseen circumstances they had to close the school for this year - we had 10 days to find other arrangements.

Can I be honest and tell you that I totally panicked?  And I sulked.  I think the sulking and emotions were more about my own personal disappointment over the lost educational opportunities that I felt were available at the Montessori School.  But also there was the stress - what in the world were we going to do?

We sought out full-day private preschools in the area and all were long ago full for this fall.  We learned a hard lesson of this community and Mark articulated it best when he asked me, "So let me get this straight, for your child to enroll in a preschool type environment you've got to be a stay at home mom?"  Most preschools are part-day with random schedules - something our jobs can't accommodate.  We toured public daycare facilities, and while they are great and wonderful for most families, it just wasn't the transition we wanted to make considering our past home-daycare experiences.  We were admittedly spoiled...and we were becoming despondent about what path to take for fall.

I heeded the suggestion of a church friend to call another Sunday School friend who has a daughter about 2 months younger than Turner.  She's also a teacher at our church preschool, and there was a belief that she might be interested in keeping Turner for us each day.  I talked to Miss Amy at church on Sunday and honestly if she hadn't agreed, we were set to enroll Turner in a local daycare on Monday morning.  Amy was literally an answer to our prayers.  She was thrilled at the opportunity to keep Turner for us!  Mark and I talked and we both felt like this was the right option, and honestly I am overwhelmed at how blessed we are to have this fall into place.  It is nothing short of God providing a way for us, yet again, in providing awesome caretakers for Turner.

Mark takes Turner to Miss Amy's house each morning and Amy takes her to our church preschool.  Turner is in the 3 year old class (taught by Miss Natalie referenced above) and absolutely loves it.  Miss Amy brings her home, feeds her lunch, orchestrates naps, and they are almost always outside playing when I come pick her up.  Turner is honestly sad sometimes when I drive up - because she loves playing with her friend Aubrey and Aubrey's three big sisters so much!  This is a picture of Turner and Aubrey on our church playground.

Turner has already told me that "their house is better than ours", but after investigating her logic I found it's mainly because they have sleeping bags and we don't.  She's also decided she wants to have her birthday party at Miss Amy's house because they have a birthday banner that spells out Happy Birthday (which they hung to celebrate a big sister's birthday in August).  The best part by far is that both Turner and Aubrey ask all weekend when they'll get to see each other again, and each morning when Turner asks, "Are we going to Miss Amy's today?" and I answer yes, she just cheers with excitement.  She loves being there and feels so comfortable and loved.  For that we are immeasurably BLESSED.

Here's a picture of my sweet girl on her first day of preschool, with her new backpack that she and Mark picked out.  Below, she's pictured with her teachers Miss Natalie and Miss Christy.

Despite the initial disappointment when the plans changed, we will choose to believe that this was no random occurrence.  Though not in our plans, it was no accident that the school closed for this fall.  We choose to believe that God was orchestrating this for the good of our family and to provide the best environment for Turner for this fall.  And we are so grateful for His plan!