I still remember the day my husband and I got what every expectant parent waits for ‘THE CALL’.  Jack was sitting in Dr. Smith’s class at SPU, I was busying myself around the house, and finally the ring ring came. Our first born son.  Within hours I had our entire trip to Guatemala planned.  We were off!  Five years later, we enrolled our sweet little cheeks in Teacher Melinda’s P4 class and started his academic life at Lynden Christian School. The same school Jack and I graduated from. What a dream.

We enrolled Jack in P4 with the hope that he would learn all kinds of valuable things to prepare him for kindergarten next year (social skills, classroom dynamics, listening to his teachers, reading, sharing, etc.). We wanted to set him up for success. He loves it, and is very busy learning how to be a student.  Every time I pick him up, I always ask him what he learned in school.  I get the classic answer, “um, I forgot mom”. (We’re working on that one.)  What I am happy to report, is that I’m seeing a difference in his behavior at home.  I’m seeing patience, encouragement of others, tenderness, considering the feelings of others, and reciting Bible verses .  It’s so fun to watch him grow and change.

With that dream of sending him to LC, comes the reality of parenting a school age child.  Turns out I have a lot of learning to do myself. WOW!  School has been in session for 6 months now, and I’m just NOW starting to get the hang of things. I’m very thankful for his preschool teachers as they not only teach my son, but teach me how to do this. It’s a whole new world. I’m learning that when they send home the monthly calendar, I need to read it.  I’m learning that on hat day, he needs to have a hat on top of his head when he leaves the house. I’m learning that show and tell means that Jack needs to bring something to school and put it in the basket with the giant sign that reads “Show and Tell”.  I’m learning that I need to participate, and pay attention to the events and happenings in his classroom.  It’s like preschool for parents.

So, we start this academic journey together – child with his rapidly aging tag along parents –  and we learn together.  It’s going to be a great adventure!

Written by Wendi Parriera, LC alum and current pre-school parent

Is there anything cuter than a three-year-old girl wearing striped tights, a frou-frou tutu, a bright t-shirt and big clompy boots?  On this particular day, she is proudly holding a large white enrollment envelope big enough for her to crawl inside and take a nap.   She clomped up the ramp of Lynden Christian’s Central Office, opened the door, smiled and proudly announced:

“I’m going to SCHOOL!  Like JUDE!”

Oh, that girl is so excited.  It certainly helps that our five-year-old son, Jude, has been ecstatic about his preschool experience here at Lynden Christian this past year and a half.  In fact, his first day of preschool was very memorable.

I was nervous on Jude’s first day of school this year.   We didn’t start the day off well.  Like all moms, I insisted on documenting Jude’s first day of school with a picture of him on the front porch, but he was having none of it.  I have to take first-day-of-school photos.  There’s something about having photographic evidence to prove that yes, he is getting older.  Amazingly enough, the pictures turned out great!

After our photo session, with two minutes left before we had to leave for school, Jude quickly ran inside the front door and proceeded to lock his own beloved mother out of the house.  Score one for him… but he forgot that I know the garage key code!

Dropping Jude off at preschool went more smoothly than our photo session.  He was thrilled to be at preschool!  He barely had time to give me a goodbye hug in between greeting his friends and bouncing around the room sizing up the new toys.

When I picked him up, Teacher Melinda said he was polite and kind to the other kids, followed the rules and was a pleasure to have in class.  Phew!  I calmly thanked Teacher Melinda and smiled, however, on the inside, I was giving myself a mental fist bump… and yes, that includes the after explosion.  (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, feel free to ask Jude or myself.  We’ll gladly demonstrate.)

On the drive home, we talked about his first day of school and he rattled off the names of his new friends.  Jude’s preschool class is made up of children from a variety of ethnicities, just like our extended family.  I am the proud Auntie to eight little munchkins, three of whom are Ethiopian (Isaiah, Maleah and Makeda) and five of whom are Caucasian (Caleb, Micah, Levi, Skyler and Gabriella).  Are there obvious differences in their appearance?  Yes.  Does that change how we love, play, care, spoil, celebrate, interact and snuggle with them?  Nope!  So I asked Jude if any of his classmates were born in a different country, like his cousins from Ethiopia.

He just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Mom, they’re all just normal.”

“I know,” I replied. “But can you think of any differences between you and your cousins?”

Jude thought for a moment and then replied, “Well, some of them are GIRLS and I’m a BOY.”

Yes, that’s true, but it wasn’t the answer that I expected.  “Jude, do any of your cousins look different than you?  You know, like their skin?”  I waited, expecting the most obvious of answers.

“Oh, yeah!  Caleb and Micah have FRECKLES on their noses and I don’t.”

“So, you see no other difference between all of your cousins?” I asked.

“Nope, they’re all just normal.”

Seriously, FRECKLES are the only difference he sees in his friends, cousins and preschool classmates. Why? Varying skin colors, freckles, girls, boys, ALL of them are his normal.  How awesome is that!

I reached back, extended my arm and gave him a HUGE fist bump.

With explosion, of course.