"Coach Phillips" first game!

What a week! I've definitely been running on autopilot this week. Going through SO many emotions, mostly sadness, all week long. I have just missed Sadie so much more than I ever thought I would. It hurts my heart. On one hand, I am BEYOND excited for her. She loves her new school so much. On the other hand, if I could, I would turn back time in a heartbeat and start summer all over again, just so that I could appreciate my time with her so much more. I was with my kids ALL summer long. I had very few "breaks" from them, but I loved every minute of it. I don't regret for one second all of the time that we spent together, and I'm especially even more thankful now that I miss her so much. She woke up this morning (Saturday) and the first thing she said was "awwwwww MAN! I wanted to go to school today!!!". I just laughed at her and said "well, I'm thankful that I get you ALL weekend long"!!!!! Goodpasture's first game was last night against their big rival CPA. Dennis was so excited to be coaching from the sidelines. I was so nervous for him!!!! The game was madness. The kids were out of control from having no sleep all week long. My head was spinning from trying to figure out who everybody is. Sadie wanted to go and "cheer" with the other little girls during halftime, so we got there an hour and a half early to practice, only for her to decide immediately that she didn't want to do it. Awesome. So by the time the game actually started, they were already out of control. Lack of sleep turned into being overly tired, which turned into them acting CRAZY! Geez! So, even though I didn't get to pay much attention to the actual game, we were so proud to have daddy out there! At one point, Sawyer was screaming "D-A-D-D-Y" as loud as he could. Dennis couldn't hear him, so Sawyer screamed louder. Dennis still couldn't hear him, so Sawyer buried his head in my chest and started bawling. Broke. My. Heart. Goodpasture lost by one touchdown, but it was a great game! I brought the kids home and put them straight to bed and hurried to the TV to watch "Touchdown Friday". Unfortunately, the GCS/CPA game wasn't even mentioned. Whatever. D didn't get home until about midnight. Ouch. But, he loved every minute of it!!!!!

The Time has Finally Come!

Sadie Jane had her first (1/2) day of Kindergarten yesterday at her new school. We all woke up so excited for her. Sawyer had gone to spend the night w/ Grammy the night before b/c we had to be at Goodpasture so early the next day. Sadie was VERY tired when we got her up at 6:30. That's E-A-R-L-Y for her. And me. Geez. We got her ready and headed out the door. I felt good! Then, Sadie said she wanted to ride w/ Dennis, which made me have "alone time" for about 40 minutes. Not so good. After about 5 minutes in the car, I started sobbing. I was listening to an old Praise and Worship CD by Travis Cottrell, and "You Humble Me" came on. That's all it took. Describes EXACTLY how I feel. So, I proceeded to cry on and off the whole way to school, while trying to drive in traffic, dab a tissue on my eyes to keep all of my make-up from coming off, etc. Lovely. The good part was that by the time we got there, I was good again! LOL We went to get Sadie a shirt to wear to her class and then we dropped her off. She got REAL nervous when we got down there. She started saying her belly was hurting and she needed to go to the bathroom. I was afraid she was going to throw up. I don't think she's ever been "nervous" before! Luckily, Tracy was there to show us the way. Tracy is going to be my godsend this year, I can already tell! We walked to Sadie's classroom and all of the students were sitting on the rug listening to Mrs. Lankford. Avery turned around and yelled "SADIE"!!!!! That's all it took. Sadie took off over to Avery and sat right down beside her. Thank. You. Lord. Her teacher grabbed us real quick and took all of our picture and then we left. We went to fill out all of the paperwork, meet w/ Mr. Bloodworth, went to the Cougar Corner to spend our life savings on MORE supplies and Sadie's new wardrobe. LOL Then, we went back to the Little Red Schoolhouse for the Parent meeting. Mrs. Lankford gave us the lowdown on everything we need to know about Kindergarten in about 10 minutes. There was a bad storm approaching, so they were trying to get us out of there quickly. My head was SPINNING!!!! Then, we all got shuffled into the cafeteria to listen to a few others talk to us. After that, we got to get her! She turned around when she saw me, and the first thing I saw was a HUGE goose-egg on her head! She had fallen off of the monkey bars and landed on her head on a rock. Awesome. Good times. She seemed ok though, but her poor head looks awful! We stayed and let her play with Avery for a little while.

These 2 girlies sure love each other! So, first 1/2 day was a success. Last night was ROUGH for me though. I was coming home from getting more supplies for her from Walmart and I literally couldn't breathe from crying so hard. Does this ever get easier? I'm just so sad. I'm happy that she's going to a great school, but I'm so sad that she will be gone from me so much. She has been my little buddy for over 5 years now. She's never been gone during the day for more than a couple of hours. Now, it is going to be ALL day. Boo. This morning, we got her up for her first FULL day! She was VERY excited, which helped me a lot. We let her pick which uniform she was going to wear and then we got her ready and took her picture on the front porch.

I prayed with her before she left and gave her a huge hug and kiss. She said "Mommy, I'm going to really miss you today". Be still my heart. I'm going to miss you too, baby girl.

When God changes your plans...

When God changes your plans....THIS is what happens!

So much has happened in the past week. So. Much. I wanted to be sure and document each event over the past few days, so that I can look back and remember how faithful God has been. Warning: this is going to be LONG! God has shown up SO visibly in these past few days; more than I have probably ever seen before. I always know that He is there. I know that He is in every detail. But, in these past few days, I have seen it CLEARLY with my eyes and felt it so tangibly. So, since I am a planner...like, P-L-A-N-N-E-R..., I had already bought Sadie's school supplies for Jack Anderson, ordered special "Sadie Jane Phillips" butterfly labels to label each supply with, labeled her supplies, bought things to decorate certain supplies (yes, I'm a little OCD as well), bought her backpack and matching lunchbox, had both of them monogrammed with her name, bought her "first day of school" outfit, bought her teacher's gift for the first day, planned playdates with new classmates that we haven't met, signed up to be her "room mom", signed up for Cafeteria Duty for the first week of school, already written every important date for the rest of the year on my calendar at home, etc. Do I need to go on? You get the picture. We were about as prepared as we could be for her to start Kindergarten at Jack Anderson as you can possibly be. Except...we had NO clue when she was actually going to start. (refer to my previous post if you have no idea what I'm talking about) So, Sadie and I have had a fun week together while Sawdawg has been in school. We have played princess duck-duck-goose (Sadie made that one up - when you get "picked", you must stand up and do something that a princess would do), gone swimming with friends, gone to Chick fil A with friends, gone to "Inside Out" to play, gone to breakfast together, etc. It's been a special week with my girl. Wednesday night, right as church started, Dennis came in and whispered something VERY unexpected to me. He told me that one of the coaches had approached him about helping to get Sadie enrolled to start Kindergarten THIS year at Goodpasture! What????????????????????? My eyes immediately filled up with tears and I had to leave and go to the bathroom. I think it was just so shocking, yet I was so thankful, yet it became real that she might actually be starting Kindergarten in just a few short days! I regained my composure and came back into the worship center. We spent the next day and a half praying, thinking, talking, not-sleeping, etc. while in the meantime Dennis was talking to everyone and their brother at Goodpasture trying to figure out what they could do to help us out. It was SO STRESSFUL! We didn't know what to do!!! Friday morning, Sadie and I took my mom to b'fast for her 60th bday after we dropped Sawyer off at school. I was finally able to talk to my mom about all of this and she was the one that confirmed our decision to GO FOR IT! She reaffirmed the fact that this was a total God thing and I agreed 100%! We were waiting to hear back from a few different people before we knew if it was definitely going to happen. I felt a TOTAL peace about it. Total peace. Such a good feeling. From that point on, it was just a waiting game. Dennis was waiting to hear back from the President of the school to see if he was going to give us his blessing. Around 3:45, I got a text from Dennis that was a picture of a Goodpasture application!! I obviously won't go into the financial details that were decided upon, but let's just say that we are EXTREMELY blessed. Beyond our imagination. Thank. You. Jesus. When D got home from work, we told Sadie that she was going to a different school since we weren't sure when Mrs. Parker's class was going to start. She was REAL excited to FINALLY be getting to go!!! And, we told her that her friend Avery was going to be at the same school and she literally screamed. The screaming continued as we told her that daddy went to the same school when he was little and that she would be in a little red schoolhouse and that they have an I-pad lab! Saturday morning, D got up and had to head to the Goodpasture scrimmage. I brought the kids a little later and we watched some of the game. It was so neat to be there and watch Dennis out there coaching on the field, doing something he absolutely loves. The kids just enjoyed playing on the bleachers! LOL

The President of the school, Mr. Perry, came and got us and took us on a tour of the Little Red Schoolhouse. Sadie LOVED it. It's so precious!! She's going to be in Heaven at that school, and my heart could not be more thankful! If you look back on one of my blog posts from a few months ago, I mentioned that I would give ANYTHING if Sadie could go to a private, Christian school. My dream has come to fruition and I couldn't be more thankful. I took this picture as we left the building. Dennis was in the first class ever to be in the Little Red Schoolhouse, so I found this to be appropriate.

The last not-so-little blessing we received was news that Sadie got Mrs. Lankford as her teacher. What is SO cool about this is that she is also Avery's teacher! We had heard from many that her class was already full, so there was NO way Sadie would get her. Guess what? God had other plans!! I still do not how or why Sadie was placed in her class, but I am beyond thankful!!!!! She called me today to "welcome" Sadie to her class. She had been up at school all day preparing for Sadie to be in her class. What a blessing. We keep saying how "crazy" all of this is. And, we keep being reminded that none of this is "crazy" to God! He knew this all along. And, for that, I am thankful!! I am definitely sad that Sadie starts school tomorrow. My heart hurts, but in a good way. I'm just not ready to let go of her. But, I am SO happy that she gets to go to such a wonderful school where she won't just be a number, but she'll be important and she will get to learn about Jesus every single day. We feel extremely blessed that we have received this opportunity for our daughter and we are humbled.

We only THOUGHT it was "Getting Closer"....

So, apparently Sadie won't be starting Kindergarten as soon as I thought she would. (see previous post) Don't get me wrong, my heart is doing the happy dance with this information! BUT, my Type A personality is struggling with NOT knowing WHEN she will actually start!!! The school board and the County Commission cannot agree on a budget for Sumner County schools. Therefore, school cannot begin until they settle this issue. I totally agree w/ the school board in this. Our schools NEED more money. We have GREAT teachers in our county, and the test scores prove this to be true. BUT, when our county is compared with other counties as far as budgets, technology, etc. go, we are WAY at the bottom! I even noticed in Sadie's new Kindergarten class that the computers looked like they were from the 1900's. Come on, people! Let our schools have some more money! I am in total agreeance to pay larger taxes if I need to. And, trust me, I am not always willing to say that. BUT, they won't agree to do that, b/c I'm sure they are afraid they won't get our votes next election. Kiss it, people!!!!!!!!!! You're not going to get MY vote, b/c you won't let my child be in school!!!! I-D-I-O-T-S! So, we are patiently waiting. Every. Single. Day. We have NO clue at this moment when schools will start. They're saying anywhere from next week to the middle of September. Middle of September would be great, except for when we're in Hilton Head, but that's another whole story. Geez people! Just agree on something and let our sweet kids start school. The positive side of this is that Sadie and I get to spend lots of quality time together that we wouldn't have otherwise gotten had she started school this week! Sawyer DID start yesterday, since his school is considered "private", so we're just taking him to school and wondering when Sadie will be next. The negative side to the positive side is that since Sadie is not in school, I am constantly trying to plan fun activities for EVERY day so that we can fully appreciate all of this extra time we have together. Why is that negative, you ask? Because our bank account is dwindling each time we have another "fun" day! LOL Anyways, Sawyer did indeed get to begin Pre-K yesterday! He was BEYOND excited about this!!!!! Precious little boy.

Sadie was so excited to take him to school and to get to walk him into his classroom. He did so good and he was FIRED UP! His little friend, Addie, is not in his class this year. She's going 5 days a week instead of 3, but they are across the hall from each other, so they will get to see each other on the playground!

We went into Ms. Sharon's room and Sawyer found his name at the table and he is right beside his precious buddy, Emma Cate. These 2 are pretty excited to be in class together again!!!

We picked him up after school and he said that he had a great day. He doesn't know anyone's name yet, but he will learn and he seemed to like his classmates. He already seems so big!!!!! I'm so excited about what this year will hold for him. We took him to his 4 year check up today and he is 37 pounds (SKINNY) and almost 43 inches tall (TALL)! Dr. Lund said that he is "normal" in weight, but off the charts in height! Where did my kids get their height from??????? He did so good though and answered all of her questions just as he was supposed to. I'm so proud of that little dude. Stay tuned for Sadie's Kindergarten Start update!!!!!

Getting Closer...

Last night was Sadie's "Meet the Teacher" night at Jack Anderson Elementary. She was soooooooo excited!!! I was actually excited too, b/c I've heard SO much about her teacher, so I was very anxious to meet her myself! I haven't heard one negative thing about her, so I was already pleased, but I still wanted to meet her for myself! I took the kids to eat dinner at Zaxby's beforehand b/c Dennis had his first scrimmage, so we were just meeting him at school. We had fun at dinner. The kids are just so big. I sat there and watched them last night while they were eating and just began to realize how independent they are. Time has literally jetted by! We were a little early getting to school, so we just chilled in the car while we waited on Daddy to get there. This was when the nerves (mine) started to kick in!!! The more anxious and excited and impatient that Sadie got, the more fearful, stressed, and nervous I got! It was at this point where I almost decided to just put the car in reverse and drive away!

I realized that it wasn't logical for me to try and kidnap my own daughter and not allow her to start school, so I tried to change my way of thinking. My sweet friend Jodi texted me and said that she was praying for me, and I think it worked! My nerves started to die down and once Dennis arrived, I was good to go. We marched right into that school and we followed the line just as we were told to do. Everyone we came in contact with seemed very friendly. They were all so sweet and welcoming to Sadie, so I think that put her at ease. After we filled out some paperwork and paid some dues, we got to go and meet the new principal, Dr. Aldridge. She seemed very nice. We then headed down to the Kindergarten hall. AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.....that scream was what I was feeling! I was excited, nervous, anxious, scared, and I started to get the feeling again that I wanted to grab Sadie and R - U - N!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But, she was SO excited, so I couldn't take that away from her. We found Mrs. Parker's room and we walked right in. She was waiting on us! Sadie was her last student that she hadn't met yet, so we got to sit and talk to her for quite some time. She seems WONDERFUL! Very laid back, but very sweet, and you can tell she loves teaching Kindergarten. I think she will be perfect for Sadie. God knew exactly what he was doing when he placed Sadie Jane in there. Sadie was looking around at everything and she seemed to love it! When I asked her to go over to Mrs. Parker and let me take a picture, she jumped right up in her lap and gave this big ole smile. Can you tell she's a little excited?????

This picture above says it all. Sadie is THRILLED to start this next chapter of her life! How can I be sad?? I am going to try my very best and EAT UP every second I get with her next week. Her "phase in" day isn't until Thursday, so we will get some special days together while Sawyer is already in school. I can't wait! When we were walking out, Sadie said "I want to live here, mommy"!!!!!!!!! For now, I am excited for her. My heart still h-u-r-t-s at her starting school, but I know she's going to be in great hands and I am thankful for that.