Life As We Now Know It

A number of updates to share with you:

#1 - Annika has given up her naps, almost entirely.  This timing is welcome for a number of reasons, not least because our tumultuous lifestyle has provided her very few opportunities to nap over the last few weeks.  It is a fun development for her and I because it opens wide our day together, to be filled with mornings at the library and trips to the zoo while we run to the grocery store in the afternoon.  Such good news!  However, the impact on you is severe - I lose some of my key thinking and writing time. 

#2 - Dave is falling into a comfortable routine back at FSI.  He does not enjoy learning languages and does not feel skilled at it, but we do both enjoy his schedule while he studies.  The whole family wakes up together and helps each other out while we prepare for the day, and then Dave is always home in time for supper.

#3 - The girls have all fallen into positives routines, Annika included.  Lilly is clearly happy at school, but still seems angry a lot at home.  She picks fights with everyone and is generally moody.  Every so often she throws out something like, Sometimes I think its really sad that I had to leave all of my friends in Caracas.  This move may be the hardest on her, although well cushioned by how many friends she returned to.  She packs a busy schedule of playdates and likes her teacher.  She just has a lot to process.  Annika, however, seems done processing.  She no longer notices when our old car drives by and she only rarely talks about going home to Caracas.  Sophia has been remarkably happy all along.

#4 - The highest blessing of this entire affair has been that the girls could immediately return to their old neighborhood school.  I nervously report that their status there is still on shaky ground.  We were able to enroll the girls at their most recent school on grounds that they were homeless on the day of their enrollment.  I maintain this is true, but the school social worker disagrees.  Although she sees my point of view, she believes that the spirit behind the law is to help families without resources rather than families in turmoil due to lack of housing.  She also acknowledges that staying at their school is clearly the best thing for our kids.  I believe that she wishes for them to stay put.  She also acknowledged that the principal is the supreme authority within the school, and the principal's decision to enroll our girls matters the most. 

However, she has washed her hands of our case, handing it up to her supervisor.  I don't know what any of this means.  I spoke with the Educational Liason at the State Department and she was very sympathetic but very little help or comfort.  She said that she would be happy to advocate for our family, but that I sounded articulate enough to advocate for myself better than she could - unfortunately, the compliment offered little comfort.  She also explained that she has no authority over the school district and she has seen students moved out of their school midyear because of boundary issues.

Unfortunately, we are fighting to keep our kids in a severely overcrowded school.

But she also explained that the problem may be a simple issue of paperwork and checking the right boxes.  Apparently, each child at schools in our district must fall into one category - within school boundaries, outside of school boundaries or homeless.  Homeless students must be well documented, and students outside of school boundaries must be well justified.  The education liason and I both feel that we could justify either homeless or outside of boundaries.  But we also think that lying low is the best plan.  If this new social worker never calls, we no longer have a problem.

I can not bear to think about a negative outcome.  I hate to imagine Lilly being torn from her school and her friends again, how senseless and cruel that would feel to her.  I hate to think of Sophia beginning in another classroom, although her resilience through this has been awesome.  But I also can not handle the thought of having to start over myself.  If this move has been easy, it is because we have slipped back into our old life and been supported by so many old friends.  I have enough struggle recreating a home around us, and trying to rethink what home really is without any of the things we have always carried with us.  But this current struggle is nothing but a hassle because I know my children are well, and because I have friends helping me process each step on the playground every afternoon.  This is why I choose not to think about Indonesia just yet - I can not put myself in a place of starting over just yet.  I still have new friends in Caracas, friendships cut off and left incomplete.  I am not yet ready to begin again, anywhere.  I can not be the new person at school right now, and neither can my children.

And so we still wait, and we continue to pray.  Thank you beyond measure for the prayers and words of support offered by so many of you.