Notes to my child.

I can't believe it's been more than a month since I last wrote something down. Life has a way of carrying you away with it when you are not paying attention to things other than immediate needs.
My personal blog has become a less immediate need as of late.

I wanted to write down an experience that happened yesterday. But I need to preface it first.
When we home-school we learn Scripture and a lot of our curriculum was faith based. I had a reason for that. My education was not faith based, being in public school, and most of my faith education was either self taught from books, or just from Sunday Mass. I don't recall attending many Catholic formation classes either. But we were very very Catholic! :) I'm so grateful for the seeds that were planted in me as a child. It's true--"Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it". Even as an adult we sometimes go "astray" from what we have learned as a child, but it still stays with us.

That being said, my concerns for Annie entering public school were very concrete. She and I have done a lot of character building work together. I worried about influence, how she would be affected, how she would be when she came home, etc. Very real concerns, and with those I've seen some change in her behavior and attitude when she comes home. Nothing to be prized, to be sure. When you are amidst those of a very influential age, with little guide from a moral compass for 6 hours a day is it any wonder that attitudes will change? She has to survive after all. Think of Lord of the Flies. There are some adults so it doesn't get that extreme, but it all started it out subtly didn't it? Sadly for myself included, I bent under pressure sometimes as a child...most often just to get people to leave me alone and stop the harassment. We all have our weaknesses.

Friday, after some thought, I printed out some ABC printable Bible Scripture Cards that I found over at icanteachmychild.com. (That is a great resource by the way!) Since day one of Kindergarten I have always put a note in her lunch box, reminding her that I love her or telling her that I hope she has a good day. Of all that goes on during her day, that is the one thing she can always remember and talks about with me later, that "I got your note, mom!" She can't tell me what she did all day, but she remembers the note. Fabulous! So I stuck the A card in her lunch box and sent her to school. When I went to pick her up, I waited to see if she would mention it. I watched as she marched out of the school in line, and smiled and waved for her to come. Her teacher-aide grabbed her before she could come over though, and I was worried that she had gotten in trouble. I couldn't hear what was being said, or see the teachers face, but I could see Annie's face and there was no response other than the look in her eye changed. When the teacher let her go (she smiled and waved to me) and Annie came over, I asked her if everything was ok/if she was in trouble for something. She said, "No, everything is fine. Ms.(Ican'trememberhername) says she liked your note and she loves Jesus, too."

Look at that....
"Just a little note"...with a big impact.