Onward and upward!

I stepped out of our flat this afternoon to find an overcast sky and drizzly rain.  I laughed to myself at what classic London weather it was.  Still, nothing can get me down today.  After many prayers and petitions—not just to the heavens, but also to the admissions council and local borough—Caroline was offered a place at the same school as Caleb and Jack!  Today was her first day, and it was with no little joy and celebration that we sent all three off to school this morning! It’s always a little scary to leave your children in the care of others, trusting that all those lessons and experiences you’ve tried to give them over the years will be enough. Hopefully navigating classes, teachers and friends at home will have equipped them with enough sense to handle similar challenges in a new setting.  After a month of trying to carefully regulate situations for their comfort, we purposefully left our children in an uncomfortable place.  And yet, I have such peace today that everyone is where they need to be.  (Yes, I’m sitting in a coffee shop!) Really, our hope for this trip has been that we would all learn and grow by being exposed to new people, places, customs and experiences.  I confess I’ve been disappointed that the kids have not been as enthusiastic as I hoped about seeing amazing historical buildings or going to world-renowned museums.  But I suspect that their time in school will stretch them far more than simply observing palaces or artwork. 
 
A word that has come up a lot this month is resilience.  We’ve tried to evoke it, to draw it out, to build it.  Some days it hasn't felt like we’ve succeeded in teaching it or practicing it.  But as I sit here this afternoon, waiting to go pick everyone up from school, I’m reminded that resilience is only developed by going through.  By definition, one must go down to spring back up, and the forces of nature suggest that it is usually to a point higher than the starting place!  Charles and I have the benefit of having lived through a few hard places, and even failures, so it's only natural that we have been more optimistic about the joys of travel and circumstances here.  For better or worse, our kids' lives have been pretty rosy.  I hesitate to suggest that spending 4 months in London is a hardship, but it's really the first time (that the kids have been old enough to care) that they've had to start in a new place.  Lest we get too comfortable over the next few months and forget, I want to draw out and mark the lessons we're learning.  With that said, as I sit here writing, the sun is “litrally” (insert British accent) coming out, and I’m so hopeful that we’ll all be more confident in the future and be less reticent about trying new things having successfully navigated this initial challenge of getting them started in school.