April 1

     Well, Leah's been "rounded up."  Thursday, April 1, was Kindergarten Round-Up day at the grade school she'll be attending.  Am I going to cry on Leah's first day of school?  I am.  How do I know?  I cried several times over Kindergarten Round-Up!
     Not only is Leah our oldest child and our first to go to school, but she is also my helper and confidant - I am going to miss having her around all day, every day!  Besides that, Leah's situation is special - she is going to be the only student in her class, plus there are no children in the grade ahead of her: she will be in a combined classroom with 2nd graders.  Her peanut allergy also causes B.J. and I some concern.

     That being said, Leah and I had a wonderful time at Kindergarten Round-up, she is excited to go to school, and we are confident in and have heard only good things about the capabilities of her future teacher. 

     God also answered my prayers for Leah's well-being in another way on the morning of Kindergarten Round-up.  It was April 1, and I've been following the Legacy Bible Reading Plan since January (http://www.equip.org/site/legacy_reading_plan), so that morning I got out of bed at 5:53 (B.J. sets the alarm for that time so that he can hit the snooze once and still be up at 6:00 ;) donned my robe, warmed my tea, and sat at the table to begin the book of Joshua, the first book for the month of April.  First came Joshua 1, and the LORD's encouragement to Joshua, particularly in familiar verse 9, "Be strong and of a good courage...for the LORD thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest..."  Those words are true for us and for our children!
     Even more meaningful to me that morning, however, was Joshua 4, which relates the building of the memorials on either side of the Jordan river.  Why?  Leah's baptism sermon, "What Mean These Stones?," I believe it was called, was based on that text.  God used His Word and what I remember from that sermon of 5-1/2 years ago to comfort and cheer me that morning.  We are thankful that Leah will be attending a school in which the teachers profess the same faith as we do - in all things she learns there, too, she will learn more and more of the story of the salvation God wrought for us, and the hope we have that one day we, too, will cross over the Jordan into heaven...  "That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God forever."  Joshua 4 :24
     Thank you, LORD!