24 February 2008

once were six on the move, but now we are five

as it were, all six of us were supposed to be moving to italy....stephen and me and all four of the kids.....well at least all four for the first year....but as it turns out, alex told us this weekend that she is no longer going to be going with us, that as long as she has free time in the summer she wants to visit, but she cant go for the year.....major shocker there.....we were all so excited about going and were counting down the weeks till we left, so this came as a huge surprise......

she has decided that she wants to stay with her mom.....she has been thinking about it for awhile and finally decided that it was time for her to tell us......it was a hard thing for her to do.....she was worried that we would be mad at her or that we might want to blame her mom.......she also thought that we might love her less or something like that (like that could or would ever happen).......its been a really long time since i was 13, i guess i forgot how their minds work........

after the initial shock of it, we found out that her reasons are really good and very mature ones to make for her age.....here in north carolina, they are starting a new program in high schools......starting the beginning of freshman year, which is next year for her, if a student passes an acceptance test and is approved, they can begin taking college classes at no charge (yes, i just said free college) ......doing this program will allow students to graduate at the end of their junior year with a two year degree.......so far she has passed the acceptance test and is waiting the approval......

i am not real sure just how this program works, so that will be my "homework" for the week, but i am extremely proud of her for having the motivation to start her college career this early......she is an incredibly smart young lady and if this is really something that she wants to do, she will be successful.......my only fear is that she is going to miss a lot of what high school is really about because from what i understand now, there will not be a lot of free time for her....her schedules are going to be picked for her...her normal school hours will be different and when the bell rings, her day is not over.....she will have night classes to head out to, and depending on the term, she may have some super early morning classes as well......

my prayer for her now will be that she continues to keep herself motivated and doesnt give up when it gets tough, as i am sure it will......not that she is the type of person to give up easily, but in the past, she has allowed friends, comments of teachers directed toward her "laziness" when she is bored with a task that doesnt challenge her, and the thoughts of other people to stand in the way of her success.......i pray that she will find her own strength in this process and come out on top, proving to herself what i already know.......that she can do anything that she sets her mind to.......

1 comment:

Leah said...

stace, i'm glad your blog is up and running! when i get some free time during reagan's nap today i'm going to go read all the posts. i'm said alex isn't going with you, but wow, that program sounds awesome (((HUGS))) love ya