hurting heart

How can I heal my daughter's hurting heart? At least twice today the tears have flowed because of how much she's going to miss Miss Stack. Once she came in and said, "I almost cried because tomorrow's the last time I'll see Miss Stack and Madison." (M is one of her friends.) Then tonight she came to me and said she was sad because she'd read a story about a girl who had left a giant and missed it and that made her "remember that she's going to miss Miss Stack." I held her and basically cried along with her although I tried to hide it. I don't want her to think it's wrong to be sad and I don't want her to think it's wrong to cry. I do want her to learn to control her feelings somewhat (like today she was crying when she was supposed to be cleaning and I had to remind her that she couldn't use being sad as an excuse not to clean! LOL) We prayed for Gracie and Miss Stack and that seemed to help her. Then her daddy felt sorry for her and let her call her Gramme, too!

People, I don't know what to do to help her not be sad because truly I am sad, too. I've written about Miss Stack throughout the year so it's no secret that we think she's been a true gem in Gracie's life this year. Just last week she proved it again when Gracie had a tough day at school with some issues. Chris had called her at home to talk about some things and she immediately called him back at work then proceeded to call here at home so she could talk to Gracie on the phone and make her feel better. No, she's not perfect. There are things about her that I'd change if I could, but honestly, she has been so much of what we wanted for Gracie to have in a teacher this year and she has given Gracie so much of what we wanted her to have. We feel like Gracie has grown so much in the areas we were wanting her to and alot of that is due to Miss Stack and the type of classroom atmosphere she provides for her students.

We're not having an official "end of the school year party" tomorrow. (Don't even get me started on why not......I don't think it has a whole lot to do with Miss Stack!) However, my friend Mary Beth asked her, "Can we bring a snack?" to which Miss Stack quickly replied, "Yes!" then MB asked, "Can they be cupcakes?" to which she smiled and said, "Yes!" So, call it what you want to, but MB & I are taking cupcakes & juice boxes an hour before school is out. I made the kind of cupcakes that are baked inside the ice cream cones. I had to take the decoration (they say "Great Job!") out of them to put them in a container and some of them are going to lose their icing when I take the top off but I just had a really hard time figuring out how to get them to school without them falling over. I'm still going to have be very careful!

Please pray for Gracie that she will enjoy her last day of school and look forward to getting "take-out" lunch and going to playgroup afterwards. (Katie & I meet for playgroup with a group of friends from mostly church each Thursday and Gracie has missed going, so I told her when she got out tomorrow, we'd pick up lunch somewhere and go meet everyone for lunch. )

Please pray that she'll remember all of the happy times of Kindergarten and smile about them rather than cry.

Please pray that I will be a good example for her and not cry myself. Seriously, I am on edge this week emotionally. Part of it is just that I don't like change. I DO NOT LIKE CHANGE. I get used to people and routines and this whole Kindergarten thing has been a routine. Part of it is that this just shows one more way that Gracie is growing up. She won't be a Kindergartener anymore after tomorrow. Essentially, she'll be a 1st grader. I'm having a hard time with that. I used to teach 2nd graders. 1st grade isn't too far off from 2nd grade and to think of my baby being as old as those kids I used to teach........words fail me.

Please pray that Gracie's 1st grade teacher will be as wonderful as Miss Stack has been and that whoever she is she will be for Gracie what she needs & what God wants her to have.

Please pray a prayer of thankfulness that Gracie's Kindergarten year has been so wonderful.

Please pray that Chris & I will look to God to guide us as we make all decisions concerning Gracie & Katie's education and our family life in general.

To close this post, I want to leave the poem I wrote for the front of Miss Stack's memory book that we gave her a few weeks ago. It just shows some of the good things about her. These things probably won't mean anything to anyone else, but since the blog is mainly a way for me to journal, I want to have a record of it here so that when Gracie looks back at this one day, she'll remember.

Miss Stack

for all the words you taught us to read,
for all the numbers you taught us to count,
for all the times we heard your infectious laugh,

for all the times you told us stories about Clue,
for all the times you signed a heart next to your name,
for all the times you told us we “knocked your socks off”,

for all the times you cared enough to discipline us,
for all the times you wrote out the morning message,
for all the times you greeted us at the door of the classroom,

for all the times you gave us a band-aid,
for all the times you sent home sweet notes,
for all the times you watched us on the playground,

for all the times you gave us Skittles,
for all the times you had the prettiest toenails,
for all the times you let us know you were proud of us,

for all the times you sent home books,
for all the times your enthusiasm far outweighed ours,
for all the times you stayed up late to plan fun things for us,

for giving 100% to us each day,
for being so wonderful that our parents feel secure leaving us with you,
for making our Kindergarten year so very special,
we love you & appreciate you!

Love,
Your Kindergarten class
~~~~~ Elementary School
2005/2006