The Simple Life at Home

Well, there are big doings around here this week! I got the call this morning that our children have been accepted at The American School of Doha and can begin at the start of the second semester in a week and a half!! So I have much to be thankful for.

• I'm so very relieved and thankful that they obviously passed the entrance exams. Unfortunately, the school didn't really give me any results to look at, but the very fact that they were accepted validates all that I've done with them.
• I'm thankful for bloggy friends who reminded me that there is so much more to raising children than academic teaching. I know that, I really do. But sometimes I just lose sight of that when I'm faced with someone who is strictly looking at their academic work.
• I'm thankful that I know that somehow God is going to provide the necessary finances to make it happen. It came out to be more than Hubby had been expecting (I think he assumed some of the annual fees would be halved, since they are enrolling at the half-way point of the year), so we are scrambling to make it work.
• I'm thankful to have the assurance that I do that this is the right thing for my children right now. I'm a mom who planned on homeschooling all the way through high school, so this has been a big adjustment for me. A BIG adjustment. But God has given me peace (well, most of the time I'm at peace with the decision!!! LOL!!) with this step and I know that He will a) provide the finances, b) protect my children, c) bless my children and d) enrich my children's lives.
• I'm thankful that this school is WAY better than anything we would have ever had access to in the US. The facilities are amazing, the course offerings are great, the extracurricular activities are phenomenal. I think that they are going to be very happy there.

In other news, here are some more things to be thankful for:

• My mom underwent an angiogram this past week and came through it with flying colors. She had a heart attack several years ago and has stents in her heart, so we are grateful everything is A-OK.
• I started a study of the book of Esther (thank you, Beth Moore!) yesterday. I'm facilitiating a small group and they are all such nice women. I look forward to getting to know them as we study this fascinating woman.
• I'm thankful that I saw a promo this morning on our satellite network that they will "soon" be airing the 5th season of...LOST!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!
• I am feeling more and more at home here. That in, an of itself, is huge.

For more Thankful Thursday posts, be sure to visit Lori's Reflections, who is hosting Thankful Thursday for the next couple of weeks.