Campus Visit

I think the cold has finally gone.  The snow on the mountains has receded to a mere sliver.

For seven consecutive days I have not worn my gray fleece jacket! I feel like I wore it around the house every single day this winter, and it was the perfect extra layer piece to keep me warm, but I am glad to hang it up for a while and put on some bright colors to match the budding trees and flowers coming forth all around us.

Yesterday's warm sunshine and breezes made for a perfect laundry day, so out went my winter bedding, along with the monster down comforter and rolling electric radiator heaters.  We put away the firewood bag and cleaned out the wood stove.

The change of seasons is also evident on my desk.  My spiral bound planner has many more pencil scratches, post-it flags, and paper clips.  The next few months will hold some major transition for our family! Before we go back to the States for HMA, we're lining up plans for our return to Albania in September.

This past week we visited a private kindergarten we are considering for Reni next fall.  Technically, he should be doing 1st/2nd grade according to the track he has been on.  But as a new six-year-old he is still young enough for Albanian Kindergarten and we think this will be a good way for him to learn more Albanian as well as gain some independence. By the time Ellie was his age, she had completed three years at the Early Learning Village.  Given the regular transition that has marked most of Reni's life, our family has been his one constant.  As we start our second year in the same home this fall, we think the time is right for him to spend some time apart from us.a few hours per day at school.

This private kopsht (as they call kindergarten here) is run by a couple (Gezim and Zanepe) who met and became Christians when they participated in a Dutch ministry to adults with disabilities.  When I heard that they start the first hour of each day in English, and that Zanepe had a good handle in English, we immediately felt more at ease about sending Reni.

Tuesday we made a visit in person and got the verbal green light to start Reni in September.  He's not exactly thrilled about this idea (there were actually tears the night before our visit) -- and I don't know yet where I'm supposed to go buy him a white apron, the official school uniform :-) -- but we think that once he has a few days under his belt, he will be okay with it, especially as he sees how jealous his sister is that he gets to go to a 'real' school (somehow the kitchen table doesn't cut it with her).