Off to School Tomorrow

(by Heather)

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the McCropder kids who will be students in the local French schools.  What an adventure this will be for Elise, Micah, Maggie, Abigail, and Anna.  Among several emotions, the kids are feeling a mixture of fear and utter excitement.

Today we toured the schools and confirmed our registrations.  Preschool begins at age 3 here in France, so Micah, Maggie, and Abi (all 3-years-old) start school for the first time.  The preschool is just a few blocks away from our apartments.  I anticipate that even after we walk the kids to school for several months, we will continue to be in awe of the picturesque views.

Upon arrival, we were startled to be greeted by a giant papier mâché rabbit welcoming us to school.

After checking in, we took a largely self-guided tour of the building, since the teachers at the schools speak little English.  The classrooms look magnifiques.

Maggie and Abi were more fascinated by the bathrooms.

As was Elise.

Tomorrow we meet the teachers and begin with a shortened school day.

Anna's school is in a brand new elementary school building.  She will have one hour each day of French for English-Speakers class, and then she spends the rest of the day in a regular French-speaking classroom (in the building to the right in the picture below).  

Anna is feeling nervous about not speaking much French, so she has practiced "je ne comprends pas" so that she can at least communicate her lack of understanding.  Yesterday she wanted to learn to say, "Do you want to be my friend?"  Hopefully those two phrases and a smile will get her through until she picks up more French.  As her (possibly biased) mother, I do believe that with her friendly and eager-to-learn personality, she'll be quite happy at school very soon. Inside her classroom, she loves the desk chairs.  It's the little things. 

Please pray with us that Anna, Abi, Maggie, Micah, and Elise will all feel safe, unafraid, and welcomed in their schools.  Also please pray that they will make new friends and learn to communicate in French.  We are thankful that we can be certain that God will be with them in their new schools.