Blake's bubble deflates a bit.

Yesterday was an open house for Blake’s school and he will start on Tuesday. He was so excited about school and about riding a bus. Well it didn’t take long and his poor little bubble of happiness was deflated. As soon as we pulled up to the school he began to get a concerned look on his face. He was polite to his teacher and the other children that came into the room, but he wasn’t his normal happy-go-lucky self. Some may attribute it to nerves, but that is very unusual for Blake. After we left the school we went to my office so he could say hello to everyone there. Blake opted to ride with dad because dad’s truck is so much manlier than mom’s car! Justin was able to get to the heart of what the issue was. Blake was fully expecting his school to be the same as Brady and Madison’s school. He was not happy to see that his two best friends were not going to be at his school. I wish I would have been clarifying that all along, but for some reason it never dawned on me that that was what he was thinking. In hindsight it seems so obvious!

Then I was under the impression that Blake would get to ride a bus from MacArthur School to Lincoln School so that all three children could be picked up at the same time. It is about 5 minutes from point A to point B. Well we learned that he could ride a bus, but he would go from MacArthur and transfer to another bus at the high school and then head over to Lincoln about 30 minutes AFTER Brady and Madison dismiss. To make this 5 minute trek he would be on the bus for about 50 minutes! The school’s dismissal time is about 20-30 minutes before I can get off work. You can imagine my frustration learning all of this the Friday before he starts school. I decided to stop in to the office and talk with the secretary and see if I was mistaken about the bus that went straight from MacArthur to Lincoln. Wellllll there is a bus that goes straight to Lincoln but only children with an IEP (special education students) are eligible to ride. All of the other children have to transfer at the high school. You can imagine how well that news was settling with me. Now keep in mind I am a school district employee that works closely with all of these nice folks so I have to be extra careful to keep my temper in check, be patient, polite, and professional. I WANTED to say that really if I wanted to push the issue Blake would more than qualify for an IEP. He can’t speak English; he will need speech services, etc… I have seen IEPs written for far fewer reasons. There is a big push right now to try to get the number of IEPs down. I have not pushed this issue because Blake will be getting speech services after school at Western Illinois University, and I fully believe that any delays we are seeing now will be made up for in a short amount of time. BUT if I weren’t a district employee and didn’t mind if I created waves, for the bussing issue alone, I would demand an IEP. I believe that things will work out just fine, but you can probably tell that I am still a bit annoyed. How is it that it is ok for any 3 or 4 year old to be on a bus for 50 minutes with junior and senior high students to take a 5 minute bus ride? Especially a child who cannot speak English and articulate if there is anything inappropriate going on. Ugh! (So glad this blog went private. I feel much better just venting a bit here!)

Of course God presented a solution almost immediately. Justin and I left the office, and I was stressing big time about how we were going to make this all work. A sweet lady that attends our church and has a boy in Blake’s class pulled up to us and said that she overheard a bit that we might be having trouble with afterschool arrangements. She said she would be willing to pick Blake up and bring him to me at work or take him to Lincoln or whatever we need. I could have just kissed her! To have a solution right then was a God send. I would have been stressed about the situation all day long. So for now we are going with that plan. Blake won’t be happy when he sees the busses and he isn’t getting on it, but this is best for now. I will still be having a couple of conversations about this situation with ‘the powers that be’. Justin thinks maybe this is better in the long run anyway. We will think about it over the weekend and see.

I wanted to share a picture with you. There is an amazing woman that works in our office as the financial secretary. On Monday she turns 70 something and you would never know it. She served as the notary for our stacks and stacks of adoption papers and always asks about Blake. She has decided to retire in December, and everyone is going to miss her. This is Charlotte Morrow with Blake on Friday, September 5th.


Ohhh my! When I went to get the picture of Blake and Charlotte off the memory card, I found these pictures of Blake and Madison in a pair of my boots. I have no idea what I was doing while this fashion show was happening, but it sure is hilarious!