Schule Wunder

As my Facebook friends likely already know, the boys got into an international school. Much of the "Wunder" was explained on my Facebook, but I'd like to go into a little more detail and also have a record of this. It is such a testament to what God is doing here for us that, to me, there can be no doubt this was Him working supernaturally on our behalf.

Jason arrived out here in Berlin about 6 days before the rest of us. He was going to get our place situated, get his work Visa, set up a bank account, and he was supposed to visit the 4 different public bilingual schools here in Berlin. We knew chances were slim to none because I could see on their websites that applications were all due many months ago. So, on Friday, June 27th, once he was able to make himself wake up, he headed out to visit in person to see if there was anything they could do for us. He made it to two of the four and found "The outlook isn't much different than expected :( JFK has a wait list of 600 and admitted 80 last time. We are welcome to apply for 2015-16 starting in September". At the other school he was able to make it to, the registration/admissions secretary was out sick but a teacher there said basically the same thing to Jason about admissions.

We knew we were likely going to be sending the kids to whatever public German school was in our neighborhood, and we were fine with that. I was a little stressed about them being thrown into such an environment not knowing any German and hearing that Germany doesn't really do "German as a Second Language" programs like we have in the U.S. I knew it would be a rough couple of months on them but also just trusted that if this is what God wanted, then that's what we were up for. I seriously wasn't stressing about it.

Even once the rest of us arrived, I didn't immediately start getting into the school thing. From what I understand, we need to let the government know that we're now living in Berlin and then they tell us where to go to school. Well, we didn't (and still don't) know where our more permanent residence will be, we're also not registered with the government yet so, until that was figured out, I didn't think much could happen. On July 7th I called one of the bilingual schools but the lady on the phone wasn't actually bilingual and asked me to email instead. I called the other two schools. No answer. So, I emailed the three non-JFK schools. Never got any sort of a response from any of them but I understand that's to be expected. I've heard that email communications is not the same over here. Again, I was sort of resigned to just wait till we got registered and found our next flat before I gave any more thought to the school situation.

On 7/10, Jason gave the schools a call over his lunch break. No answers.

On 7/16, though, I hopped in the shower and when I got out around 10:30 I had a missed call from Jason and a, "Are u around? Call me pls...I have an important school update" text.

What?!?!?

I called, of course, and he said that on a whim, while walking down the hall at work he decided to call one of the schools again since he had their number in his phone. Turns out, that was the last day they would be in the office before leaving for summer break! The lady on the phone asked how soon he could have our applications in (an hour or two, she hoped) and she'd see what she could do.

Jason got right to work. We "needed" to have their previous report cards (ha! between our old school and homeschooling?! not a chance!), their birth certificates (which Jason miraculously happened to have on him), his work contract (showing that we're "highly mobile"), and their applications. He sent in what we had (so, no previous report cards) and a few hours later, I was at KaDeWe with the kids when my phone rang with news from Jason that we had two written offers for spots in hand. Both boys!

Even Easton recognized, "Another miracle from God!"

This is a highly sought after school. There are procedures to follow, like going to your local school that you're "supposed" to go to and asking for transfer forms. We didn't do that. Some of our new German friends have heard and they're like, "Ah! My dream school!" or "We hope for ___ to go there next year."

I've never even seen the school, let alone set foot in it or met anyone from there at all so I take great comfort in the fact that God has worked it out for the boys to go there, and two families from church (locals) and another Christian family we know (Americans) all want for their kids to go there. And, starting 8/25, my boys are!

Grundschule ("grund" = "basic", "schule" = "school) doesn't start until Grade 1 here. So, Autumn will not be going this year. However, we will be trying to find her a kindergarten. Obviously, this is just a "garden" of "children"/kinder which here is more like day care and not what we think of as kindergarten over in the States. So, what they have for pre-Grundschule aged kiddos here is called "Kita". It's short for, like, Kinder and Tagesstätte which I don't know what that means. I recognize "Tag" which means "day" so probably some sort of "day care" word because that's what Kita is mostly like over here. I want for her to go to a German or bilingual Kita near where the boys will go to school and where we'll live but, again, I'm not stressing about finding a spot. How can I not have faith that this will also work out??? I would like for her to continue to have the next 3.5 weeks with me and the boys to finish up "summer". The boys will be in school from 8-4! That's a long day! Especially as I understand sunset in winter to happen around, like, 4:30! While the boys will have various school breaks through the year, school won't get out for summer until next July 14th! Eeee!

This is going to be a huge adjustment for them. It's an international school which follows a certain curriculum allowing "highly mobile" families to move smack in the middle of a school year and pick up at a new international school in basically the same place. So, in addition to new friends and new rules and learning a new language, I think it will also be hard for them with some of the higher expectations I think the school and teachers will have. I knew switching to any school from the way our previous school was would require some difficult adjustments for our boys and somehow I think that a school in Germany might be even tougher regarding things like spouting out math facts or being able to sit still . . . I don't know this. I'm totally prejudging here, I admit, but I worry that it's going to be a rough transition for a few months as sensitive Dalton gets used to perhaps a little correction or stubborn Easton has to finally get real solid on his math facts.

But I have no doubt that this is where they are supposed to be and given the story above, you shouldn't either. ;)