Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Goodbye School

The kids concluded their school year on June 11th, one with a sense of accomplishment and contentment, another with delight that summer vacation has finally arrived, and yet another with extreme sadness that the year was over and it was time to say goodbye to elementary school, friends and teachers. I'll let you guess which emotions belong to whom.  
Totally did not realize that they almost all chose the same outfits for the
last day of school. 
We now have a Fourth grader and TWO middle schoolers in the house. Unbelievable! These moments are bittersweet as they pass from one season of life to another, but growing up is a part of life and as parents we are just glad to witness how the Lord is maturing each of them from one year to the next.

In Italy, there are no graduation ceremonies in school. The closest you get is when you graduate from preschool to elementary school where the kids will usually receive a diploma while wearing a paper cap. Other than that it is left to the families to honour and celebrate their children as they pass through the levels of school, even university!

Emma's class, having been together since first grade was very tightly knit. It was a uniquely stellar class of great kids and the parents too are very close. I have never seen so much sadness on a last day of school...the tears were abundant from students and parents alike. Poor Emma had a really hard couple of days, but we know that she will see and keep in touch with many of the life-long friends that she made in elementary school. It is likely that she will be placed in the same 6th grade class with maybe 3-4 of her 5th grade classmates like Samuel was, so she is praying it will be her best friends.

On our walk to school on the final day, Emma told me how thankful she was that we moved to Caselle. How it was the best thing that ever happened to her to go to this school. God has been so gracious and faithful to our children and we praise Him for his watch care over them, providing in ways we never imagined.

Here is a look at Emma's final moments of elementary school...








On the other hand Luca was all smiles.
 Luca's class celebrating at the park

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