When we moved to Edmond from Tulsa, making the decision about where to send our kids to school was such a hard thing. I remember praying and praying that God would just spell it out in the sky or give us a sign, so we would know what to do. In the end, a decision had to be made, and we landed at OCS. I remember the day I sent in our enrollment and application forms like it was yesterday...I had my Bible open to Joshua 1:9 and laid one hand on it while I hit the "Submit" button. I had peace that at the time, we were making the best decision we could, and no matter what--we didn't have to be afraid, because God would go with our kids wherever they went to school. Well, fast forward a year and a half into our time at OCS, and we have found ourselves feeling like we need to make a change. I could list out the many reasons we feel this way, but I want to be very careful not to cast a negative light on OCS. We have been blessed by many people there, but ultimately we just believe it is not the best long term fit for our family. It is an extremely different environment than Regent, which we loved so much in Tulsa. I thought time and distance would help us to adapt and get used to that, but it turns out that we just aren't fitting well into the culture at OCS. I do think it is a wonderful school and a great fit for so many families, just not right for us. Our girls definitely don't agree with our thoughts and decision about switching schools. It has been heartbreaking for us to make this decision when they are so against it. I completely understand that they don't want to be the new kids again. They don't want to have to leave their friends and figure out a new school again. And yet, as their parents, we believe that God has given us the responsibility of making decisions like this for them, even if it is hard.
So that brings us to how we ended up at Christian Heritage Academy. Over the last few months it just keeps coming up randomly in conversations around us. We know several families whose kids attend CHA. Some from our church, some friends in youth ministry, and some from our hometown of Newcastle. They all have a few things in common...they all love CHA and they all drive long distances of around 20-30 minutes to take their kids there. That left me wondering why. There has to be something special about this school that would cause people to commute that kind of a distance. So I just felt like we should check it out, and that began the process. At the end of January, Brian and I went to the school for a tour. From the moment we walked in the doors, we were greeted with friendly smiles from staff and students, and there was just a special feeling about it. A week or so later, we took the girls to shadow for the morning. They both had good experiences, but as expected, they had many reasons that they didn't like CHA. In fact, Madison wanted to take in some post-it notes so she could make lists of what she liked and didn't like. Hahaha! I told her she could make a list when she got home, but not IN the classroom. Still, we felt like we were moving in the right direction. A few weeks after that, we took the kids for testing at CHA and they all did very well. Mackenzie tested on a 7th grade reading level and Madison tested at grade level or a little above in all subjects too. Jonah is developmentally a bit behind, but they felt like he will be ready for Kindergarten in August. (We just have to keep working on learning those letters!)
There wasn't some "ah-ha" moment or some audible voice from God telling us that CHA was the right place for us. It was just a quiet peace in our spirits, that led us to the decision that this is the direction God is moving us. There were other things here and there that I took as signs that CHA was right for us...a handwritten card in the mail from the Headmaster, Mr. Bullard, going to lunch with friends from church and meeting another CHA mom with a 3rd grade girl Madison's age, seeing a FB post by a friend from HS of their kids at CHA and realizing they went to school there, finding out another friend from High School teaches there, and texting Kammy and getting her complete support and approval to get going on this process. At the same time, there were some hard things happening at OCS...girls calling Mackenzie mean names and excluding her, issues with a teacher, and continually feeling like we socially don't belong there...which I took to also be affirmation that a change needed to happen.
In March, after the application process had already begun and we were accepted, I went to a CHA Banquet with some friends of ours, Chris & Christy Gulley. Brian was out of the country at the time and wasn't able to go, but we had been invited and I wanted to attend, just to get a better feel for the school. Some of the kids performed "Be Thou My Vision," which was very Regent-like, and it just made me smile...it was further confirmation to me that this is what God has for us. Also, they have a new project for the school, called "Vision 2031," which is the year Jonah will graduate from High School. They gave everyone at the banquet this magnet of a Save the Date card for the graduating class of 2031. Wow...I nearly burst into tears just thinking about that! I know maybe its just coincidental, but if I needed further affirmation that we are doing the right thing...this was it! Maybe this will be the school that we can complete our children's educations at.
Furthermore, we applied for tuition assistance and received an amount that was far superior to anything we have ever gotten before. CHA also gives full time clergy a discount right off the top. While the Hopper's do pay for our tuition, it is also important to us that we do our part to try to keep that cost as reasonable as possible for them.
We told the girls we were going to be leaving OCS and switching to CHA next year during the middle of February. The tears were many, and it was absolutely heart breaking for me. I think the thing I am most sad about is taking Madison away from her sweet little best friend, Adlee. I start to tear up every time I think about it. Adlee has been a gift from God and a true answer to prayer for Madison. I keep reminding Madi that we live just down the street though, and we will make it a priority to continue to be friends outside of school. Mackenzie is just distraught that she won't get to have the locker that she already got to pick out. You know, the one by the water fountain where she can talk to everyone? I knew this would be a very hard thing for her to accept, but I am just praying that God will work in both of their hearts and make it all okay. I know that if God brought us TO it, He will also bring us THROUGH it! My prayer is that He would go before us in all of the details, big and small. I pray already for each of the teachers we will have, and for each of our kids to make sweet and real friendships quickly. The reality is that I can't make everything in life easy for my kids...I can't hold their hands and fight all of their battles for them...and I can't always make decisions based on what makes them happy in the moment.
Mackenzie, Madison & Jonah,
Someday I hope you can look back on this decision that Daddy and I made for you, and see that we were following God's lead. That we didn't do it to be spiteful or hurtful to you, but we did it because we truly believe that it will be the best long-term situation to put you into. We love you more than anything in this whole world and we want the very best for you! Even though it seems hard now, and it may take some time, we really do believe you will love it at CHA!
I had been doing Weight Watchers & hadn't eaten cookies from McDonald's in weeks, but after I dropped them off to shadow, I was a nervous wreck and I NEEDED these!
They each got to pick out a book to take home from the Library, so that was fun!
After testing a few weeks later, we stopped at the Dunkin' Donuts by the school for a treat!
I still stand amazed at God's provision and the great gift of private Christian education he has provided for our family through the Hopper's.
I've been feeling this way about OCS for a long time now.
Part of the application process was for the girls to fill out some questions...Mackenzie's answers were...interesting...of course I made her change them before I submitted the application! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
At least she's honest??
Yes, this...you can be sure that after reading things like Mackenzie's answers in the pictures above, this decision was anything but EASY. I mean, come on...the easy thing to do would be to stay at OCS, where we wouldn't have to go through this whole process again. But I am convinced that would not be the right decision for us at this time.
