Gathering in South Jersey

As of Friday September 10, the Henrys had five out of six children enrolled in three different public schools here in or near Mantua Township, Gloucester County, NJ.

After what they were calling the "world's longest summer," these children had practically forgotten what school was like.

Tucson ended its school year before Memorial Day; Gloucester County schools all begin school after Labor Day. All total, the Henry kids's summer lasted almost three and a half months.

Aside from a few lessons given here and there, as well as a few summer assignments from their new school, it was a much needed reprieve from the stress of the move. But their return to school was a much needed reprieve for their travel-weary parents!

Lydia, now a freshman, started high school with an almost all-honors course schedule. Fitch started in his new school with "everyone else" as it is a regional middle school beginning with grade seven. Thanks to his previous math work at Alethia Academy (Tucson), he was able to enter Algebra I as a seventh grader.

Both Lydia and Fitch ride the same bus.

Lydia and Ftich are both involved in school sports; Lydia made the junior varsity tennis team; and Fitch is running at the head of the pack on his middle school cross country team.

Maggie is an "upper classmen" as a fourth grader in Sewell School, a grades K-4 school around the corner from our house. All of Maggie's classmates are amazed that she had only three other students in her third grade class: she often hears, "Aww, lucky!" She has signed up to play the flute and to be a part of "Helping Hands," the school's version of student council.

Noah, our only veteran publilc school kid, has started second grade. Very proud and happy to finally be in school, Grace entered "kindergarten college" as we like to say. For her part, Stasi is proud to announce to everyone, "But I stay home."

All the children are making fast friends; Lydia and Fitch attended their first Phillies baseball game last week and witnessed Phillies star pitcher Cliff Lee throw a shutout. They were joined by two new neighbor friends, Kelly and Kevin, a pair of twins who are freshmen with Lydia at her school.

Maggie's birthday is tomorrow and she has invited a friend from school to go out with Polly on a "girls birthday date".

This weekend, a mom that Polly has befriended asked if Noah could come over to play with her second grade son. He literally raced out the house, he was so excited.

Grace, on the other hand, got in a little toussle with another kindergarten girl on the bus; the outcome was that one girl told the other that she thought her shirt was "ugly." We had to laugh at this sad but comical display of our sinful and selfish human nature.

All told, with five out of six children away from the house for much of the day, Polly and Phil are finding the quite reprieve an excellent environment to do work and make plans for the new church community.

As the title to this essay says, "Five out of Six Ain't Bad." Ain't bad indeed: praise God for how well, so far, he has settled the Henry kids into this new community.