a day of awesome firsts {and my sad misspelled signage}

my oldest son walked into school today for the first time. he was all smiles as if he does this all the time.

{yes. i spelled "kindergarten" wrong. a friend texted me a moment ago, making me aware of my horribly misspelled signage. the secret is out. i can't spell worth a darn. unfortunately, chalkboards don't include a spell checker feature. now i will forever be reminded why i'm glad that i'm not the one teaching my child to spell!! maybe i can find someone who can photoshop it?? yikes!}

as he walked into school, i didn't cry. in fact, i surprised myself by sharing his excitement. for a year i have worried and fretted over what school to send him. public or private or homeschool or co-op or charter or online cyber. at the last moment, i decided to go public and trust his little life to God's protection. after all, that's what i should be doing regardless. and you know what? we went to the meet-and-greet last week and found out his teacher goes to our church. she is artistic and witty and structured. she has a magnetic smile and and has traveled the world and understands things about life that i want my child to know. she loves Jesus, and she's my son's teacher. all this time i was worried and God had this plan worked out the whole time.
it was a happy morning of firsts.

across the globe, a friend was having a day of firsts as well. i could hardly sleep last night, knowing ashley was in china meeting her sweet baby girl for the first time. if you haven't already, stop what you are doing and read her post from this morning. her daughter is so beautiful i can't stop gazing at her!! and her gotcha moment? oh my. breathtaking. her daughter's smile makes me long to kiss emery's sweet cleft. oh how i love fantastically wide smiles!! seriously. you need to see her girl. she's so adorable i want to squeeze my computer :)

oh and i just have to include this shot...it makes me smile because it shows what was really happening while i was snapping foster's first day pics :)

real life is always more interesting :)