An Answered Prayer

Our school district has a new middle school opening in the fall. While it is nowhere close to us, the trickle-down effect means that when boundary changes were determined last year, it was determined that starting in the fall we will be in the boundaries for a different middle school. This is a decision that has been universally unpopular in our neighborhood. Instead of going to the middle school that is one mile from our house and hence within walking distance, the kids will now go to a school three miles away. At least the district has conceded the fact that there is no safe walking route from here to there and provided a bus, but still, we are not alone in loathing this decision.

What that means for our family is that next school year, Matthew would be required to change middle schools. He is thriving at our current school and Kevin, Matthew and I all agreed that staying would be the best thing for him. But the hurdle has been the special permit process. In these situations, there are a lot of kids who want to stay and so the district holds a lottery to determine who is issued a special permit and who is out of luck and must attend their assigned school. When we got the results of the lottery earlier this month, Matthew was #67 on the waiting list. That meant that all available slots were filled and a whole bunch of kids would have to decide to go elsewhere before Matthew came to the top of the list. Needless to say, it was pretty discouraging.

At that point, we started thinking about who might be able to help us get that elusive special permit. Matthew had the jazz band teacher mention that he would have to see what he could do the help Matthew stay and I reached out to the regular band teacher who is amazing (and one of the reasons we want him to stay) to see if she had any pull. And throughout, we began gathering info to get him registered at the different school since registration is happening right now and while we were still hoping for that elusive permit, we were all realistic enough to know that it might not happen.

Throughout this entire process, I’ve been praying that the Lord would provide a way for Matthew to stay where he is. In addition to all the academic and musical reasons he is thriving, all his friends from elementary school will stay at our current middle school. Of the kids he has been in school with since second grade, those in our ward are the only ones who will be required to change schools. Since Matthew doesn’t have any close friends in the ward, that would be a bitter pill to swallow. And it’s an emotionally difficult situation in which to find yourself. I know. When I went to junior high, the only kids from my elementary school who went to the same school as I did were those in my ward. Luckily for me, I consider those girls some of my best friends ever, but even with that, it was a very difficult transition. It was so hard that I have tried to do everything I can to prevent my kids from having the same experience. So there have been many sincere, heartfelt prayers, months’ worth of prayers. And I know that there have been other family members praying as well.

This afternoon I received an email stating that Matthew’s lottery status had changed. Afraid to hope, I thought that maybe he had moved up the list a bit. What I read when I opened the email led to an audible cheer and then immediate tears. It was a notification that Matthew had been offered a seat at his school. The elusive special permit had been granted! I immediately sent the news to Matthew, who was on a field trip to the elementary school to teach the 6th graders how cool band is, and within 3o seconds, he was out in the hall calling me. It was a good day, such a good day!

I know that my prayers were heard. I also know that if the Lord had wanted Matthew to go to the other school, he would have done so and we all would have eventually reconciled ourselves to the fact. But I’m so enormously grateful for this boon, this blessing, this answer to a prayer that came from the bottom of my mama heart.