Olathe Christian School

Diane was four when we moved to Olathe, KS that summer of 1999, and she started preschool that fall.  Towards the end of preschool, we began thinking about her starting Kindergarten.  There was an elementary school not far from our house, and we assumed that Diane would be going there to school.  However, as it got closer to school starting, we began sensing that the Lord wanted us to send Diane to a private Christian school, not a public school.  We kept thinking about it, so we decided to see if there were even any Christian schools in Olathe.

Meanwhile, the elementary school near our home had a Kindergarten Round-up.  All the new kindergartners got to come to the school, meet different teachers and see one of the kindergarten classrooms.  I decided I would take Diane since we weren't sure if she would be attending that school, or a Christian school.  "It won't hurt to go look at the public school," I reasonably thought.

So, she and I went to the open house, and the school was beautiful.  The classroom we got to see was perfect.  It looked like it would be so much fun for five year olds!  It even had a reading loft in the corner of the room.  Of course, Diane was very excited seeing that classroom.  And, all the kids got to plant seeds that afternoon, which was also lots of fun!  Diane left that open house with a bag full of all kinds of goodies, and her newly planted seed that we were going to watch grow!  She could hardly wait for school to start!

Well, I also had found a Christian school in the area, Olathe Christian School, and it wasn't too far from our house.  So, we set up an appointment to go visit that school, and we went there soon after our visit to the open house at the public school.  Jeremy, Diane and I met the director of the school, and he walked us around the building.  The school was actually in a church, and the classrooms were small and not very exciting.  But, he told us about the curriculum the school used, how the school had been founded, how they prayed before they ate lunch.  It was very impressive from that standpoint, but not too impressive to look at.  I could sense the love of God at that school though, which I really liked.  As we were leaving, the director turned to Diane, almost as an afterthought, and told her they had just done a fund-raiser for the school selling sports bottles that said Olathe Christian School on them.  They had some left, and he handed her one of them to keep.  She politely said, "Thank you."  As I was looking at that plastic bottle though, I was thinking about all the fun and exciting things the public school had given her, and how she probably really wasn't too excited about that cup.

I was feeling pretty convinced that the Lord wanted us to send Diane to Olathe Christian School, and I was really wishing that I hadn't even taken her to the public school's open house.  It was just so nice and fun-looking at that school, and Olathe Christian School didn't even compare with it externally.  I prayed that I hadn't made a mistake, and that the Lord would help Diane if we did decide to send her to Olathe Christian School.  I was pretty sure that was the school she would be attending!

Now remember, Diane was only five years old.   What five year old would choose a boring classroom over a fun and exciting one where she got to plant seeds?  So, when she came into my room about a week later and told me that she knew what school God wanted her to go to, I was pretty skeptical about what she was going to say.  I will never forget this moment.  My adorable little five year old stood before me and said, "I've been talking to God about what school I'm supposed to go to, and He told me where He wants me to go."

"What did He say?"  I asked.

"Do you know that story in the Bible about the lady that put a penny in the offering at her church?" Diane asked me.

"Yes," I said.

"Well," she said, in her cute, little five year old voice, "she put that penny in the offering and Jesus said that she gave more than anyone else even though it was only a penny.  She gave all that she had."

"True," I responded.

"I think God wants me to go to Olathe Christian School.  When we visited the other school, they gave me a lot of fun things, and I got to plant a seed.  And, when we went to Olathe Christian School, they gave me that cup," she said, "But really, Olathe Christian School gave me more because I think the other school has a lot more than they do.  Yeah, God wants me to go to Olathe Christian School."

Wow! If it wasn't settled in Jeremy and my hearts before that, it sure was then.  So, we enrolled Diane at Olathe Christian School, and thus her school years began!  And, we never regretted it one bit.  Because although Olathe Christian School didn't have much from a financial standpoint, they had lots from a spiritual and educational standpoint.  They didn't have top of the line computers, but they did have top of the line curriculum.  They didn't have lots of nice, new toys for the kids to play with, but they did have teachers that loved and prayed for and with their students each and every day.  And, that is what really matters, what is on the inside, not just what things look like on the outside.