resolved!

I recently posted about our daycare conundrum.  It got a little better in that Vicki Jo didn't scream and shriek when I dropped her off anymore.  But she still wasn't napping.  I mean, I would go to get her and she would have been awake for literally the entire eight hours (they log naps).  She couldn't stay awake in the car on the way home and once we got inside she just kept pointing at her bed.  It was getting so she couldn't stay awake through supper and her bath.  The evenings were a miserable downhill slide, devolving into her screaming and clutching me as I tried to make supper as quickly as possible.


We had to make a change.

As I said before:  this was no shortcoming on the part of the center.  I am proud of the childcare we offer at our church, and the opportunity it provides for so many kids to be loved and cared for.  It was just a bad match with the particular temperament of our child.  She needs a calm, quiet, darkened, peaceful environment to sleep.  She always has, and it was foolish of me to expect that she would just adapt to a room full of children and be able to nap there.  Luckily, we have options.

We figured out a way that Vicki Jo can be with a loving family member in a home setting each day of the week.  Jeff has Mondays,

Jeff's mom has Tuesdays (and frequently goes to visit her own mother on that day, so Vicki gets to see her great-grandmother a lot),

I have Wednesdays, Jeff's grandaddy's caretaker Cherlinda takes Thursdays (she is practically a family member at this point - an amazing woman), and Jeff's Memaw has her Fridays (so she sees her other great-grandma a lot too!).

Today is her last day in daycare.  Not only is this a huge cost savings for our family (full-time daycare in Nashville can run you 700 - 1000 dollars per month, depending on the age of your child), but Vicki gets to grow up in a nexus of extended family that reminds her of who she is and how many people are invested in her future.

One of the big reasons we decided to make a move back to Nashville was because we had a deeper network of support here.  The ability to find a place for our child where she will be lovingly cared for and allowed to develop with one-on-one attention is a phenomenal example of that support.  All of our families have problems.  As a pastor, I get to hear the history, the ups and downs, of many different families.  Even the ones that look perfect (especially the ones that look perfect) hide grief, sorrow, hardship, and brokenness.  Our families are no different.  But there is a lot of love and a lot of commitment.  You can't ask for much more than that.