On Friday morning (as in YESTERDAY), after all of the kids had been enrolled in public school, we received a phone call from One for Autism. One for Autism is the private school for children with autism. I say "the" because it's the one that God specifically called us to move down to San Antonio, Texas from Nampa, Idaho for.
One morning several weeks ago, even though we had no financial means (that we knew of) to accomplish it, I applied for Andrew to go the school. I didn't apply for Jeffrey...and all that I can say is I honestly didn't feel that I was supposed to at the time.
We had no word for quite a while, and then at the beginning of last week we received a call saying that he was second on the waiting list to get in, and they would have their final numbers soon to tell us whether or not he got in. They anticipated telling us this week.
It was at that point that I fully registered both boys into my school district. It seemed as though he probably would not have even the chance to go there this year. I have spent HOURS figuring out how transportation was going to work for the boys, how I would juggle all my school duties and still get them to and from on time, etc. We met their teachers, all of whom we REALLY liked. We had transfer ARD (IEP) meetings, and finally I (with the help of many people in my district) had all the transportation details figured out, and all of their learning goals and accommodations were set. We still hadn't heard anything, and it was the last day of the week...I figured this year it just wouldn't happen.
And then came yesterday morning. The phone call from One for Autism went to Chris, and he was told that there was now a spot for Andrew and that he could start this next Monday.
Now all of you reading may be thinking that I would have received this news with great joy, but instead it came with...PANIC!!! How in the world were we going to pay the $1400 per month tuition? I really LIKED his new teachers at my school...I wanted him to go to my school! I'd had it all figured out!
Luckily, God is a God of grace, and settled me down after an hour or two. I got a hold of the director at the school, who was very gracious and walked me through the process of how to determine how much my insurance would cover, since so much of the school was therapy based and administered by board certified professionals in their field of therapy.
So I called. And the answer that I got was confusing. And so I called her back with the answer. She tried to walk me through the math of it. My math came out that we would still need a little over $1000 per month. But she knew insurance talk better and told me $420 per month. I got off the phone still confused, and called my husband for the eighteenth time that day and asked him to call her again to see if he could make sense of the math.
So he did, and yes, it turns out she was right. We will have to come up with $420 per month. And that's it. Of course, I say that's it, but the part of my brain that deals with tangible still balks at the amount. Our finances are stretched REALLY thin right now, and Chris still doesn't have a job. But boy, does $420 seem attainable compared to what we originally thought it would be!
One difficulty that arose was that if Andrew started on Monday, we would still be under our Idaho insurance. I called our Idaho insurance company to see what they would cover (even though we're out of state we still have Blue providers). And it turns out that no matter WHERE we are, our insurance wouldn't cover any of it. Not a bit. My new insurance goes into effect on September 1.
So, Chris called the director back and asked if there was any way we could hold off a week and have Andrew start after Labor Day. And she said yes!
Andrew will be starting the school on the Tuesday after Labor Day. He got in. He can do it. He can go to the place God moved us down here for.
There are still some details to work out. I need to be able to get him there at 8:15, even though I have to be at my school at 7:30. And of course, there is still the $420 per month.
But Andrew can GO. He can be at a school where he will receive ABA therapy, speech therapy, music therapy, occupational therapy daily...but that will be able to give him the one-on-one educational focus that he needs. We serve an awesome God who has better plans than we do, and will equip those He calls.
