Seeing God's grace

The background: 

Jayson and I have been working for months and months and months to figure out where Hunter would be going to school (she starts kindergarten later this month).  Going back 12 months even, we've been investigating and figuring out what our options were.  You see, even though we live in Canal Winchester, when the land of our sub-division was sold, the property was annexed into the Columbus Public School district.  As a graduate of CPS, I would not be opposed to sending Hunter to a Columbus Public School - given that the schools are successful and receiving a passing rating.  However, that isn't the case and her elementary school is receiving a failing rating. 

We've looked into open enrollment opportunities into nearby districts, but none of them have it.  We've considered community schools, but weren't impressed by what our researched turned up.  Geez, this is difficult and completely frustrating! We finally settled on enrolling her in the Ohio Connections Academy (a virtual public school), after being impressed with their program and not being able to fit the cost of a private school tuition into our tight family budget. 

Seeing the grace of God:

Then a couple of weekends ago, I was doing some research on the Ohio EdChoice Voucher Program, to keep an eye out on what our options might be for next year.  In case, you aren't sure of what EdChoice is - it provides a limited number of scholarships to students who attend (or are assigned to) persistently under-performing public school. I was amazed to find that her assigned elementary school was now listed on the approved under-performing school list (it was just added on 6/29).  I was further amazed that there is currently a second window of opportunity to submit an application for the EdChoice program (the application window is normally late winter / early spring).  So, this meant that there might be an opportunity to get Hunter enrolled into a private school and receive a scholarship for her to attend.  

So, a couple of weeks ago, we meet with the principal at St. Matthias and were very impressed with him and the school.  And better yet, they still had two spots open in their elementary class, so we reserved one of those spots for Hunter.  And just yesterday, we received confirmation from the Ohio Department of Education that Hunter was awarded one of the scholarships.  

I am in awe of God's grace.  He is turned what once felt like a hopeless situation into one that turned out better than I could have imagined.  This situation has helped to reaffirm to me that God's timing is perfect and even if I can't see or feel him working, He is.