Our fast-paced world didn't slow down when our five-year-old daughter, Nadia, and our seven-year-old son, Micah, started school. It added stress for all of us. Micah's second year in Kindergarten wasn't any better for him than the first. Even though we worked with him at home, he fell farther and farther behind. He lost recesses to finish work that he didn't get done in class. Micah complained that he didn't want to go to school, and my husband Jared and I saw signs of his low self-esteem. It really hurt us to see Micah so sad, and we decided to do something.

Jared was the second generation in his family to attend Niles Adventist School. He suggested our kids would do better with a Christian education. Though I was not a Seventh-day Adventist, I was open to anything that would help our children.

We met the principal and Kindergarten teacher, Denise Kidder, and Jared explained Micah's situation, and his own desire for our kids to be in a Christian atmosphere because he knew they weren't getting that at home. Although Jared was raised in the Adventist church, he lived far from a Christian lifestyle.

Denise's response hit Jared hard. She told him that she couldn't give our children a Christian lifestyle; she could teach and guide them, but we were their parents and we would have to raise them in a Christian atmosphere if that's what Jared wanted.

We began attending church. We started to read the Bible together and took a hard look at our lives and the way we were raising our children. The Edwardsburg (Michigan) Church has been such a help. We've met so many nice people who took us in just the way we were, and we are now studying to be baptized.

Micah and Nadia love going to Niles Adventist School, and Micah is at the same level as his class. They have good friends and so have we. The school taught us to slow down and enjoy spending time with the ones we love. We learned education doesn't have to be a race for our children to grow up.

I feel good knowing that Denise loves and cares for Micah and Nadia—as she does for all her students. There are lots of smiles and hugs when the students walk in the doors in the morning. There are special things like the little note that Micah brought home from an older student wishing him a happy weekend and telling Micah that Jesus loves him. It's a balloon an older student bought and gave to Nadia just because she loves her. Niles Adventist School is more than a school—it's a family, and we can't wait to see each other everyday.

Erin Price has two children who attend Niles Adventist School in Michigan.