blessed beyond measure

To close out the school year, Aden's class took a field trip to the North Carolina Zoo. We stuck close by Noah, Levi, and their families and had a fun, but completely exhausting, day. Awana finished up next. Trey and Aden completed their books for the year, having memorized so many verses and learned much more about the Bible and how God wants us to live. For the first time in a long time, Trey took the stage for his award. It was surreal - not a word of anxiety mentioned about it, and he didn't go all deer-in-the-headlights or facedown-neck-injury. He acted like a normal kid, goofing around with his buddies, all of them distancing themselves from the girls a bit. So proud of Trey for facing another fear. The academic year ended in a flourish, with both boys bringing home stellar grades on their report cards, plus awards from their teachers for manners and good behavior. Which, as we all know, is also an award for their parents. Sort of. It felt like it an...

This week, Trey was admitted to the gifted program at his school. To mark the occasion, I had the honor of sitting around a table with the gifted program coordinator, Trey's teacher, and the school principal. And for a solid half-hour, every wonderful, unique, outstanding quality of my boy was thrown around. My heart grew three sizes that day. So many, many things I already knew about this amazing human being. Some things that I had forgotten in day to day rush and our inevitable head-butting. And then some things I didn't know. "He's such a role model." His teacher beamed, lavishing praise through the whole meeting. But that sentence early on stayed with me more than anything else that was said. We so quickly home in on the meanness toward his brother, the stubbornness in response to our pushing and encouraging, behavior boundaries stretching with his elongating legs. We struggle daily with his anxiety and farfetched worries and fears that he will be l...

It's one of my favorite movies, Mom's Night Out . Because, well, #truth. Funny and full of emotion and far-fetched action and oh how it soothes the soul to know I am not the only Bruce Banner of moms. Of course everything goes wrong for these poor mamas, desperate for a few hours of adult. The main character Allyson finds herself in the lobby of a police station, all of her friends behind bars. She sits down with a giant, leather-clad, tattoo artist biker named Bones who was trying to help the mamas with their escalating problems through the night. Allyson:  I can't get in front of it. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I give, I'm just, I'm not enough. Bones:  For who? Not enough for who? Allyson:  I mean, my husband, the kids, my parents, God...everybody, I don't know. Bones:  You. Not enough for you. [...] I saw something on Pinterest the other day. It was an eagle, just caring for its young. It's a beautiful thing to watch one of ...

Three years of relative safety and the comfort zone of tee-ball, vanished like the wind. It wasn't age, but Aden's size and toughness that bumped him to real baseball this season. The spectator awwwws and laughter at a mass of little ones chasing the ball like it's made of candy has been replaced by nail-biting and cringes of mothers and grandmothers foreshadowing injury. Drama. Also gone are the days of protected feelings, nobody ever getting out and the score always ending in a nothing tie. Enter competition and dragging back to the dugout after being outrun. Yes, drama. It's an adjustment, all this. Not to mention hitting off the pitching machine, memorizing the responsibilities of each field position, trusting your glove to catch a much harder and faster ball. Playing with older and much more experienced kids. We have work to do. But we are so proud of Aden for stepping up, for being willing to try wherever the coaches place him, for doing so well at some...

He is a complete original, and the list of why I love him has no end. He has no idea of how God uses him in my low moments to shout love and grace. Aden steals my phone compulsively, filling every byte of memory with his snaggletoothed, Lego-fanatic sweet and goofy antics. That he thought he'd like to see published. Of course he should be published.