That boy...

Fast forward 16 years.  (How can THAT be?) 

I will tell you up front that this post will sound like I am bragging.  Maybe I am, but I am an incredibly proud mama and I mostly tell these wonderful things because it is not by MY parenting - At. All.  This is by the grace of God.  I had no idea how to raise a boy.  I still don't!

There are so many things I love about my Josh.  He is handsome and intelligent.  He is brave.  (Once he tried to protect us from an intruder with a giant spoon.)  He is good, like that kind of deep goodness that is true and sincere and comes from within.  He has a heart for others, a servant's heart.  He doesn't like the limelight.  He would probably hate that I am posting this.  And He. Is.  Funny.  Oh my word, that boy brings so much joy to my heart and so many smiles to my face.  I love him so much.

(In fact, Robert told me yesterday that he had told Josh that he (Josh) was the funniest person he (Ro) knew.  I will admit that made me a little jealous. Ha!)

I have been blessed to have three children with character, so incredibly blessed.  But since this post is about "that boy," I do want to share with you two recent and, I think, amazing accomplishments.

Joshua took two AP classes last year as a sophomore.  (This year I believe he has three.)  He also took two AP exams for those classes last spring.  If you don't know, that means that if he scores well enough on those tests, he does not have to take those classes in college, earning college credit with the passing of the test.  There are definitely sophomores (and probably even some freshmen) who take these AP classes and tests, but the majority of students taking them are juniors and seniors.  The books aren't the traditional textbooks that the public school offers for free, but college texts - meaning:  $$.  And the tests cost about $100 a pop as well, so this was definitely a small investment into his future as well.

But, as I'm sure you are expecting, it paid off.  Joshua scored a 5 on each of his AP exams for AP Psychology and AP US Government.  That's the highest score you can get.  And yes, college credit earned.

Even more than that I am proud of what he has accomplished this summer.  Josh decided at the end of the last school year that he would like to take an educational tour next spring break (March 2016) with a handful of his classmates and a teacher or two to Florence, Rome, and Greece.  Can you even imagine what kind of an opportunity this will be?  Greece and Rome alone have had such an impact on our history and culture!

However, opportunities like that don't come free.  We were concerned because at the same time he brought this information home, we learned that our beloved State of Colorado was going to aggressively seek the back taxes that we have owed them. 

So he got a job.

As soon as school was out, he began applying for jobs.  He applied for several before he got a call from Good Times.  Here's the thing about Good Times.  Although they are a fast food restaurant, they pay above minimum wage.  In fact, he is making more than a dollar above minimum wage!  His base pay is minimum, but he earns an incentive by being on time and having good attendance that brought him to more than a dollar above what Chris made after a year working for Panera.

The other funny thing I've learned is that the manager in his store doesn't hire teenagers as a general rule.  He said he tends to find them flaky and they don't have their stuff together.  He had a good feeling about Josh and took a risk and has been very, very happy with him.

So that trip... the cost for that trip is about $3613.  (I may be off a little bit because I don't have my numbers in front of me.)  Joshua got paid today... and taking into account that money and what I expect him to get back on his income taxes ~ Josh has just about $300 left to earn to pay for the trip entirely himself.

Isn't that amazing?  He worked a lot of hours this summer!  He has a good work ethic and is willing to pick up shifts and I am just so incredibly proud of him.  He is still working about 27 hours a week although school has started because the store has been in a bind, but he will cut back to 10 or 15 soon - probably right after the trip is paid off.  Then he can start earning the spending money to boot.

Sigh. 

I am so blessed.