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.

We interrupt this story...

Our baby girl leaves a week from today.  There is much to be done to prepare for both her leaving and her Going Aweigh Party on Saturday.  I will return after all the dust has settled.

Prayers appreciated!

Story #3: About the boy they told me would be a girl

Let's just start there, shall we?  Let's just start at the very beginning.

Remember my plan, the plan to have four little girls?  They might've been named Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy in my mind at least.  Christianne came along, just as planned.  And then I was pregnant again, just as planned. 

My pregnancy was uneventful, except that I was considered high risk as with Christianne because of gestational diabetes.  As I think I mentioned before, that meant monthly ultrasounds.  I had ultrasounds just about every four weeks the entire pregnancy, and since we were veterans now at that parenting thing, we decided with this child to learn the gender of the baby in advance.  (We were surprised with Chris, although remember, I had planned to have a girl, so I pretty much knew she would be a girl.)

Multiple ultrasounds.  Multiple echoes of the same verdict:  she's a girl!

I was given a baby shower, with lots of pink, and a pink girly-girl shower cake.  I got lots of dresses and cute little girly-girl outfits.

We had somewhat decided on a name (although not a spelling) ~ she would be Hayley or Hailey or Hayleigh or some variation of that.

Because she was due in May and Christianne had been born in May, it was perfect.  I got out all of Christianne's old baby clothes, washed them, and hung them in the closet.  Everything was sized correctly for the seasons, because, after all, I had planned this.

Often, the big sister-to-be would kiss her baby sister through my belly.  She would tell her Hailey/Hayley/Hayleigh that she loved her.  We had bonded with this new little girl and couldn't wait to meet her.

It was perfect.

My pregnancy began to wind down.  I was tired.  I was emotional.  I was hormonal and ready to be done.  I went in for the final ultrasound before the baby arrived at Kaiser in Lancaster.

The ultrasound tech had no personality and seemed bored with life. (I don't get that - how can you not be filled with awe and wonder seeing these developing babies every day?)  He was a nerdy-looking guy, with blond hair and glasses, and he spoke in a monotone, when he spoke at all.  He went about his business capturing images, measuring, and making notes.  Trying to lighten things up a bit, I asked, "She's still a girl, right?"

"Um, nope."

What?!  Wait, WHAT?

And then this guy deadpanned, "Not unless she grew a tail."

Oh my word.  What just happened?

Now many would think this was just not a big deal, but I lost it.  I bawled.  It *was* a big deal to me.  I felt like, in a single moment, the little girl I had bonded with for months was just... gone.  Remember:  I was emotional, tired, and I. had. planned. this.

I was having a boy?

I had no idea how to be a mom to a boy.  I had never planned for it!  I didn't have boy names picked out.  I hadn't researched circumcision.  I didn't know how to teach them to pee standing up.  I knew nothing.  And I will admit, it knocked the wind right out of me.

I still didn't believe I was having a boy when I was sent to the hospital a short time later to induce labor.  We went through baby name books while I was being admitted, just in case.  (Although I love the name Joshua because it means "the Lord saves," I might not have chosen it if I had known how popular it was.)  And even when that large-headed precious bundle of joy came out of me, my first question was, "Is it really a boy?"

Those dresses in the closet?  Packed back up.  Gifts from the shower?  Returned. 

Man plans, and God laughs.

But He does know best.  He knows better than I do.  His plans are better than my plans, every single time.  And how I love this boy, this man-child of mine who is 16 now, this person who seems to get me, I think, more than the others do.  This boy, who is growing up so quickly and maturing into someone I am so incredibly proud of... this boy is a gift. 

They are all gifts, of course.  But this one is different.  It was wrapped in blue.  It was not what I had asked for, and yet it has brought me more joy than I could have imagined.

Thank You, Abba Father, for this boy.

That girl, today

This is about the fourth  seventh time I've started this post.  Technical issues abound.  Agh!  And I was gone a few days while we took our last camping trip with Christianne.  Thanks for your patience!  Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

I have so many thoughts in my head right now that I don't know where to begin.  Whenever I have a glimpse of Grace doing something wonderful, which is often, I am amazed, especially when my thoughts are reminded of that first bump in our pregnancy. 

And she is pretty amazing.  She has studied taekwondo now for three years and has earned a high blue belt and has a goal to be a black belt before she's 12.  She is intelligent and witty, and developing very nicely in our family's love language of sarcasm.  She is her sister's mini-me in several ways, takes after her brother in others, and still is her own unique little person.  She is charming.  Polite.  She loves the Lord and loves to sing.  She will belt worship songs from the top of her lungs whether watching her guinea pig in the back yard or sitting on a boulder on a camping trip or in the front row of church.  She completely changed our lives and I can't imagine life without her.

I adore this little girl.