A Taste of Gratitude

This living life thing is where the rubber hits the road. It’s not possible to do so perfectly, but sometimes you look back and you think,

How could I be so off?

Like these last few weeks. I did a lot of things that I was unsure of and I’m still just muddling through massive errors, like Zoe getting a hold of my totally gluten-filled birthday cake, UGH! We’ll be detoxing for eons. (She’s crafty – she woke up in the wee hours – probably before dawn – and defrosted it. Sheesh.)

I always wonder if I’m doing the right thing, too. And that leads me back to last week, when I had parent teacher conferences. Reports from the kids have been getting better, but I was so skittish. So many people left the school – maybe 15? – including a receptionist, a curriculum director and finally, the beloved speech therapist. This change was not easy on my girls.

Was it still right to send the girls to Seven Generations? All the years I’ve asked this question, it’s never gotten easier.

And then..the conference. Well, I’m just FLOORED.

God is so good; my kids are actually thriving even with all the changes – which may be for the better!

Zoe is doing well. Her resistance to the changes is fading and guess what? She learned multiplication in 3 days!! Wow!!! “We were going to take longer but she just knew it.” My heart swelled with pride on that one.

And Amelia, struggling with her specials and giving me grief in the morning, may be just fine because she’s getting all A’s and B’s. The science teacher said, “And yes, she has adaptations, but you need to know this is the same biology the kids are learning.” Heart flutters!

Because school is just as much about socialization as academics, the best part came at the end of the meeting came from Amelia’s social studies teacher who said, “I’ve taught at many schools but I have NEVER seen the kids come around, support and just be friends with a kid way the do with Amelia here. I’m telling you, I just have never seen this before.” She has the camaraderie she needs there, even if we still need to work on getting those kids to have play dates. (Not really the proper term for 7th grade, but you know what I mean.)

Something is going right. And I’ll tell you something else – more than just the good things are going right. I’m learning how to correct my mommy errors. Did a BIG one last night that ended up making Zoe cry. We worked through it. I sat with her for 10 minutes and then Zoe’s cat Bello came over and he graciously allowed us to pet him until she was calm and happy. I think she forgave me. With a barely verbal child, it’s all about the emotion, not the words so her happy laughter and the resumption of our nighttime routine games was good enough for me.

I wish grown ups could forgive that easy! Even Amelia, 2 months shy of age 13, takes longer but still forgives and forgets pretty easily. There’s a lesson there for all of us and this is wonderful news for an incredibly imperfect woman like myself.

So I am grateful that despite the upheavals in our school this year, the underlying foundations of community have already been established and all is well. My kids are still thriving and growing and I’m so thankful that we took the chance, all those years ago, on this school.

Sometimes life is like that – you have to jump and take the chance, even when you’re not hearing so clearly from God. Later this week, I’ll share how to hear from God when you’re uncertain. I’m not hearing as strongly as I once did, but I’m getting all the important stuff and learning to plod my way through the rest!

This beautiful book can help you in your spiritual gratitude walk: (Amazon affiliate links below)

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are