Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Iron Maiden

My son is going through a difficult time right now therefore I am going through a tortuously difficult time right now. Never having had a son before, this puts me squarely in uncharted territory. I can find no rhyme or reason for most of the things he does. I find myself asking," Why???" many times a day with this one.

Well, this week, he found himself face to face with Iron Maiden aka, the school principal after being overheard uttering the refrain of "Yo Mama" about someones mother. In his version, he is defending me from some unkind   words said about me, but that is beside the point.This expression does not go over in a Christian school environment. The principal gave him an assignment that he was to bring home for us to sign before going on his class field trip the next day. The assignment failed to reach me and in fact I knew nothing about the incident until the phone call the next day when she did not  receive it. Her consequences were swift and perfect. He would not be joining his class on the field trip and this was before even speaking to me about it! Instead, he would spend the day with her in her office. I LOVE this woman! In this day of wimpy politically correct principals, she is the personification of brave and wise and awesome! Not only that, she prayed for the consequences to teach my son. Lord, let it be so! She then encouraged me with stories about her own difficult young son who is now grown and doing well. What? The Iron Maiden had a difficult son!

My son has been completely mum about his reflecting time with the principal which I understand was filled with weeping and gnashing of teeth. Again, I don't know why exactly he has not shared his experience with us. Does he want to keep this special time just between the two of them? He did produce the note the next day for me to sign moments before I was to take him to school. That I get. I would be rushing to get them out the door and not have time to deal with it.

I suspect my humbling time is not over. He's only 10 years old! Thankfully, God is faithful to put people like the Iron Maiden in my path to help and encourage me just when I need it. For that I say,"Thank you God".

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Glamour Shots

The long, detailed email regarding the tribute page for my 8th grade daughter's year book that I would need to put together came earlier in the school year. I filed it away until this past weekend when my daughter reminded me that it was due just 2 days later! This was a project that had I not completely forgotten about, I would definitely have procrastinated doing it. This project would require creativity of which I possess none and time to sift through digital pictures of which I have even less. I pulled out last year's year book to get some ideas and the pages ranged from ridiculous glamour shots to awkward family photos!  Where is my good best friend with her awesome scrap booking skills? No where to be found! I was clearly on my own except for super duper tech support for transferring the pictures to a CD.

In the process, I went down my digital memory lane on my laptop as I saw with my own eyes in pictures the transformation of my daughter from an unsure almost 8 year old when she joined our family to a beautiful, happy 14 year old. When did this happen? Or the better question, how did this happen? I was reminded again of the amazing miracle that God has done to make us family. I love seeing her beautiful smile that I get to see often these days.

I did the best I could with the page and she was so grateful that I completed the project on time, she didn't even mind when I told her I used a picture with her hair in a bun and no make- up! While it isn't the most glamorous picture, it is a precious picture to me of my happy daughter.