Last Day of School

Today is Josiah's last day of school. It's just a half day and they are watching a movie and having root beer floats to celebrate. Josiah was already claiming that the day was going to be a bad one because he feels he will never see his teacher and some of his friends again when we move. I assured him we would come visit and could stop by the school and say hello to everyone. I also told him to enjoy this last day rather than being consumed with what is coming next. As I left him there in the classroom he seemed to be taking that advice to heart and having fun.

A few days ago they held an awards banquet for the kids. Some of the awards Josiah received were things he earned: memorizing the books of the Bible and his weekly Bible verses, reading 100 books, exercising his way "across Oregon", passing the national fitness test, etc. A couple of his awards were directed at who he is and I was very proud that others have noticed some of the same things I have noticed in this child of God. The first award was a P.E. award. He was chosen as the Most Improved Athlete. This award is near and dear to my heart as I received it 4 times in basketball and 3 times in soccer. I think it speaks to a person's effort and dedication and that others recognize how those have paid off in physical improvements. When I heard they were giving out P.E. awards I secretly hoped he would get that one.

The second award was based on character. The teacher did a really great job of awarding each student according to their personalities. Josiah's award was for creativity and the note she added said, "Josiah displays great creativity. He sees things from more than one perspective. He is great at finding the fun in life." He learns the majority of those great qualities from his dad. I tend to be fairly black and white and pretty serious at times, too.

I have really enjoyed Josiah's creative writing this year. I think it's a perfect example of his different perspectives on life. For example, he was given four words and the assignment was to write a story using those words. So the words were: airplane, sky, fly, and high. Ok, pretty straight forward if you ask me. The airplane will fly high in the sky. Josiah's story went something like this. "I rode the airplane up in the sky. I heard a buzzing fly. It made us crash from way up high." I think fly; flap, flap. He thinks fly; buzz, buzz. Funny. Anyway, I'm so proud of what he's learned this year reading, writing, 'rythmetic, even public speaking!I'm also glad that through all this training at school he hasn't lost who he is; a creative, energetic boy. Here he is with the other boys in the class, he's wearing the green shirt.