Wow. It's hard for me to put into words all that today encompassed. Matthew's freshman year is over, and Maddie is officially an 8th grader! BOTH of their time at Wesleyan (Maddie since kindergarten and Matthew since 8th) has far exceeded our expectations in just about way I can think of!
Today was our last day of school, which consists of Honors Day. Today I attended my first high school honors day at Wesleyan! I knew from a generic email that he and Maddie would both be recieving some sort of award at their respective honor assemblies, but I didn't know what -- had no ideas even (except for Maddie's Iron Wolf... that one is pretty predictable). As the high school honors assembly went on, and Matthew hadn't been called, I got more and more curious. We were nearing the end, and they were on the Outstanding Achievement award portion, where they award a boy and girl from each grade... it's the highest underclassman award, and while academics are considered, it is NOT a "highest average award". As the grade chair was reading the description, it piqued my interest, but then he started using words like "humility" and "humble" and "occasional class clown" and I leaned to my mom and said "this isn't Matthew"... and then I heard the phrase "encyclopedia in his brain"... and I immediately started to cry! That WAS Matthew he was describing! All of those adjectives were his teachers' words... and my heart filled to overflowing. We've been praying for so long for humility, and maybe there's more rooted in there than we realized! I'm reminded of the days at Lionheart when he spent his whole day keeping it together, and sometimes there was nothing left in the tank when he got home... I think sometimes that's the case still, it just manifests itself differently. Here are the words spoken about Matthew today:
Please know that I am no less proud of Maddie. What she is accomplishing and the depth of her heart is staggering... it's just that an award like this, and those words... they are a testimony to how hard he has worked, how far he has come and how much God has doen in his life... and God has used/is using Maddie in huge ways in Matthew's life. So many people have come along side us and have made an impact that they may never realize. First and foremost is our family... Gram has been alongside us from the beginning, reading books on autism when I couldn't even breathe from the grief and uncertainty of it all. Her devotion and support never waivered. When we moved back to GA when Matthew was 5, Mama and Papa were invaluable in helping us with OT and speech appointments... entertaining Maddie while Matthew and I learned Floortime together. From there, the floodgates opened, and God has brought -- and continues to bring --so many people alongside us... therapists, doctors, acquaintences and friends. One thing that touched me so today, in fact, was the response from our Wesleyan community when Matthew won that award. My friends AND his friends were all so happy for him and for us! It was so amazing and so humbling! Matthew has had SUCH an incredible year... he has been blessed with teachers he loves and respects so very much, who also love him... and friends that love and respect him, too! It's all just so hard to describe adequately!!! I guess because in true form, God does immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine...
Maddie received two awards... and I'm so proud of my girl!! Iron Wolf for participating in 3 seasons of extra curricular activities (two shows and swimming!) and "Outstanding Effort and Achievement" for Bible class.
