Every year that passes I'm always surprised that we've been at this parenting thing this long. You'd think by year 12 that we would know what we're doing, but here we are depending completely on the grace of God as we do the right things followed promptly by the wrong and asking for forgiveness once again.
Eli gets to hear from us often, "we're sorry, we messed up". And he forgives us. I think that makes him extraordinary.
Eli is well into his first year of middle school and is navigating well. He not only changed buildings, but more than tripled his class size. It's an odd thing we're both navigating as I didn't have to do that when I was in school. By all appearances he is doing well- minding his p's and q's. He has a handful of teachers that he adores. He is looking forward to 7th grade when he can choose his electives and be in school sports. Football seems to be his favorite sport and he can hardly handle thinking about fall without getting giddy. He played basketball this year and showed a lot of improvement. In both basketball and football, he really enjoys the surprise attack of defense. He's pretty relentless and has the stamina to back it up. We enjoyed watching him in both. This summer he plans to play baseball and is looking forward to being with some of his best buddies.
He's at an eager age where he is willing to do about anything to make some money. So, if you have some sticks to pick up or leaves to rake he's your guy. We're anticipating his muscles and eager attitude to help us out with hay this summer. He also has plans to launch a card sorting business, so stay tuned for details on that.
Eli surprised us a little bit and he tried out for the 6th grade singers. He doesn't love the 7:00 am Tuesday practices, but he really has learned a lot and Mrs. C has done a phenomenal job with the kids. I really can't believe how much his singing voice has improved right along with his confidence. He really likes music and especially music no one his age knows about.
And that leads me to what is perhaps his best quality that I will give credit to his dad for. He doesn't really care about what makes him different. In fact, I think he likes it. For the longest time he didn't have a Stanley water bottle, and got one for his birthday, but before that some girls in one of his classes made fun of him (not in an mean way) for his small water bottle. So the next day, he brought his gallon water bottle he takes to practice with him. Also, when the singers had a competition they were allowed to take their phones with them on the bus trip. Not having one, he asked if he we had a rotary phone he could take. We didn't, but he took his dad's broken phone from 2014 and pretended to be on his phone on the bus. It's hilarious and I love that he has embraced what makes him different.
We couldn't be prouder of the boy he is growing into. He is willing to be shaped by God into who He wants him to be. A lot of what he is learning in this season is to be with people who are different without making them into an enemy. I think that demonstrates the beauty of Jesus in a very tangible way.
Height 4' 11.76"
Weight 97lb
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