Challenge

The kids found out who they'd have for teachers yesterday and it had our house buzzing. It's fun now that the kids know more people and teachers and by the end of the year they all knew who they wanted for this year!

We've had a full summer, trips to Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Pennsylvania, and smaller excursions to our beach and other local favorites; but now it's time to get ready for school again. Ella found out that she has Miss McBride, a mega favorite in our house. MT had her when he was in first grade and it was so funny when we went to see her class room yesterday and she saw MT again. He is only about 6-8 inches shorter than her and she looked right at him and said, "you are just not allowed to get taller than me" and hugged him. Just wait until Miss McBride sees how well Ella can read. Chapter books all summer long!

Mark Thomas has a new teacher, Mrs. Castle. The verdict is still out but we're praying it's a good match. MT is so flexible it would take a complete tyrant for him to get flustered so let's just pray she can handle his enthusiastic zest for life!

And drum roll please....Benjamin was put in a CHALLENGE class! We were so excited and proud of him! I had heard a little bird tell me earlier in the day that her sister who is a teacher saw Ben's name on the challenge filler list but I quickly told her, that can't be. Well, it sure can. When Mark took the kids to see the list posted at the school there was Ben's name in Mrs. Johnson's class! You could see it on his face when we went last night to see her that he was smiling inside. What a huge accomplishment for our little Benji who struggled and really still continues to learn differently. When his teacher from third grade saw him yesterday she went straight up to him and told him how proud she was of him. She looked right at me and said, "he is ready for this. He is so gifted."

Ben continues to excel and just takes things at his own pace. From the time he was super little to now, he does things when he wants to. We thought he was color blind for years because he would never tell us his colors correctly but he knew them, just wanted to freak his parents out. In first grade we thought we'd have to hold him back because he wasn't learning to read as quickly as the other students but now we can hardly get him to put books down. Trying to get him to do chores, come on, that's still a struggle but see him walking around the house with one of his many notebooks and sneak a peak at a story he's writing and you'll be blown away by his detail and plot. He is Ben and that is fine by us. Most of the time, but I'm just being honest now. I would like him to do his chores more willingly but we're continuing to work on that.

We're thrilled that Mrs. Johnson will be shaping him this year before he goes onto Middle School next year. She is a wonderful teacher and neighbor I might add too. She and her family happen to live right across the street from us. Definitely helps out when there are homework questions. Max would walk over there from time to time when he was in fifth grade. She told me with confidence that Ben was chosen to be in that class. Based on his IQ scores and his other skill assessments. God is good, to provide this boost of encouragement for a little boy who compares himself way too much to his older brother. Look out fifth grade, here comes Ben Keffer!

Grief

Grief. It's something that I know very little about personally and yet it seems to surround so many people I either love or care about and even some who I have never seen and probably never will. Tracy is a friend of Mark's and mine from college at the University of Alabama. The pictures below are of her, her children and her husband, Brian who passed away on Monday after fighting cancer for several months.

Our lives are so short and we never know what might be around the corner. An accident that happens within seconds, an illness that we never saw coming or the loss of a child that shakes the very foundation of who we are and what we believe in. Another blog I follow is of a family that lost their newborn baby daughter this past week. She lived only a few days and the strength and courage I've read in their words brings me to my knees.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

I have heard this scripture quoted many times over the last few years and I clearly remember the first time someone I very much admire quoted it. The Rev. Dr. Bill Harter, spoke these words at a funeral he presided over that I attended nearly 15 years ago. I remember coming home and telling Mark that I had never heard the passage before and how it so moved me to know that our Holy Spirit would interceed on our behalf when we didn't even know what to pray for. And not just interceed but with "groans that words cannot express", the pain, the agony that truly words cannot even begin to convey. Those are the emotions that our Holy Spirit communicates to our Father for us.

This scripture was posted on the Rowe's website and I have said it so many times in my head this week as I prayed for Tracy, Hailey, Alex and Skyla. Please commit them to your prayers, through the coming days and months to come. They will need support to get through this journey, without a husband and a father. When I think of our family and the strength we draw from Mark I cannot even begin to phathom what our lives would be like without him.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26