answered prayers...

Just wanted to post a quick update.  First off, thank you so much for your words, feedback, advice, hugs, and prayers.  It truly means more than anything to us.  

We contacted the math teacher and gifted specialist (and cc:ed the 7th gr counselor who we'd already had some interaction with) on Monday via email.  We explained that we felt that moving him back down to grade level math mid-year would do more harm emotionally than any good, even if it means he ends up with a C or worse on his report card.  His heart and emotional state are so much more critical to think about over any grade.   They were both very understanding, his math teacher esp had very kind things to say and said she would try to be more mindful of his and his classmates interactions from here on out to try to nip any problems she might see in happening in her class.  We have a plan in place to be overseeing his school work general a bit more, especially math to guarantee he doesn't slip thru the cracks again.   We had also contacted his band teachers regarding some issues he had in band a few weeks ago with similar response.

So our next step is to send a personal note to his other three academic teachers and include an asst principal/principal in those, just to get them all on the same page.  We are encouraged by the responses we've had so far and will pray that his other four teachers can join us and ultimately help Coleo feel like someone's got his back. 

We have also submitted an application to transfer to a smaller "choice" middle school available in our district  We won't know whether we get in or not for next year until mid February.   And we will let Coleo decide if that's the route he wants to go. 

We are also looking into a couple of different extracurricular activities to plug him into and are hoping that will help too.  Some martial arts stuff (he is very interested in Hapkido and weaponry) and also a community service-based youth drum corps. 

Again, we are so thankful to know so many are praying for him and supporting us so faithfully.  Please continue to pray for our communications with his teachers and for that friend...we know there's gotta be someone out there for him!! 

love and hugs...

Praying for Coleo...

if you know us and love us, will you please hold our son Coleo up in prayer?

In a nutshell, school is and has been a miserable, miserable place for him to spend 35 hours of his life every week.  Beginning in 6th grade, he has struggled with the social side of the hell otherwise known as middle school.

On a "good" day, he simply feels like he doesn't have any friends and is ok with that.

On a bad day, he feels completely alone and ostracized.

On a terrible, horrible, no good, really bad day, girls tell him he stinks, he's a freak and no girl will ever like him. Kids ask to have him moved off their team in Phy Ed (and the stupid substitute teacher actually does it) or he is blamed and taunted for making the snare section in band sound bad (when in all reality he could probably kick some serious trash against any of them).  The mama bear in me gets all riled up just thinking about it.

Up until now, he has been resigned to feeling alone. And I always answered the question "how is school going for Coleo?" with the answer that "socially it's been pretty tough, but academically he's doing great."

Until now.

We just learned that he is is getting C's across the board, and actually failing his acclerated math class.  It's being recommended that he drop back down to the grade level math class for next semester.

um....yeah. sure.  cuz THAT'S not going to knock him to his knees emotionally.

The kicker is we had no warning until the email arrived today (at 4pm on a Friday no less)  from the "gifted specialist".  Not one single ounce of communication from his math teacher or anyone else, that our son had failed two chapter tests and a couple of quizzes.   It's partly our fault for not checking in with the grade tracker website on a more regular basis. But if *I* were a math teacher, and a kid who HAD been doing ok, all of a sudden dropped quiz and test scores, I'd like to think that I would make some effort to touch base with the parents; wouldn't you??    So yeah, we are pretty pissed off and frustrated and sad about it all.

It means making the kinds of phone calls on Monday that raise my anxiety level to the roof.   I hate making calls for something as simple as dentist appts, so this kind of intervening/confrontational junk is just not my cup of tea at all, even for my kids. I tend to cry instead of being calm and assertive and confidant.   It's what I fear and dislike the most about this parenting thing.

So if you know us and love us, please pray for our son.  First and foremost, he needs to know we love him, and that lots and lots of you love him too.  Second, he desperately needs a friend at school.   Lord, we need someone to come out of the woodwork who loves You, to stick up for him and reach out to him so he knows he's not the freak that he's told he is everyday. To see him for the talented, witty, creative and all around good kid that he is.   And please pray for courage and wisdom for me and Greg as we wade through this mess and try to do right by our son. 

Praying for Haiti...

Click here to make a donation...do it now. please?

We sponsor two children thru Compassion International. Our boy, Oscar, is in Columbia, and the other is in Haiti. Her name is Samuella and on January 12th, the day the world literally came crashing down around them, she was celebrating her 13th birthday. She shares a birthday, down to the year, with our own Coleo.  

We can only continue praying that she and her family are somehow alive and safe. I have no idea how long it will be before we learn how the earthquake impacted her life and how the Compassion project fared that serves her area. Please also pray for Compassion as an organization as they begin to re-build their ministries. 

Other so very easy ways to help...

Donate $10 to The Red Cross by texting “Haiti” to 90999.
Donate $10 to Compassion by texting "Disaster" to 90999.