Full Potential

Since December, Jonathan has read 20 chapter books!  He read the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid series in like 2 weeks.  And this past month he flew through the entire Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.  Jonathan is in 6th grade and is usually the top of his class academically.  This is the first time he's ever been given books to read and the first time he's read chapter books (since it's not usually part of the Mexican public school system).  Before, Jonathan wasn't being challenged at all academically.  I honestly believe he reads more words per minute than I do.  This past week, he and his older sister were talking about what they were both reading.  His older sister is in high school and in Back2Back's Hope Program and my 6th grader Jonathan recommended a few to his 10th grader sister! How crazy is that?!?!

Likewise in the past 6 months, Miguel has read 13 chapter books!  Miguel is in 5th grade and is super super smart.  He often gets just lost in his books.  His reading location of choice is on the concrete floor.  He lays on the ground, starts reading and just looses all track of time.  I force them to read for 15 to 20 minutes a day.  Miguel oddly enough likes to whine and complain about how long that is but after he's read for 2 to 3 minutes, he gets so into his book that he'll read for the next 30 minutes to an hour without realizing that he is the only one left reading in the dorm.  He also read the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and read most of them on the weekends in the light of the bathroom while everyone else was sleeping.  He just read several Phineas and Ferb books and has just begun some Jigsaw Jones mystery books.

Sometimes when I look at each of my boys individually - at their talents, abilities, skills, passions, at what makes each boy unique... I ask the question, "in what ways are my boys not being challenged or given the opportunity to develop in a certain area and what can I personally do about it?" My answers to that question usually leave me just wishing and praying that one day they'll get the opportunity to do some extra curricular activities.  One of my boys should be in gymnastics classes.  Several I think would love to play on a soccer team.  One wants to play american tackle football.  One of them is trying to learn to play the guitar.  Others are interested in learning English.  Unfortunately, children growing up in orphanages don't often have these opportunities. Sometimes it is because of lack of funding to pay for such lessons.  Often though, it's the orphanages' inability to have enough vehicles and adults to cart the kids around to soccer practice or the gym.  Most orphanages barely have enough workers to make sure all the kids finished their homework or that their dinner is cooked and can't even dream of driving kids to activities. So they go without. 

I want to challenge my boys.  I want to see them develop and be able to explore what they are interested in.  I want to see them reach their full potential in life. 

My boys have managed to shock my socks off in the past 6 months in the sheer number of books they have flown through.  My loving mother pushed and pulled me to read with whatever tactics she could come up with throughout my childhood because she knew what was best for my future.  So for the past 2 years, I've presented books to my boys over and over again in hopes that they'd read.  6 months ago, I started going 5 days a week to personally make them read to me in exchange for the use of one of my video game systems.  If they read, I leave the game system.  If they refuse, the video games go home with me.  Seemed simple to me.   As the months have gone on, these boys are not only improving drastically in their reading levels but they are also beginning to enjoy and get excited about what they are reading.  Combined, my 8 chapter book readers from Douglas have read over 70 chapter books in the past 6 months alone.  

My boys are smart, handsome, really funny, athletic, sweet, compassionate when they want to be, and each one was uniquely made by God.  He knows their full potential.  He knows the ways that He has gifted each one.  I pray that each of these boys would have the opportunities to explore their unique talents and enjoy them and I tell the boys that all the time. They love to turn that back around at me and ask me, "Caroline how has God made you and what are you good at?"  Try answering that for a 10 year old! But more importantly, I pray that each of these boys would discover who they are in God's eyes and how God has uniquely created and gifted them to be used to further His kingdom here on earth.  God has plans for our lives, for our good and for the good of those around us.  We just need to wake up enough to see it and be bold enough to go through with it.  God wants to use us, we just have to let Him.