He still moves stones

Something that I'm learning is very important in my line of work and ministry is to find small victories and to celebrate them.  Development is challenging and has many setbacks but what is so critical is to remember how far these precious children have come and to give thanks.  So today - I give thanks to God for some incredible achievements in my boys' lives.  

Sweet Angel has honestly grown to LOVE to read.  He picks up a book and refuses to put it down.  He read every single Captain Underpants book I had in Spanish in 10 days.  And then he read the entire Stink series in a week.  And I have to praise God that this reading practice is helping to give Angel words - he is communicating verbally which is HUGE for him.

Below is one of our newer boys - Arturo.  He is currently in 4th grade and this is his first year ever in school.  He was incredibly nervous to read to me when he first moved in with us but has since become a very good little reader.  He loves the Clifford books.  I do believe that God is going to fill in a whole lot of gaps that this precious child missed out on in his childhood.  

Above are 2 of my boys who got STRAIGHT A'S this past quarter in 6th and 7th grades respectively.  They are both super smart but struggle a bit with self confidence.  Mikey could not believe that he got 1st place for best grades in his class.  He said for days, "I can't believe that I got 1st place.  I never thought I'd ever get one of the top 3 places.  I never thought I could get such good grades!"  Here's the thing though - I knew all along that he could and was thankful for the opportunity to tell him that.  I wanted to scream at him, "like HELLO!! you are sooooo smart!!"

And above is probably the best image of them all.  Sweet little Alex who is now in 1st grade read to me for the first time a few weeks ago.  I can't tell you how many thousands of times I've read books to him over the years.  And now he is reading to me!!!! That's about as beautiful as it gets folks.... beautiful. 

Be encouraged friends - God is moving and He loves these children.