This Smile... A Year in the Making!!

 Though it is a bit fuzzy when cropped to this size, this smile will remain crisp in my mind!
One year ago my sweet Haleigh took on challenge of becoming a "Memory Master."  Hours and hours we poured over the twenty-four weeks of material.  It was a crazy weekend leading up to the testing with Sophie's Artios play, food prep for the cast during practices and plays, and lots more.  There are many excuses I could use but in the end Haleigh did not become a Memory Master.  (Becoming a Memory Master mean mastering all twenty-four weeks of material, recalling it all without prompts or missing any of the facts.  And there are LOTS of facts.  Its an all or nothing test.)  It was crushing to her, to me. Or was it?  In that moment of as she cried and felt the disappointment my heart broke.  When we got home she had me quiz her on each piece of information that she had missed.  Then we celebrated her hard work by getting her ears pierced.

Fast forward to the start of co-op 2014 - 2015 and Haleigh decided this year she WAS going attain the goal she fell a bit short of the past year.  We tried to stay on top of the material throughout the year.  We worked hard and put in the hours and hours of work memorizing the Latin, the states, the trails, the geometry formulas, the irregular verb conjugations, and on and on.  We were on track, feeling good about the end goal when WHAM!  Haleigh and Mark came down with the flu, allergies flooded her, frustration and worry flooded me.

The weekend leading up to the test was less than fun.  We proofed (covering all the material in one sitting) the three times we were supposed to proof but it was not pretty.  The reminder that she did not have to test was discussed, but she was adamant that she wanted to do this.  She had to know she could!  (Even though just weeks after she had tested last year we found she has some learning challenges that would give her every reason to not expect herself to reach this high goal she had set.)

I wanted to shield her, what if she couldn't do it?  I watched her at the closing of co-op last year as she fought back the tears hard as the list of Memory Masters was announced and she was not on it.
BUT, last Monday morning she woke early, reviewed all the material one more time, and we headed to the test.  I couldn't eat, I was a mess as I proofed other students.  She was taking it all in stride.  I wanted to cushion the testing because I felt there was reason to lower the bar for her just a bit.  But God kept pushing me out of the way whispering, "When she gets it you will not doubt that she reached that bar at its highest point."

 As I peeked through the window and got a thumbs up from her proofer I was sweating.  Mark was texting often to see how things were going and why on earth it was taking so long.  This testing that started at 9:00 was finally over at 2:00 with one proud Memory Master and one Mama over the moon with excitement, thankfulness, joy and another lesson from The One who loves her even more than I do!!

This past Thursday was our "Closing Ceremony" for co-op.  When the part of the night came and our dear director was about to announce the Memory Masters I am not sure which of us was closer to bursting!  Haleigh was beaming as she lined up with the others who had reached the goal.  

She did it!!  Memory Master 2015!

A friend once told me, "The more you trust God, the more you will love God."  Over and over God has asked me to trust Him with my Haleigh and oh how He has been faithful and oh how I love Him!