The Gift of Joshua

Eight years ago a journey began. One week ago that journey at least in part ended. It was at about this time of the year 8 years ago that Dave and I began to seriously throw around the idea of homeschooling. It started with a comment on my part...."Maybe, we should keep him home next year and I could homeschool him." Followed by Dave's comment...."I have been thinking the same thing." With that our homeschooling journey began. Caleb was finishing up 2nd grade at Evergreen Elementary Scool in Sedro-Woolley, WA and Joshua was finishing up Kindergarten. It had been a tough year of school with Joshua.....some teasing, many tears on his part and much anxiety on his mom's part. There were positive things, good things as well but the highlights were often clouded by the hard things. Through it all I believe the Holy Spirit was nudging us towards homeschooling. So we began the journey with Josh in 1st grade. Caleb continued on at Evergreen and Micah started preschool twice a week that year but it was not long before both Caleb and Micah joined us at home. The four of us with lots of input from Dad at the dinner table had 5 years of learning and growing together. I would not trade those years for anything. I loved learning with my boys at home....incorporating the Word of God into everything we were doing, being able to have so much input into their lives. It was an amazing time for this mom. If it were up to me I would have probably kept doing it all the way through high school and beyond. But it was not up to me and 2 years ago Dave and I both knew that it was time to send Caleb back into the public school setting. We believed it would not only benefit him but that he had gifts and abilities that God wanted to use among his peers in the high school setting....and so our journey took a turn but did not end. There were still 2 Ziegler boys left at home.

We took another turn in our homeschooling last week when our journey of homeschooling Joshua ended as we closed the final book on the school year. There have been many many ups and downs....much frustration on Joshua's part and on mine.....laughter, tears, raised voices, great hugs, conversations, concepts presented in a hundred different ways, struggles, victories, defeats. It has all been part of this road and much has been learned along the way....not only on Joshua's part but probably even more so on mine. Joshua is my special gift from my Heavenly Father. From the time he was 3 years old and we realized that he had some speech and language delays through all the years of trying different techniques and therapies to help him overcome his learning challenges to last year when he was diagnosed as MMR he has been a gift. I love all 3 of my boys to distraction. I am so proud of all of them. They are each unique and different with their own special gifts and abilities. But....my Joshua....God gave me a special place in my heart where I hold him. He has had more of an impact on my relationship with my God than any other person in my life. I have prayed over him, cried over him, wrestled with God over him until I have finally reached a place of surrender....knowing that he is God's child....created by God with a plan and a purpose.....knit together.....fearfully and wonderfully made....used by God in the lives of so many. He is a gift. Next year he will be a Rifle High School Bear. He is so excited to go to the high school. Dave and I were not as sure that this was the right turn to take with him but Joshua has known that he wanted to be a Bear for the past two years and he has held onto that dream with everything he's got. I do not know what lies ahead for him there but I do know that God is with him....that there is plan and a purpose for him at RHS and that his God loves him even more than I do. It is hard for me to let him take this step in his own journey but I can do so knowing that I release him into the hands of One who is able to do more than I can even think or imagine in my Joshua's life. I entrust him to our Lord knowing that He is the one who holds tomorrow and because of that I have no cause to fear. Praise be to God Almighty!