A Celebratory Day for My Men!

I made a new recipe of caramel nut brownies. They were a complete flop, but we ate the gooey mess tonight anyway to celebrate two wonderful happenings...

1. Joshua officially passed kindergarten (and secondarily, Eric and I completed our first full year of homeschooling!). A friend of ours from church, who happens to be a certified K-3 teacher, came over today to do an assessment with Joshy. An assessment with a certified teacher was required in order to fulfill the accountability requirements for our school district. I think I was more nervous than he was. We had gathered a portfolio of his work, along with a written overview of the year. Susan looked it all over and then talked directly to Joshy. She asked him questions about his math, whether he liked school, what he liked to learn about best, and what his address was (incidentally, she didn't ask his phone number, but he piped up to inform her that he did not know his own phone number, but that he did know his Papa's phone number by heart, which he does).

The most nerve-wracking moment for me was when she asked him to pick a book and read it to her. I had just brought home a bag of easy readers for Joshy, but he hadn't read through any of them. He proceeded to pick one of the most difficult ones and started to read. I was hoping he would have picked one that I knew he could read, but no. He picked "Danny and the Dinosaur". Not only had he never read it, but I knew it would be a challenge for him since it contained words he had never tried to read.

Well, apparently I need to have more confidence in my son.

He read the entire book wonderfully with few mistakes. The words he didn't know, he sounded out correctly. He even offered his thoughts on every illustration. When he finished, Susan informed him he passed kindergarten. He smiled brightly, and I felt like shouting and running around the house. I was so impressed! WOO-HOO!

2. Eric ROCKED his P.A.! That probably doesn't make sense to most of you. Every year Eric has a personal assessment with his boss. Today was that day. He did the best any employee of his boss has ever done, and while the actual numerical rating probably wouldn't mean much to anyone outside his company, let's just say he rocked. In fact, his boss said he'd like to get Eric a t-shirt that says "Rockstar" on it to wear at work.

I think the best part of it all is that it is just wonderful to work hard and have someone acknowledge that work. And boy does my man work hard! This has been a stressful season for Eric as he's had to head up projects that are, as he told me, way over his head. But with the grace of God, and despite a not-always-gracious wife, he's clearly succeeding in his job.

Obviously, no matter how we are rated by men, ultimately how we are "rated" by the Lord is of utmost important. Eric's boss is a Christian and attends the same church we do. Matt (Eric's boss) knows Eric works unto the Lord and not unto man. It's always awesome when a Christian man is truly authentic; the same man Matt sees worshiping hard on Sundays is that same man working hard on weekdays (and weeknights and weekends and holidays...).

Hooray hooray for my hard-working men!