Well, THAT can't be right, can it?
It's borderline
ANYway, as if we didn't have enough excitement with the Tim Tebow "Night To Shine" prom on Friday night...we had to get up early and head out-of-town for Joshua's Powerlifting competition for Special Olympics. The weigh-in and warm-up was at 9 a.m., and it's an hour away...so we were up and around and out the door pretty early. I mean, for a SATURDAY.
Clark's girlfriend, Faith, came with us...and so did Holly. Aaron-the-son-in-law couldn't come at the last minute, because one of his grandfathers passed away. And Jim's parents met us there. Joshua was thrilled with his cheering section.
For the Powerlifting competition...and this is just for my memory and for some who read this and are just wondering...the athletes are broken into age and weight for scoring purposes. The first part of the compeition is bench-press, and the second part is dead-lift. Each athlete gets 3 tries at each one and they go in a rotation. Each athlete, or their coach, will choose their starting weight for their first lift. If they make it, then the next round they will try to lift more. They will have 3 rounds of bench-press...and then a break...and then they will have 3 rounds of dead-lift.
Joshua's max lift for bench-press at this meet was 145 lbs, and his max lift for dead-lift was 200 lbs. Impressive, right?
Even more impressive was the fact that he weighed in before competition at a whopping 116.5 lbs.
Strength. Perseverance. Determination.
How do you define it?
Joshua works out in his room every day. If he's up there watching TV, he is doing sit-ups or using bands or free-weights. I think I've written before about hearing crashing going on up there and when I call up to check on him, he'll say: "I'm okay. Just doing marshal-arts!" Jim also takes Joshua to the gym at least 3 days a week. Joshua loves to be fit and healthy, and he works very hard at it.
His hard work was rewarded on Saturday with THREE gold medals. He won the bench-press for his age/weight division. He won the dead-lift...and he won the combination (which is the two max weights added together) with a total of 345 lbs.
So proud of our big man.
After the awards ceremony, we all had lunch and came home. My in-laws drove to their house. Holly went to her house. Clark and Faith went to Faith's parent's house. And it was just Jim and I and Joshua.
And it was Valentine's Day.
We were so stuffed from lunch that nothing really sounded good for dinner, and we didn't really care anything about going out and fighting the crowds. Jim finally said that maybe "breakfast for dinner" sounded good, and he got up to cook sausage and bacon and eggs. He said that he wanted toast, but I made a few biscuits for me and Joshua.
Life with Joshua is WONDERFUL and EXCITING and FULFILLING and I wouldn't change it for the world. He is such a blessing to our lives and to the lives of others. Many times I feel unworthy of the calling God has placed on our lives because Joshua is so...cool. He's such an awesome person, and, as I parent Joshua, God teaches me so much about Himself. But this life is also sometimes hard. Sometimes scary. Sometimes uncertain, challenging, frustrating, overwhelming.
But tonight? I sat around our table with my two Valentines, and reflected over the past two days. The love and support that was shown to Joshua by others this weekend was overwhelming, and I felt such a sense of peace. And contentment.
God is good.
"...don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows." Luke 12:7
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