At the end of the summer. I set up a time to meet with Pipo's 4th grade teacher. She knows our family, as she had Kaleigh before, but I wanted to give her as much background as I could on Pipo. I spent nearly an hour telling her his history, and how things had gone so far school-wise. Throughout the conversation she kept commenting on how 'lucky' he is to have ended up in our family. I just kept quietly repeating that we are the lucky ones, that I can't even explain how much he has added to our lives. She smiled and nodded, but it was obvious she didn't really understand what I meant.
At our recent parent conference, I sat down with this teacher and got my first look at Pipo's 4th grade report card for the term. But she didn't start out about his grades, or about any academics at all. She started out with "I was wrong... I get it now... I so totally get it." She was almost teary as she told me how she couldn't imagine what I was talking about back in the fall, when I was saying 'we' were the lucky ones, but that now that she had spent these months with Pipo, she knew exactly what I had meant. She went on to tell me stories about how much my son has added to the class, the inspiration and enthusiasm he brings to each and every student there, and to herself as well. She talked about a recent field trip where Pipo was just bursting with excitement at every new thing, and how she realized they truly were new things to him, and he genuinely appreciated it all. So many times teachers take these kids on field trips and they get that 'been there done that' attitude. American kids can take so much for granted, but the class seeing everything fresh through Pipo's eyes was a whole new experience for this teacher. And she sees this every day in her class... she 'gets' it now.
Hands down, the best parent conference I have ever attended.
*PS... and mom brag here... my son, who was struggling with basic phonics last year, made honor roll this term doing the regular 4th grade curriculum... Go Pipo!
10 comments:
Thanks for linking to me, indeed we feel like the lucky ones as well. Great story.
Wow! What an awesome story about the Parent Teacher conference. I'm so glad you wrote it down so that one day Pipo can read this! I feel lucky to have been able to read about it today. Thanks for sharing this.
:)
Heather
That is awesome!! Pipo sounds like such a great, great kid. He must be a strong-hearted and hard-working boy!
So happy for you, Pipo, and your whole family.
Mayhem
Way to go Pipo.
Beverly
Today is the first time I've seen you blog. I love you stories and the way you write. We have had the same "lucky" comments about our son too (adopted from Haiti this October, yeah!). Have a very merry Christmas.
What a gorgeous--er, handsome--son! It's so refreshing to hear the good things about adopted children and what they bring to our families. Check out my daughter singing "Away in the Manger" on my adoption blog and you'll see that she brings so much to us. She is truly my joy and my song. http://ourhaitianadoption.blogspot.com/ (She was a foster care adoption not Haitian)
That is an awesome story. It makes such a difference to have teachers who "get it", doesn't it?
God Bless,
Jane
Fabulous!! What a testimony this is. Gild this post in gold and hang it on the wall.
Thanks for reading our blog. The house in the picture is actually a relative's house we were visiting for Thanksgiving.
When I was checking out you blog I saw your favorite author was Wendell Berry. I hadn't heard of him before so I looked him up and saw that he was from Kentucky where we are from. I am going to have to check one of his books out. Any suggestions?
Take care,
Rebecca
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