Phillip Phillips and Diane the prophet

I've talked before about how each of my boys has a song- one that reminds me of them. No matter what I'm doing, or where I am, when I hear it I immediately think of them. Like for example, I could be eating a 1/2veggie-1/2 meatlovers pizza with some friends at Mellow Mushroom and hear the song "Home" by Phillip Phillips faintly play over the restaurant speakers...... and immediately start sobbing. Hypothetically speaking of course.

That's Judah's song.

Judah- my boy who I have struggled to connect with. My almost 6 year old boy who has learned a new language, new homes, new rules, new brothers, new parents, and a new town all in the last 2 1/2 years. My boy who embodies the words to Phillip Phillip's song:

Hold on to me, as we go

As we roll down this unfamiliar road

And although this wave is stringing us along

Just know you're not alone

Cause I'm gonna make this place your home

Settle down, it'll all be clear 

Don't pay no mind to the demons 

They fill you with fear

Trouble, it might drag you down

When you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you're not alone

I'm gonna make this place your home 

It's like it was written for him. 

But as of this morning Judah has a new song too. It's a little lesser known. It's called "How does your garden groove?" I heard it for the first time today while I listened to he and Seth sing it alongside about 70 other Kindergarten graduates. Those 5 &6 year olds were swaying and clapping and hand-motioning all to the delight of their biggest fans, who were each holding some sort of recording device of course.

Seth was down low on the front row and so I wasn't able to see him at all. Bummer because that kid is a cutie.

Three rows up from Seth was my other little cutie, with a newly shaved summer head, and wearing a bright green shirt and matching hat. Judah sang the first line along with his friends "Mary Mary quite contrary how does your garden groove?"

That one line. That's all it took for me. Cue the waterworks.

This time the tears weren't linked to the lyrics, like in my Mellow Mushroom Meltdown. This time it was the moment that was unfolding before me. There was my boy up on the rafters singing and waving and swaying just like all his friends. And with some pretty good rhythm too I might add. But what started the tears for me was what I didn't see. There was no deer-in-the-head-lights look, no peed pants, no timidity, no hyperactivity, no watching what everyone else is doing so he can figure out what he's supposed to do, no emotional over-reaction, nothing that made him stand out. I couldn't have been prouder of my "average" kid. I'm sure the lady in front of me didn't even notice him. He has come so far. He was just like everybody else.

Erk. Record scratch. Plot twist. Ok the real truth is that Judah isn't exactly like everyone else up there, he isn't technically a kindergarten graduate. He will repeat kinder next year while Seth moves on to first grade. He's not ready academically and I knew he wouldn't be. I asked his teacher to hold him back. The boys public school has a pre-k program and I actually wanted him enrolled for it this past year, but the school district wouldn't allow it. He had already turned five. So last August we were wrestling with several options: 1.) Put him in private pre-k while Seth, Titus, and Levi all went to elementary school without him. 2.) Put him in Kinder in a different class than Seth. 3.) Put him in Kinder and request he and Seth be in the same class.

We worried and worried...so many psychological and behavior dynamics to consider for both he and Seth.  Ultimately we decided on option 3.  And I'm so glad we did. We called it Kindergarten for Seth and practice Kindergarten for Judah, even though they were in the same exact class. And it has been a fun year of field trips and classroom parties with our "twins." As you can imagine there was a bit of explaining to do the first time I met the other classroom moms, and also the boys classmates needed some convincing too. Seth told me on the first day of school no one believed that he and Judah were brothers. To prove it he finally asked Judah aloud, "How many trampolines do you have at your house?" And when it was clear that Judah and Seth both had two trampolines in their backyard then their friends decided that the only conclusion to be made was that Seth Jones and Judah Jones were in fact brothers. Obviously. :)

All morning long I was beaming with pride. I'm so in love with the tiny neighborhood school that my boys attend. Levi and Titus were even allowed to leave their classes for the morning and cheer on their brothers. The graduates finished their music program in the cafeteria and then split up for the after-parties in their classrooms. I was seated along the edge of the room next to an older woman I didn't know- someone's grandma I guessed. At one point Judah came over and was snuggling in my lap for a few minutes. The older woman asked if she could take our picture and then asked for my phone number to send it to me. Sweet, but also kinda weird I thought. I almost offered her my phone to take the picture with, but for some reason I went along with her plan.

A bit later I got this picture with a text:

"I wish I had snapped 10 others before I finally mentioned it to you. Seeing the love between the two of you was God-given, I saw it. Diane."

Cue more tears.

I have never met Diane before. I'm not even sure which child she belonged to. She has no idea who I am, who Judah is, or the drama that is our family. She had no way of knowing I was even a Christian. The longest part of our conversation was me repeating my phone number over and over because she kept fumbling as she was typing it into her contacts. All I know about her is that her name is Diane- I know this only because she signed her text. Oh and of course I know that she is a prophet, one who speaks on behalf of God.

I blinked away my tears and quickly wrote her a text back, "If you knew his story you would understand how much your words mean to me. He was placed in our home from foster care 2 1/2 years ago. He and I have been through some hard months and years figuring each other out and growing our bond. Thank you, thank you for this a million times over. You are exactly right, it is a love the Lord has grown."

My brown twin may not be ready for first grade yet. But this past Kindergarten year he has come a long way in what really matters.

Philip the singer said it first, but now even a stranger, Diane the prophet, can see... Judah is home.