I used to love roller coasters. Back in the days of Jr. High and High School I loved going to six flags and riding the Mind Bender over and over. I remember the trip that I first got super motion sick and had to stop and watch my friends take the next ride without me.  The sickness lasted the rest of the day at the park and I knew in my heart it was the end of an era. It’s just gotten worse since then. Then I had kids and I can barely twirl around one time without feeling my stomach wretch.

Life with Little is a roller coaster. Funny enough, I would say it is a Mind Bender too!! Just a week or so ago I was writing of this horrible development at school and wringing my hands as my Lord asked me, once again, to trust Him with the life of my oldest child. My heart was broken. My doubts were mounting. There were tears.

Well, last night was astronomy night at Little’s school. I was dreading going because I was expecting it to be another reminder of her limitations; imagine my joy when she came home from school telling me her tummy hurt and maybe we should stay home. Turns out she was just hungry and we headed out to Olander at 6:30 PM.

Astronomy night is a fourth grade event and an opportunity for the students to report on the planet they have been studying. There were telescopes of different sizes and strengths all over the back lot and we were able to see a star cluster of between 10,000-1 million stars, a galaxy, a nebula, the moon’s surface, a double star, and the star cluster Subaru. IT WAS AMAZING. Bubba was beside himself.

We made our way inside as the students finished the inner planets and got ready to hear reports on the outer planets. Little joined her friends, she put on her white lab coat, and I braced myself. When the Jupiter kids finished fielding questions, Little and two of her classmates walked to the front and introduced themselves. The next 10 minutes were such a sweet gift from our Father. Each time it was Little’s turn to speak, the little girl beside her would smile and point to the place on her index card to help her know where to start. She would whisper, “read loud” and Little would.

They sat down during the Powerpoint presentation. There were pictures upon pictures of Saturn and each girl’s voice filled the room in turn, spewing facts. Little did such an amazing job and her little sing-song lilt made everyone in the room smile. It was beautiful to watch. It was so overwhelming I got a bit tickled. I mean, seriously, how can one little voice have that kind of effect on a room. Amazing.

After the presentation, the girls stood back up to answer questions. A daddy asked about the many colors of Saturn and his daughter gave a quick response. The next thing I knew, Little’s teacher stepped forward and asked the daddy to repeat the question and to ask Little to answer.  “She has more information she can give you, ” said Mrs. Haskett. Watch the video below to see what happened next:

Yep. That’s my girl. I sat there listening to her and my heart was soaring. My joy was mounting. There were tears.

Such a silly little thing, right? But I have to tell you, it is “silly” stuff like that which allows this mommy to go another day. Just think! What if I had skipped Astronomy Night? We would have missed all the amazing stars in the night sky and that super amazing Little Star in the classroom.