Our 5-year-old, on the occasion of his 10th swimming lesson, swam across the pool by himself today!!!  I was SO excited, it was all I could do to contain myself and keep from jumping up and down cheering!  (I was, on the inside, Sweetie!  I was!)  I know he could see it on my face from across the pool.  We aren't allowed to have cameras there, so I was not able to capture any of it.  But I can't imagine that I'll ever forget it.  He's been SO-OOOO close the last few lessons.  But when he's been almost there, he would look up, rather than ahead, and then freez.  Go vertical.  Hold his breath.  And start to sink.

Today, on his first attempt, I saw him reach that place, and it was obvious that he was pushing right through it!  I was so excited!  His teacher could tell, too, of course (he looked up at me to make sure I was watching).  What a neat testimony of hard work, perseverance, overcoming fear....  We can learn a lot of things from swimming lessons, can't we?  (Yes, but seeing as how it's 1:45am, I'll save that for another time.)  For now...I just wanted to congratulate the big guy on his tremendous success!  Way to go, Son!  I'm so very proud of you for pressing on, even when it was hard and a little bit scary!  You prayed, followed your teacher's instructions, and kept working at it.  We talked about doing your best and working hard for the Lord.  Your hard work has paid off, and it was so thrilling to see you swim across that pool today - not once, but FIVE times!!! 

A final tidbit, mostly so I'll remember it...on the last attempt (#5), Mr. H. sat on the steps and didn't even go near Big Guy.  He just told him to go ahead and come on over.  And my brave one went for it, swam the whole way without any adult even near him!!!  He was thrilled with that part of it.  Way to go!!!  And thank You, Lord, for giving him the stamina, courage and determination to work hard.  Thank You for helping it to just "click" for him today so he could experience success!  Our prayers have been answered yet again...