Congratulations

This school year flew by. In the beginning, Vanessa could not stand loud and high noises, so she covered her ears and usually fell to pieces when she heard them. Her nerves were so rattled some days, she would chew off her nails and suck on the sleeves of her shirts. She didn't like the sounds of the bells, the alarms, and whistles. She worried she would miss hearing the whistle announcing the end of recess. She worried she'd forget computer passwords and/ or type them in wrong. She worried she would forget her library book on library day. She feared giving the wrong answer even when there was no right answer. She worried others would be left out. Most of these things I could never have imagined being challenges for her.

But in the end, Vanessa has overcome a huge part of her sensitivity to loud noises. She never missed hearing the whistle and was always on time. She always typed the password correctly (except for when another student left the caps locked.) She focused on earning green faces and earned one every day she was in attendance. She was trusted to go to the library by herself, using her own library card, and she always returned books in a timely manner. She ran errands to the office. She took her time to color in the lines when told she had to. She encouraged every friend to participate and to try his or her hardest. She protected her friends from intimidation of bigger school kids. She earned Smart Cars for enthusiasm and responsibility, which were displayed in the school's hallways.

Congratulations, Vanessa! You shine so brightly!

Below are the lyrics to one of Vanessa's favorite songs. It makes me smile to think this may have been her theme song for the year. You can click on the title to hear the YouTube version. She also likes the song Gold a lot. It's linked at the end of this post. Vanessa is like her dad when it comes to ease with memorizing quotes and lyrics to songs. I love to hear HER sing and dance to these.

"Ready Or Not"
(feat. Lecrae)

I tried to cover my shine
I've tried staying in the lines
I I I don't wanna hide
No not tonight
You you you want me to take my light
Fit it in your box right
I want u to look me in the eye eye eye

Ready or not
Here here here I come
I'm about to show you where the light comes from
Oh, oh, oh ready or not here here I come
This is who I am
I wont hide it
I'm a take it all over the world
To the young to the old every boy and girl
Ready or not here I come
I'm a show the world where the love is

I'm not ever selling out love
A love out loud is what it's all about
Giving everything to see the lost get found
Yeah, it's going down
You, you, you want me to take my light
Fit it in your box right
I want u to look me in the eye eye eye

Ready or not here here I come
I'm about to show you where the light comes from
Ready or not here here here I come
This is who I am
I won't hide it
I'm a take it all over the world
To the young to the old every boy and girl
Ready or not here I come
I'm a show the world where the love is

[LECRAE]
I refuse to keep this buried deep inside of me
Yeah this little light of mine, it's time to let it shine a bit
'Cause there's no point in hiding it
It's everything I am
The source of all my hope
And it's the reason why I stand
And I pledge allegiance to be somebody real
There's no more holding it back
I'm showing them how I feel cuz love is more than a word
It's a noun, and a verb, and hiding it is absurd
Ya heard

Ready or not here here I come
I'm about to show you where the light comes from
Ready or not here here here I come
This is who I am
I won't hide it
I'm a take it all over the world
To the young to the old every boy and girl
Ready or not here I come
I'm a show the world where the love is

"Gold"