Follow-up

Thanks to all of you who took time to read and comment on my post about Nate's adventure to the chess tournament. Many people have asked how it turned out, so I thought I'd give a follow-up.

Nate did indeed travel with the team to the tournament in Ferndale.

He got checked in and then settled his backpack into a spot at a table in the rec area.

And then he waited. (We found out there's a lot of waiting in a chess tournament.)

The thing is, Nate did a lot of waiting ALL BY HIMSELF.
Yeah, no other 6th grade teammates made it to the tournament...
and all the other team members were competing in a different division...
in a completely separate building on the campus...
and the coach was otherwise occupied as a "floor judge" for...
you guessed it...the upper division in the other building.
(Oh, the things moms are glad they don't know beforehand!)

And yet, Nate just handled it.
By the time I came to watch at noon, he'd played 2 matches (lost one, won one), eaten all his snacks :), and spent his long waits between matches reading his book. What a good kid!

The competition was being held in a cafeteria where about one-third of the room was set up with the chess sets. The students would be in that area during their matches. That end was open to the rest of the room where competitors sat between matches, along with coaches, parents, siblings, and whatever other assorted people happened by. There were probably 90 or so total competitors in the K-3 and 4-6 divisions. Needless to say the "rec" area was very lively and noisy with all the people hanging out there. In and of itself, Nate's ability to tolerate that environment is a huge testament to his growth. And to manage it by himself...awesome!

After all the waiting throughout the day, we decided to forgo an extra 2+ hours of waiting for the completion of the upper division and for the awards ceremonies. We headed home with Nate having finished with a record of 1 win and 4 losses, with some hard-fought matches in the process, and with the winning and losing met with equal grace.

It was a day with much to be thankful for. But for me, as the mom, there was one thing that particularly stood out about that day; something I felt God did just for me. You see, out of the 60 competitors in Nate's division of 4th-6th graders, Nate knew exactly ONE other student. Guess who Nate's first round "randomly chosen" opponent was?
Yeah. The one kid Nate knew.

I don't know that that mattered much to Nate,
but I felt it was God's little message to me,
"See how much I can do, Megan?
I've got it ALL under control."

A friend who has watched Nate through all his years, and who read the chess tournament post said he was reminded of the Ephesians verse that talks about "Him who is able to do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine". Our God is the giver of ALL these good and perfect and compassionate gifts. He is the One who loves and nurtures Nate more than Jim or I ever could. He is the One who has given our family the hands and smiles and voices of so many dear ones through whom Nate has felt His warmth.

We're grateful to Him, and grateful to you.

And we're oh, so proud of Nate.