Today was a win.

Today was one of those days that a homeschool mom wishes for.  No, there was no house cleaning fairy that slipped in and magically turned the house into a spotless wonder.  The food did not magically jump into the crock pot.  The kids did not refrain from fighting all day.  Or even most of it.  They did not remember to clean up after themselves.  Actually, school work is still on the table.  There are Legos on the floor. Squinkies and Zinkies are too.  And some cracker crumbs.  I did not wash the supper dishes.  There was an argument before breakfast.  None of those seemingly magical things occurred here today, but what did occur was just as awesome. 

Two huge awesome things, actually.  On the same day.  Isaac has been struggling to read for years.  We tried a traditional approach.  We tried creative approaches.  We wrote words in sand or shaving cream.  We played word games.  We fished for words from our word wall.  We used flash cards, rewards, incentives, whatever we could.  We tried it all.  Twice.  Nothing made it click.  Until today.  He picked up his reader and read a story.  No crying, no hesitation, no sounding out words even.  It clicked.  He did it.  There were even new words.  Then he turned the page and did it again.  Oh, I cannot say there were no tears, because I could not help myself.  He finished flawlessly reading his story, turned those big brown eyes to me and I could see his pride.  Satisfaction of a job well done.  The labor was difficult, but the instant those big, brown, joyous eyes locked onto my tear-filled ones was worth every second. 

I have no idea why it was today.  There was nothing special.  Nothing different.  Nothing new.  We did the same thing for the thousandth time.  It just clicked, and like a rusty flood gate opening for the first time the result was a deluge. It was one of those moments that takes my breath away, where the ah-ha look in their eyes overshadows any difficulties getting there.  But the day was not over yet.  I got another of those moments!

Faith has had difficulties at school for, well, always.  We have succeeded with some, and not quite yet with others.  Something we have been working on is correctly forming letters and numbers.  She has quite a high rate of backwards or malformed letters and numbers.  If she is directly copying something it looks great.  Left to form them on her own and it is hard to read at best.  One thing that we noticed, actually that Angel noticed, is that she writes numbers correctly in the units and hundreds place consistently, but the tens place is always backwards.  Even in number with the same digits.  She would add things like 32 + 23 and have a backwards 5 and a normal 5.  I have been marking her answers as right but making her practice forming the number correctly.  I have written over the backwards ones in red.  We have used sand, pudding, chalk, finger paint and a variety of other media to practice.  Same results- backwards numbers in the tens place.  Ever single time.  Despite me pointing it out she never noticed it before.  It was like she could not see the backwards numbers.  She would lament that they all looked the same to her.

Today she was practicing before a test.  She wrote the multiplication facts on the dining room mirror for several sets of numbers from memory.  Then she stepped back and looked at the mirror.  She moved closer, nose almost touching the mirror.  She stepped back again.  She turned around and said, "Hey, does anybody notice something wrong here?"  I looked up to check her facts.  They were correct.  She said, "No, I mean all these numbers.  I think they are backwards!"  She erased them and wrote them correctly.  On her test not one number was written backwards.  For the first time ever. 

A second ah-ha moment.  Only a few minutes after the first.  Two of our toughest problems.  In one day.  Years of blood, sweat, and tears came before.  Literally.  With an Aspie who has ADD and another ADHD one there were literal blood, sweat and tears.  For long stretches at a time it would occur daily.  On my part.  On their parts. 

But today, today was a good day.  Today was a win.  We never gave up.  We never quit.  And finally, after so much struggle, there was the fruit of our labor.  And it was sweet.  I know that tomorrow we may be back to struggles, maybe even the same struggles.  That is the way life is.  That is the way homeschooling is.  That is the way life with special needs students is.  But days like today, moments like these, the looks of pride, of wonder, of understanding, they stay with you.  Those are the moments I hide in my heart.  The moments I cherish and ponder.  The moments that I take out on days that are not good.  On the days where we have head banging, scratching and biting oneself.  On the days where the tears are not the good kind. 

Days like today linger.  Days like today allow hope to fester.  They allow us to hold onto the idea of success when it seems so far away.  They are gifts from God, miracles that show us to keep fighting the good fight.  Testaments to hard work, prayer, and God's mercy and grace.  And as I head off to sleep tonight, our success still fresh in my mind and heart, I will rest well.  And that rest is the kind much needed during this battle.  A rest filled with joy, with hope, with anticipation, with the promise of another win on the horizon.