Home from Vegas and the first thing I did was get the mail. We have been anxiously awaiting Ryan’s High School Placement Test scores since January…and they are in. He placed in Top 3% nationwide!!! Because of this achievement St. Thomas High School not only accepted him but awarded him a Fr. Roche Academic Scholarship for all four years! Neal and I are so proud we can’t hardly contain it. He is out on a boat in the middle of the sea and he won’t even find out till Friday. Ryan was concerned he wouldn’t make it into St. Thomas. He’ll be thrilled. 😉
Ryan has come so far in the past 10 years and he is a true testament that persistence pays off. He knew at the young age of 4 that he was ‘different’ and with the ADHD and Impulsivity Diagnosis he had to learn early on that if he wanted to succeed he needed to work hard to overcome some of the issues those diagnosis brings. Instead of allowing it to be a hardship he has turned it around and ever since being off medication since 4th grade continues to show that he can do it.
He has his set backs, as we all do with our own personal personality issues, but he is my champion. I’m blessed by both of my sons and thank God every day that I have the opportunity to know them and to watch them blossom into who He created them to be.
If you have a child dealing with any of the more current and more prominent and widely diagnosed ‘issues’ remember Ryan and know that they are no different than any other child. The diagnosis does not define them.
As I promised in yesterday’s blog I needed to make up for my lack in showing up and I asked God if He would give me the opportunity. Well if you would believe, He did! 😉 Just a few hours after writing that blog and saying a prayer I met Holly downstairs at the Craps table (of all places…I know, bare with me) and it was an empty table. So the dealers start talking to us as we are playing, they are showing us more ways to bet and actually helping us win. Not long into the round I’m asked what I do for a living (yes, while being the ‘shooter’…) and I told them I was an ‘inspirational speaker and author’. At that moment I didn’t say anything about faith but then a few minutes later the dealer standing right next to me started asking me more questions and I got the chance to talk to him about faith and what I speak about. He told me he was a very faithful person and we talked about how the Encore (which is where we were) was the nicest casino because it didn’t have a lot of the cursing (I know, I know) and obnoxious occurrences like most of the other casino’s.
We kept up the conversation the entire time Holly and I played and by this time the table was full and the other men stood to the dealer’s other side were listening to this exchange. Who knows what they were thinking but I have to say it was awesome. When I left he shook my hand and said, “May God continue to bless you for what you do. I’ll be praying for you.”
Yes, in VEGAS! 🙂
I was true to myself and had a great time!
Blessings
Shannon