Reality,Tears, progress Reports and having faith

Oh things are fine here, and it is certainly not as dismal as the title suggest. But now with our honeymoon time drawing to a close and reality setting in there have been some rough moments. I expected this and was prepared, however no matter how prepared you may be it is still hard for everyone involved.
My mother laughs and tells me the wheel is round.

I think about the dread I had when the progress reports made their way home and in 35 years nothing has changed. Those large butterflies still hover in swirl in my stomach.

This Saturday came and went and the knowledge that school progress reports were ready. The thought was there it lurked in the back of my mind every now and then raising its dark head prodding me to face it. I knew it would be bad for one of the students. He was having a hard time with language and assimilating into a very different culture. Sunday was a crisp fall day and I knew at some point I would have to face reality. As the afternoon sun warmed my office, I sat down and opened the report. My heart sank as if a death warrant had been issued and in a way it had.

My student from China was having a harder time then I thought.

I immediately went to him and brought him the news. He sat on his bed, I sat next to him at his desk that was covered in papers. I thought to myself how hard it must be, our language, letters, culture. I sat quietly not saying anything as he digested what was happening, tears welled in his eyes and then fell across his cheeks.

I waited patiently and when it seemed he was ready I told him all was not lost, we could do this if we all worked together. He seemed relieved yet fearful that no one would really help him. With that we all marched down to the kitchen table and while I made dinner my sweet husband worked with him on his English paper and my son and our German student helped with History and Programming. It was a long night of yawns and frustration. Apparently he has been lost for sometime and his was able to hide it well.

NOTE: It is three days later and I have been monitoring his progress and there has been a very positive move. Our grades have improved far beyond what we thought possible.

Perhaps all we need sometimes to succeed is someone to help not judge us and for people to have faith in us.