Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Micah Earns the Presidential Fitness Award

One of the meanings to the name "Micah" is "Messenger with beautiful feet"....and those feet have wings! I remember when we picked him up in Ethiopia I was told, "He runs kinda funny because of his feet being so bad." That night as I rubbed his feet with shea butter I saw the most beautiful feet I had ever seen. I couldn't see anything wrong with them....perfection. I wish they could see him run now...he's so fast and smiles the whole time he runs, but with a determination.
As Micah was taking the Presidential Fitness test, all I could think about was the day I had received his medical file forwarded from an orphanage in Addis Ababa. When Micah was first brought to the orphanage, 14 months ago, his feet were so damaged that they did not know whether they would ever be normal or even be saved. After months, even years without any shoes his feet were grossly infected, swollen and had open sores where eggs had been laid.
Just a few minutes after I read those words on his medical report my mother in law, Kathy, called me to share what she had found on the name we had picked for our son in Ethiopia. "Micah", she said, "means messenger with beautiful feet." There was no way she could've known what I had just found out, but God knew. He knew I needed to hear that.

So today as coach Lori announced who had earned the Presidential Fitness award I watched his face. He had no idea what he had just accomplished, but he loved the applause. He didn't know that he "couldn't" or "shouldn't have been able to".

To think that 14 months ago he was on the streets of a northern village in Ethiopia barely able to walk without pain. Now in America, he had just earned an award only the best of the best athletes get. He did it having fun. At one point he grabbed the measuring board one more time just to see if he could go a little farther than before.
Micah is also loving to play soccer. They have him on a 9-10 year old team! The boy can play...and loves to play.
Micah is learning to swim. His body is pure muscle so he sinks fast, but something tells me...it wont take long til he's swimming like a fish.
We went out and celebrated Micah and McKenzie (2 years in a row!) earning the Presidential award. Matthew also did amazing, but the boy has his father's flexibility!!! We all love to laugh about it. Hey, better than crying!