Jump for Joy

I've meant to tell the story of Emily's jump rope team tryouts for quite a while now. It's worth noting for many reasons, not the least of which is so that I can remember it later:)

Jump roping at Em's school is a big deal. They have a 3 teams and a club. I always thought it might be something Em would be interested in and even good at, but she got plugged in to Bible club and decided that was enough for the time being. Then Spring Break came along and the students were challenged with preparing to jump rope to raise money for a great cause once they returned to school. Leading up to the break, the used P.E. time to practice. Em started pulling out her jump rope at home, as a result, and worked REALLY hard at it so that, in her words, "she wouldn't be embarrassed on the day they jump roped at school. Much to her surprise, she totally enjoyed it and was good at it. She taught herself tricks and pushed to get better and better.

So, when they offered a jump rope clinic in April in hopes of preparing students for tryouts, she decided she wanted to do it. I couldn't believe all they expected them to do during tryouts (jump in on double dutch, jump in on a single turning rope, and jump rope individually for a minute as best they could). I was nervous.

Then the results day arrived...the day where they were going to post who made the teams. I was assured (I thought) that everyone would at least get to be in the club (since that wasn't tryout oriented). I thought she do one better than that, though, and be on the beginner team.

So, I picked her up from school and this is how the convo went down:

Me: "Hey, how was your day?"

E: "Well, not great. I wasn't on the list."

Me: "Seriously? I'm so sorry, Em. I know you must be disappointed. Are you SURE?"

E: "Yes, I even had my teacher look and I wasn't on there. But, it's ok. I won't give up. I'll try out again next year."

Me: (almost near tears b/c out of disappointment AND pride) "Wow, Em. That's a great attitude. I'm just a little confused, though, b/c I thought everyone at least got to be in the club, no?"

E: "I don't know."

So, I decided I couldn't live with this all weekend. I turned the car around and headed back to school. Not that I wanted to get her on the team, but I just wanted to encourage her that she could be in the club. B/c it was Friday, though, no one was really around to help me. So I asked Em if I could go look at the lists.

As we stood there, I couldn't help but come to the same conclusion...her name was not on the club or the beginner list. Another mom was looking the list over and gave me a slight nod to acknowledge the hard Mom-moment that she was witnessing. I asked if her child had made a team and she said "yes" and pointed to his name on the intermediate team roster. As I followed her finger, there before my eyes, right under her son's name was Emily's name. Yes....that sweet girl had gone all day thinking she didn't make the cut. She never thought (nor did I) to look with hope at one of the more advanced teams. And had she, we would have never seen such humility and grace pour out of her precious heart. I'm so thankful for that. But, I'm also super thankful for that moment when I turned to her with tears in my eyes and the biggest darn grin on my face to tell her that she DID in fact make the team....a team she never dreamed of being on! Pure JOY!!!