During the first week of school, Nate's English teacher gave the parents' homework to tell her a little about our child in a million words or less. Gail wrote the following essay:
Nate or Nathaniel is one of our miracle boys (Nate via fertility medicine). He was born in Michigan in metro Detroit the summer of 2004. He lived there with his family until we moved to Fort Worth for mom’s job in the summer of 2013. From his birth till 2013 he lived in Redford, MI but attended a Lutheran School in Royal Oak, MI from 4 years old through 3rd grade. He struggled with reading/writing until we all agreed there was a problem and found an amazing tutor in 2nd grade. It is our belief that she worked miracles and had some great techniques that clicked with Nate. Now he enjoys reading and we believe a little ahead of the game. We are just so proud of all the hard work he’s done to get where he’s at today. One of his “fun” activities is attending Explore Horizons where he gets enhanced lessons in reading and math. He chose this over the summer instead of various other activities.
Nate has a younger brother, Curt/Curtis who is 4 that is a miracle via adoption. Curt’s from Ethiopia and Nate was able to travel there when we finally became a family of four. He may not think much of Ethiopia as he didn’t care too much for the food, but did get to see how others live in a third world country. While we stayed in the capital, Addis Ababa, he did get to travel outside into the country a bit to see the mud and stick huts compared to city living. While there, he toured museums, saw the replica of Lucy’s bones, visited old churches and went shopping in one of the markets.
Nate as a person is an emotional, sensitive, smart, obedient, funny and sarcastic kid. His first day of middle school he described as anarchy as kids were not walking on the right paths and not following the instructions given. I believe he’s seen this change but it shows his humor and rule following mindset.
Nate’s passion and dream job is video games and architectural design. He’s already looking into the top universities in the country that offer various gaming and design degrees. During the summer, he asked if we could visit UT Austin as they have one of the top programs in the US. Last year he and his buddies started a club, S.W.A.N. (secretly we are nerds) and he worked to promote it online (sites approved and overseen by dad) during the summer. Art may not be his strong area, but he is very creative and enjoys various crafts and painting secretly with mom. With dad its movies and comics.
Nate only has one living grandparent, his papa who lives in Florida with his wife (Grandma Mary) who he sees maybe once or twice a year now. They are extremely close since Nate was the first grandchild and born into the world during a crazy time bringing much needed joy. He has an uncle (and family) in Michigan and an aunt (and cousins) in upstate New York. However there is extended family living here in Texas he’s starting to get to know.
We were told some of his goals for 6th grade are to be in the top 50 so he can attend a special camp later in the year. He also was interested in the Whiz Kids group that was discussed at the orientation in early August.
