May 12, 2008
Ecstatic!!!
In trying to come up with a word to describe our feelings today concerning Danielle, the best one I can think of is “ecstatic.” Most of you know about the history of Danielle’s story from reading this blog, but in case you do not, here is the quick version. Due to her seizure activity Danielle was not able to complete the History portion of her graduation exams. It was the last of five tests she needed in order to graduate. She had completed all but one English class of her regular course work to graduate. Due to this, we removed her from public school and began home schooling her this past January. At that time she would not get to walk across the stage at graduation with her friends she had gone to school with all but one year of her life. No prom, no more band, no graduation.
Last Friday all of this began to change for her. My mom called us that morning so excited she could hardly read the newspaper. Here is an excerpt from that article.
“The State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to strengthen
requirements for Alabama high school diplomas, but also passed an
emergency amendment to potentially allow hundreds of lower-scoring
seniors to graduate this year.The emergency rule amendment covers graduations over the next 35 days
and allows students who haven’t passed all five sections of the state’s
high school exit exam to graduate if they passed three, including
English and math.”
When we read this we immediately called the school to see if this applied to Danielle. (She was still asleep at this time). When the school’s counselor answered the phone, she said, “I know why you’re calling.” She sounded as excited as we were. When I asked her if this applied to Danielle, she told me that the Superintendent of Education was there and so was the board. This was such a blessing because it usually takes a few days to make things like this happen. The Superintendent not only said she could enroll, but said she would not have to pay the tuition fee. When she came back to the phone she told us that if Danielle chose to, she could re-enroll on Monday (today!). We went this morning and enrolled her and she started classes today.
God willing our Danielle will walk across the stage on May 30th with all of her classmates to receive her diploma as a graduate of Muscle Shoals High School. Awesome!!
When Ellen woke her up and told her this news on Friday, Danielle could not even talk because she was overwhelmed with tears of joy. When she gathered herself, her words were, “This is a miracle from God!!” We think that it is wonderful that our baby girl thought to praise God first.
This is a tremendous victory for a young lady who has had to face adversity throughout the past few years. She has become so strong in her walk with God and her ability to face the battles in her life. I feel that this is God’s way of blessing that courage and faith. Please say a little prayer of gratitude for us today as we rejoice with our daughter’s victory.




