Our star

Austin and Dalton receiving FCC Lufkin Scholarships..the fun pic with Cory Glover, friend and Associate Pastor of Youth at our church.

Austin and Dalton receiving FCC scholarship

Austin receiving his Lufkin HS alumni association scholarship

Austin with Mrs. Chandler (LHS alumni scholarship award donor)

Let me tell you a little about our son Austin. Austin was born with Cerebral Palsy. He does not have a bad case of CP but he does have poor muscle tone and also deals with the mental challenges regarding maturity that CP can cause. He also has what is called Duane's syndrome (it's a third cranial nerve palsy that causes him to be deaf in one ear and the nerves that control one of his eyes do not work correctly..he can't turn the eye in). He has undergone several eye surgeries to try and make his eye as straight as possible since he doesn't have good control of it.

Austin is also bi-polar.. you may have heard it called manic/depression in other times and places. He has to take medication to control that. He also deals with attention deficit disorder. Dyslexia is another challenge he deals with and it affects his ability to learn. Reading is a huge struggle for him. Austin gets overwhelmed easily in large crowds (I think he gets that from my dad and myself.. he has some normal junk like other people have too).

Life has been a struggle for Austin from the beginning. He has also been a fighter the entire time.. sometimes the fight has been with his mom or myself to NOT do what needed to be done in school.. but then again all parents deal with that too.

Austin has never made the greatest grades but he has worked hard to do the best he could. We get wonderful reports from his teachers. They like him. He is kind and helpful (his mom and I wonder who they are talking about..again, I think other parents have these experiences too).

Tonight the Lufkin High School Alumni association recognized that Austin is an overcomer. He has dealt with some major challenges in his life and has persevered. LHS alumni assoc is awesome. I have teared up several times since I got the news that he would receive this award. Tonight at the awards ceremony I started crying again. He has also received a scholarship from our church. Awesome!!!

Wow, my boy, who has had so much to deal with (and still has so much to deal with) has been recognized for his efforts and rewarded financially for it. I wouldn't have cared it it would have been twenty-five cents, the fact that he was recognized by his wonderful church and the wonderful people at the LHS alumni association was enough for me to be overjoyed.

I do love my community and my church. Thank you for recognizing the efforts of someone who has had so many challenges thrown at them. Blessings to you all.