A couple of weeks ago Nathanael participated in his very first spelling bee. For weeks before the event, Nat worked with Nathanael on the long list of 450 words. The words ranged in difficulty level for students in 1st through 8th grade. With all of the time and effort that Nathanael put into learning the list, he could spell every single word! (Some of the words we had to look up in order to know how to pronounce, but it was a good learning experience for everyone involved.) A few of my personal favorites were curmudgeon, lugubrious, woebegone and cumulonimbus. (We knew what that last word meant, it just always made us laugh because we thought of the little boy, Russel, in the movie UP.)
The night before the spelling bee Nathanael prayed that he would do his best and that he would be able to remember the words that he studied. The next morning at the spelling bee we were on pins and needles as we waited for Nathanael to get his first word. I think I was more nervous than he was. I thought my heart would pound right out of my chest! Nathanael spelled his first word correctly and continued to spell each word that he got correctly until there were only four out of 43 students left. It was obvious that each of the children left could spell the words on the list that was given to them, so the judges decided to pull out a list that the four children had never seen! I knew we were in trouble. Nathanael's first word off the list was "dangle." Easy enough right? He spelled the word "d-a-n-g-a-l" and that was the end of the spelling bee for him. He finished 4th.
Even though he didn't finish in 1st place like he wanted, we are so proud of him and all of the hard work that he put into learning the 450 words! He can't wait to participate in the spelling bee again next year.
