Double Delight, Year Two

It's been a year since our little seven-year-old twins stepped inside a school for the first time in their lives. Then they had zero knowledge about the ABCs, colors, numbers, and shapes.   

What a difference a year makes!

Now eight years old, here they are—about two inches taller, a few pounds heavier, and many notches smarter.

 
They now know their alphabets, arithmetic, all shades of the rainbow, and all the animals in the forest.  They can read both English and Filipino, and write quickly and legibly.

One of them (I cannot tell who's Nikka and who's Maika) even made it to the top five in the honor roll!  And the other, came fourth in a tula (declamation) contest!

Every Saturday afternoon they continue to come under Tony's grilling (he calls it tutoring), and every Sunday we see them in church attending Sunday School.  Yes, they are growing in their relationship with the One who created and made them who they are.

Once in a while they still forget to say “thank you,” but they learn fast and with enough reminders, being grateful will become an integral part of their lives. Growing up in a dark hovel they call home, with poor, unschooled parents who speak rough in their tough crowd, the twins are, no doubt, walking miracles.   

We who live different lives try to help, but we can never do enough; we keep wishing we could do more.

In the beginning, my hard-driving husband tried teaching them the proper way of reading and speaking English. They struggled with that—they hear English words only in school and on Saturdays when they watch DVD in our home. So after a month, Simon Legree, Jr. changed strategies. He made them read Filipino instead, which they excell in.

His reason: “If nothing else, they should be at least literate in our native tongue; and that should help them get around when they become adults.”

But to our surprise, today, they could speak simple English confidently, as reported by their teacher!

The biggest surprise for me, though, is the change in the one dream they shared.

“What would you like to be when you grow up?” I asked when they came to our home that first day.

“A salesgirl at SM,” they whispered in unison.

I asked the same question one year later.  Their answer came brightly: “A teacher!” 

When God helps little people, he does so in a big way.  And the grace He unfailingly lavishes upon our twins includes us, too.