Grieving

Today 15 of Alex's friends met to give each other comfort and support. (A huge thank you to East Bayou for letting us meet in their coffee shop.) All but 2 of the 8th grade graduating class of 12 got to get together.

Alex would have loved to have been with everyone.

He thrived on being with his friends. I'm not sure he ever really knew a stranger. He was kind to everyone. My first graders looked forward to having him play games with them once a month. Alex loved being in the middle of everyone.

Even though it wasn't exactly appropriate, I took pictures of the kids who got together today. Alex loved to pose for pictures. He was one of the few kids who liked to be in them. I think the girls are worse about not wanting to be in pictures than the boys. Since I taught all but 5 (Ash, Shelby, Thomas, John Dee, and Stephan) of the kids there, they let me take pictures without too much complaining.

My 4th grade class (Ben, Josh, Randee, Trevor, Lindsey, Taylor, Sara, Brooke, Kiley, and Tyler) was Alex's first year at First Baptist.

When a few of us dropped by the house today, his mother told us that he loved his teachers and his friends. She knew how much we loved him, too. She said that he was a good boy. I would agree (Even though he liked to point out that I gave him his first demerit along with Brooke, Kiley, and Sarah for writing in the playground tunnel.) .

Alex will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Please pray for his family, Marie, Bill, and his sister, Ivana (who is a year older than he was).