Friday, November 30, 2007

A really bad day, that just got better

Original Post--
Today was one of those days. I had a horrible day at school. You know the day, nothing goes right, NOTHING. I love what I do, but on days like today, I would rather curl up in a ball at home than deal with the things I dealt with today. Working with special needs kids is usually a challenge, but always a blessing. Today, I had a hard time finding that blessing.

Actually, I didn't find it at school. I found it at home. As a family, we serve our church by being host parents to students from SWOSU. We have had lots of them in the 6 or 7 years we have been doing this. Our "kids" are all over the country now. We have them in Alaska, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, you get the idea. They are all blessings to us. What we do for our "kids" we do without regard for any "payback". They just need a "home" and that we can provide. These kids often do things for me that blesses me and I don't think they realize it. I have one sweet daughter, Meredith, who has the knack of calling "home" just when I need to hear her voice. She has been a memeber of our family for almost 3 years, but she has moved to Texas. She still calls just when I need her too. Tonight, three more of our kids, blessed me without even realizing what they were doing.

I needed a break tonight. After a tough day at school, I didn't want to deal with my own kids. They are great kids, but they are KIDS! Brittni and Ari have been at each others throats for the past couple of days. It has gotten so bad, that I made them go to their room and stay there until they could work out their differences. They didn't come out until the next day! They aren't here right now. They are with Brady and Stefanie. Brady took them to the Surf Shop to play RockBand. Then he took them to the Coffee Cup and now they are at Brady's house where Stefanie has joined them. They are not here fighting. As a matter of fact, they are having a GREAT time and not fighting at all. Just being teenagers with their older brother and sister!

While they were gone, the boys and I ran to Braum's to buy milk. When we came back there was a pick up backed up to our house. As usual, I panicked first and thought second. Once I realized, I knew the pick up, I knew exactly what was going on. Jesse, another one of our great adopted kids, was unloading firewood on the side of our house. Firewood, cut and stacked, and ready for winter. What an amazing thing that was. We needed fire wood, we don't have the time to cut it and who wants to pay for it? It was Jesse's way of "paying" us back for our weekly supper and Survivor nights.

These kids have no idea what they have done for me. Just when I needed a boost, they gave it. Sometimes I forget the good and only focus on the bad. I am working on that and these kids have helped me see that today.




--Edit--Ok, so when God puts someone in your path to bless you He is in control. I think he knew I needed an extra boost. A former host student just showed up. He just recently moved from far Eastern Oklahoma back to OKC. During the move everything in his Uhaul was stolen. Everything except his electronics which where moved the weekend before in his pickup. Now, Shawn hasn't had it easy and the last year has been paticularly tough. He brought a student to Weatherford with him from a summer job last year. We took James in as one of our adopted kids, but soon realized he needed more than just a family. We moved James to an older couple in our church who could do more for him. We did help him get his birth certificate and some other papers that allowed him to enroll at SWOSU. James took his own life in January 2007. Shawn took this especially hard and seemed to struggle everyday from then on. He moved away and apparently that didn't work. Shawn has fought back from a terrible ordeal and now is working at a private school in OKC and volunteering again at his church. Praise the Lord. Now back to Shawn's visit. Do you know what he brought us? FIREWOOD! Stacked very neatly right next to Jesse's wood on the side of our home. The girls didn't get home until 9:30. They ended up eating supper with Brady, Stefanie and Rachel, who joined them after coffee. Brittni had a school function, they took her and picked her up! Wow! What a great day Friday turned out to be.

2 comments:

Meredith said...

that is random! twice in one day! i almost cried when i read your blog. i am sorry your day was tough. it's the weekend, take a bubble bath and relax! i can't wait to see y'all!! you have no idea! i should probably go to bed now! have a wonderful weekend! miss you guys!

Meredith said...

you are right! but i still can't believe they think i want to drop out of pharmacy school everytime i say that i wish i could be somewhere instead of here. i did talk to my mom again, and she said everything was fine. i'm not going to worry about it anymore. i will DEFINITELY be coming back to W'ford, how could I not?!! See you soon!!! Looking forward to the package! Love y'all!