The last couple of weekends at work have been a little rough... Just crazy kids and not a whole lot of support from other staff members has left me coming home in tears from being so exhausted! This weekend was no different. My kids were sick and the nurse had to come in three times this weekend (she is on call for "emergencies" and we try to not call her unless something is seriously wrong with our kids; she should never have to come in three times especially when it's for the same kid). Anyway, it was frustrating and hard and I left Sunday sad and wondering if I was making a difference in these kids lives. All I want is for these kids to feel loved and these last few weekends I have been so heartbroken because I don't feel like I am making a difference. I was chatting with my parents at dinner Sunday night after work and I remembered a conversation that I had with one of my kids on Friday night that almost brought me to tears.
One of my kids I have known for the last 3 years. He came here with no guardians and we had almost zero contact with his parents (sound familiar Amber and Ryan? This is a boy... not Chris). My mom worked really hard to find him a guardian (trying to be his guardian herself... the school wouldn't let her; conflict of interest) and sort of took him under her wing. We have kinda all taken him in and kept an eye on him at school for the last few years (he's one of our "year-round" kids; he's here all school year and 9 weeks during the summer). Anyway, Friday he came into my office (well, it's Dave's office and Dave was gone so I was him for the afternoon and I was in his office) and looked a little sad. I asked him how he was doing and he said he was tired of all of the drama at school. I asked him to elaborate and as he was getting ready to tell me one of the sixth grade girls came in asking him to come out and talk to him. I told her she could tell me too and she was very vague and didn't want to. Anyway, this kid told her that if she wanted to talk to him, she could say it in front of me because he was going to tell me everything that was going on anyway. She was shocked that he was going to tell me the drama and this was his response, "Miss Michaela is like my older sister. I tell her everything." Wow! Sister? Really? I had no idea that this was how he felt. He went on to tell me about the drama and I gave him my two sense about the whole thing which he appreciated and took to heart. It was so nice to actually feel like I was making a difference in at least one kid's lives. It's enough to keep me going back every weekend. Next weekend is Parent Weekend which is usually really sad and hard so please pray for me and my kids (especially the one's who's parents will not be visiting them).
2 comments:
You are awesome Michaela. We think about how cool it will be to talk with Chris, years from now, when she's in college. It will be great to get her perspective on jr.high, as she's able to look back and communicate even clearer than now.
You will get that experience times 50. And you are making such a huge impact.
Dude, I have to say Michaela, I think it's amazingly cool how much you're willing to invest in the kids' lives. You talk about it a good bit on here, about how much you care about them and hurt for them... honestly, it's just beautiful.
I'm sure the kids know how much you care!
Post a Comment