September

It has been an interesting month for us. The kids started back to school, Darin has been super busy with work now that his branch has opened, and I've finally started back to work at the preschool. With Darin's hectic schedule we have seen very little of him this month. He hasn't had a day off, or even a lunch break for that matter. The branch is doing a special offer that you get $200 for opening an account, so everyone is coming in and he has been getting done around 7 everyday and going in around 7:30 every morning. We are so thankful that he isn't commuting any more but we miss our evenings and Saturdays with him. He (and his employees) are getting pretty burned out and we are all counting down the days until the special offer is over (6 days left!).
The kids are swamped with homework and activities and so their evenings have been filled. Calin has been feeling the harsh effects of Jr. High and we are hoping and praying that he gets through these years less traumatized than most of us. He had a random run-in with a tree the other day. And I mean that literally. He was at a park with his class collecting bugs for a science project, and being a boy, he and some other kids were throwing pine cones at each other. Calin forgot to look where he was going and ran straight into a tree. He knocked himself out, chipped some teeth, hurt his knee pretty bad, and hurt both arms. The school called for us to pick him up but a trip to the doctor showed he was okay. We kept a close eye on him because of his head injury and he took a week off gymnastics. He isn't entirely recovered yet, but he's getting there. His arms are still tender (an X-ray showed they weren't fractured) but they are getting better.

His face just had this little scratch.

Waiting for the dr. The nurses got him a wheel chair because he couldn't put weight on his knee.

Naiya is now a latchkey kid, she gets home from school half an hour before I do. She made a comment that really made me feel bad about it, she said she wished I was home when she got here so that she could tell me about her day because by the time I get home she forgets things. We've devised a system now so that when she thinks of something she wants to tell me she just jots down a few words that will spark her memory and then we go over the list when I get home. So far it's helping us stay connected. Naiya has made another comment several times lately that she's glad kids get closer to their parents as they get older. I love that she feels that way, she is such a ray of sunshine in my life.
I've started back to work recently. I'm working with a new teacher and that has been an adjustment as she does things differently than what I'm used to. But I like her a lot and I think I will enjoy working with her. I was given more hours this year, working full time at 30 hours. I am the classroom aid and have hours in between classes to help the teacher with prep work. I'm also the aid in an ELL classroom working with one of the other paras who is teaching it. That puts me at 6 hours a day, and that couldn't be more perfect. My job is challenging at times, easy, but challenging. It's difficult to help strong-willed children adjust to a classroom setting, to help emotional children who have a hard time transitioning or being away from mom. Even things like potty accidents can be tough because poopy underwear is extra gross when it's not your own kid. Today a kid farted on me, which was more funny than anything, but yuck. Some days I feel like there are not enough hours in the day, and I'm frustrated that I can't be in more than one place at a time.
But still, I feel the enormity of the blessing this job is in my life. The hours keep me occupied in my down time, and they allow me to be there at the crossroads as my people come and go, which is my highest priority. With the exception of Naiya getting home alone, I am still able to help with homework and personal struggles and driving the kids where they need to be. My family will always be the most important thing to me and I'm thankful that God has given me the ability to be there for them in all the ways that I want to be, and still have a job that allows me to be with other women and bring in a paycheck to help with our finances. I sometimes find myself in awe of these simple ways in which I can see God's hand in my life. Sometimes my challenges feel so consuming that I'm sure God must have abandoned me somewhere along the way, but then I see little reminders like this that prove to me that he does see me, and know me, and love me. Yes it's cliche to say it, but I am very blessed indeed.