Thursday Thankfulness

Meet Max.

Max is the laziest little dog alive. He's pretty cute though.

Alright. I have a lot of updates.

1. Seth passed his Comp! Whoohoo! This means he is still on track for his PhD. Good work Seth! :)

2. I have hinted about a situation for a month or so now but haven't really been sure how much I can share. It is about a student and I'm still not sure of that line. Oh Well!

You have heard me talk about this little girl. I'll call her "N". N's mom is a single parent and has seven kids and another one on the way. I'll just be really honest and admit that N has caused me a lot of frustration in the classroom this year. She has tested my patience many many times. At the same time, my heart has ached for her. For now, things are under control and she is tying very hard to "make good choices" as I say ALL DAY LONG. Seriously though, as long as she is given her AD/HD and Bi-polar medication daily we are all good.

You might remember that I called a meeting with the principal, counselor and her mom to discuss some of these things. In this meeting, I came to find out that this family is barely making it. Mom doesn't have a job, she has all of these kids, no car, the kids don't have coats or uniforms or beds. Think about that- no beds. How often do we take the small things for granted? Come on- I didn't even give my bed a second thought until now. Anyway. Seth and I thought about this family  a lot after I learned that. A whole lot. I couldn't really get them out of my head. I talked about that on here- where is the line as a teacher? What can you do? Is buying a pack of underwear at Target every few months enough? I still don't know the answers to these questions but I know that God is good. I know that he has opened my eyes in ways I never thought possible.

Long story short, our church received a large donation of money. The church decided to divide the money out into the congregation and have them go out into their communities and help those in need. On the day we found out about this, Seth and I just looked at each other and smiled.

Longer story shorter, I took her mom out to eat and told her that I had a way to help her family. She started crying then I started crying and it was a wonderful feeling. In talking with her, I learned that some of the kids had a mattress (no frame) with fluff coming out. A few of the other kids just use blankets and clothes on the floor. With this money, we have purchased six twin bed frames, mattresses, and box springs (one for each child) and will get a crib this weekend. Mom sleeps on an air mattress (and is 5 months pregnant) so we purchased her a queen bed frame, mattress and box springs  as well. We went to Target and got brand new sheets, comforters and pillows to deck out their new beds.

Tomorrow, we (well, Seth.. I have to work) is going to deliver all of the beds. When I get off work, I'm going to go over and put all the new fun threads on the bed. :)

Thinking about N snuggling down in a warm, clean bed tomorrow night makes my heart smile.