Birthdays and Blessings

Today is Wednesday, March 16, 2011.  In approximately 45 minutes (it's 11:15PM now) I will be 24 years old.  My mother has told me time and time again of taking me home from the hospital - it snowed that day.  Today I prayed that it wouldn't snow tomorrow because my birthday is such a fun day and, "Lord, I am so tired of the snow! Could you just please let it not snow on my day?"

Ahhhhhh.  Today is also one of my long days - I work for 5 hours at the church/school and another 8 directly following at the ranch.  My last shift here was difficult - ending with a child cursing me out, spreading a malicious, horrible lie about me, and then AWOL'ing.  *sigh*  Days like those can leave one feeling a little more empty inside, questioning why I do this even.  Can I be a help at all to these boys?

And then, I had a day like today.  A moment was really all it was.  After dinner and chores I took some of the boys to the basketball court and all of a sudden my seven kids multiplied to 30! Sure enough, the boys from the other house had arrived and also, three from one of our other programs.  The three in this program I rarely see, they're more independent and rarely socialize with the boys that live in the houses I work in.  As soon as those three arrived (two of which are my favorites) I instantly was in a better mood; it's such a rare treat to see these kids and I have built a pretty solid relationship with both of them from when they did live in the houses I work in.  They said their hello's to the boys and then, seemingly out of nowhere, one of them ran over and gave me a hug filled with, "I miss you! I  heart you!" 

It made my entire night.  :-) It's true, as my one blog-friend says - loving broken people can leave one feeling hurt at times.  But moments like tonight, when I get to see a life of a child that I have helped make better, a child that can recognize friendship and love, it makes it totally worth it.

With that said I will be taking tomorrow off for my birthday and then next week I am off to California to see my good friend Amy who just moved there.  I will be spending an entire week in California on vacation, to recharge my batteries, relax, spend time with my friend, and unwind from all of the things I have taken on these past two years (the time it's been since my last vacation.)

Please pray for my Mom if you can; she sent me these beautiful flowers today for my birthday, always putting others first.  She has lesions on her eyes from a virus she has - please pray that there is no permanent damage and that she finds health soon!