Grace and Grit

It's been two months, but I'm back! It began with some soul searching. I asked God to reveal areas that I was fighting Him for control or had given up on, needs I was ignoring, desires and dreams I had thrown away because I saw no progress, stress triggers, why my sleep wasn't restful, why silence was something I tried to avoid, etc. Over the past two months I have been learning how to make time for respite. Respite means an " interval of relief ." It's the calm amidst the storm, the break between semesters, the good night's sleep after a long hard day, the cold glass of water after a walk through the desert, and the hug and loving words of a friend in a crisis. Taken from http://thoughtfulcaregiver.com/ This past season has been a difficult one for me at the shelter. A pregnant mom left us to return to her abuser which, even though I know statistically a woman leaves 7 times before it's for good, it was beyond my comprehension. How can someon...

I am coming to the tail end of my longest shift of the work week. I've been at the shelter since Wednesday afternoon and I will be leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning, after debriefing with the incoming manager. It's always a challenge for me because I start to loose energy around 3 or 4 pm on Thursday, long before bed time. :-) But today was a little different from the normal Thursday running around. This was for several reasons: 1) It's the last day of school and our kids are ecstatic. 2) I spent my morning attending an hour long Kindergarten graduation... I didn't know it was a thing, but it is, complete with diplomas, professional pictures, a slide show, flowers, gifts, etc. 3) A mom who has stayed with us almost a year is moving out (a stay is typically six months so this is unusual and also hard to say goodbye). 4) Our youngest baby of the house has HFMD (Hand Foot and Mouth Disease) 5) The mother of aforementioned baby is a new mom battling some pretty heavy anxie...