Wacky Wednesday!

7:00 AM: KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! A strange old man hand delivers my car tags. States that they were in his mailbox two weeks ago and that he had come by every day since at different times trying to catch me. I was never home, go figure.

8:00 AM: Drive to work through clouds. No really, there were clouds--everywhere!

8:30 AM: Thank Jesus for the breathtaking sight as I top a hill with valleys on both sides with the end of the clouds also in view, floating over the valleys like a canopy of cotton.

9:15 AM: Nonverbal client throws glasses in floor in an attempt to tell me he's mad that I asked him to sit back down so he wouldn't fall.

10:20 AM: Very verbal client tells me that the reason he had to come to the nursing home was this: he'd heard that I worked there and that the torture of speech therapy was actually "quite pleasurable torture".

11:00 AM: Client with developmental disability beats me at Scrabble even though I played the longest word: "blouse".

12:30 PM: Coworker comes into breakroom and threatens to stab me with fork if I eat his food. Then tells me I am allowed one spoonful of his potatoes if I replace it with cheese from my macaroni.

1:55 PM: Client tells me that he hates to break it to me, but there's no way I'll get him to function like he did when he was 30. Then, he proceeds to be the first client I've had at this facility who thanks me for all my hard work and dedication to his well-being.

4:30 PM: Nursing home resident at another place stops me in the hall and tells me I'm a sweetheart and need to be the speech therapist seeing her neice. Said resident was a client of mine when I was a student and refused therapy 3 times in a row.

5:00 PM: Long term client who I have grown very fond of gets swallow study results back--YAY! Diet upgrade to more "real" food/drinks! WOOHOO!

6:30 PM: Run around like a blindfolded turkey on Thanksgiving  morning in preparation for the evening's Awana meeting while trying to read over my lines for the message time lesson.

6:45 PM: Try to compose myself as the Sparks director walks in disguised as "Professor Spark"--complete with lab coat and spiky hair.

9:00 PM: Drive home with a smile on my face and a heart full of love for the darling little Sparkies I have been blessed to get to know.

Fleamarkets and Kiddos

Today I found myself enjoying the day browsing fleamarkets with my *absolutely wonderful* friend, Heather. I brought home a stack of goodies: two board games, three kids' books, a set of Spanish/English puzzle cards, and a set of 12 neat little Christmas ornaments depicting the names of Christ. She got a set of 12 (or 16?) drinking jars and a couple of kids' books. What incredible finds! I love fleamarkets!

Speaking of kids (What? I mentioned kids' books, didn't I?), we had our AWANA awards ceremony tonight. I cannot put into words exactly how I felt when those sweet little angels from my group, the Green team, went up to receive their awards. It was something like a sense of pride and overflowing love, joy at knowing the eternal effects this program will have on some of these kids, and humility because of two things: one, God worked through inadequate me this semester to bless these kids and two, it took the dedication of parents and the determination of these kids to get them to where they are--my role as a leader had little to do with their progress throughout the year.