A Little Break to Say...

So, this will be brief because I'm doing homework, but I had to take a break to pass on these few thoughts.

I'm writing a paper right now and the research that I am doing for it is, on the one hand, breaking my heart and on the other making me feel proud of what I am able to offer my kids.  I know that parenting is often accompanied by heavy doses of guilt and wondering if you are doing a good job.  It is always a relief to have someone tell you that you are on the right track.  So, that's what I'm going to do. :)

Here's a question.  Tonight, do your kids have a place to lay down and go to sleep that is stable and familiar to them?  I don't care if it's a fancy sleigh bed in a mansion or a well-used bunk bed in a mobile home.  Do they have a place to lay down and go to sleep that is stable and familiar to them?

If you answered yes, congratulations!

That one thing in the life of a child is SO important that it almost cannot be overstated.  For your child to have a stable place that they come home to at night does so much for their psyche and well-being.  It gives them the courage to spread their wings and launch out when they know that they can always land back in the nest.

So, whether your nest is fancy and full of the all the latest gadgets or simple and basic, the fact that it exists for your child is a wonderful gift.  They will draw much strength from it in the years to come and it will help them to become healthy and functioning adults.

There is some good news for you, my friends. :)  Now, I'm off to finish my paper...

Happy Thanksgiving in case I don't see you before then!!!!!!!

Wow - it actually is November!

I was joking when I said, in my last blog, that I probably wouldn't see you all until November.  But, what can I say?  October was a very full month indeed.

Over the last month, the spirit of blog has floated around me a few times, but he understood when I had to shoo him away.  Last night, however, he came to me in earnest while we were at the dinner table. So, although I still need to grade papers before we start school this morning and I have 3 hours of class today, I will comply. :)

Much of what I have been studying in school up to this point has been either material I already knew or at least had heard of before.  It hasn't been terribly tricky in terms of content, but I have to say it has had its way with my heart.

I know that the image of a social worker is someone who sits behind a desk and hands out government aid (that we pay for!!) to lazy people who just want to leech off the system.  But.  There is so much to this profession.  It encompasses hundreds of fields and there are social workers in nearly every walk of life.  Schools, prisons, hospitals, adoption agencies, nursing homes, just to name a few.  The reach of social work is broad and the rules and ethics that govern it endeavor to wrap their arms around humanity.

But, even the profession of social work - with how far-reaching it is in scope - acknowledges that the best thing would be if humanity didn't need it so much.  The best thing would be if the children in our society and every society would get what they needed from their nuclear family.

It was this knowledge that was swimming through my brain last night as we gathered around the table and ate our chicken and mashed potatoes and corn.  The kids were laughing and telling us stories from their day.  I was engaged, but I was also sort of hovering above the table in spirit and thinking about how very grateful I was for it all.

Grateful, that though I am no gourmet cook, I had that food to prepare and my kids bodies were being nourished at the same time their souls were.  Grateful that, with God's grace, we have managed to create a family unit that is generally supportive and loving toward the other members, a place we all belong and feel safe.  Grateful that everyone is getting a good education.  Grateful that my kids have so many mind-expanding and enriching opportunities.  Grateful that they have a father who is involved in their life.

I look forward to one day (I try not to think about how very far away that day really is) being able to use the tools I am being equipped with to reach out and help humanity in some small way.

But, in the meantime, I will continue to gather my family around the dinner table and know that that is equally, if not more important, than what I will accomplish one I have a degree.