3/4

Sorry I haven't written in a while...I have not been working as much since our census is very low. The reason why is kind of sad.

We get about 3/4 of our kids from school referrals. Think about that for a moment. 3/4. That means that for every 4 kids, there are 3 whose parents are so out-of-tune with their children's lives that they don't realize that their child needs help. It's the schools that notice, the schools that send them our way. These parents (or foster parents) are so wrapped up in their own lives, maybe believing the lies their kids tell them, that they don't even notice that their child is trapped in their own minds until they get a phone call from the school. And we don't even have statistics on the parents who refuse to send their children to us.

Isn't that tragic?

I'm rather old-fashioned, for all that I have a blog, so part of me wants to blame technology. "Those smartphones and iPods and computers--they're making it so families never actually interact!" But that's not really it, is it? Not completely.

The reality is, we live in a society that praises busyness. We live in a world where the busier you are, the wealthier you are, and therefore the more accepted you are. Parents struggle to "Keep up with the Joneses," shuttling their children to soccer, dance, etc. while trying to keep up a perfect lawn, perfect house, perfect family. We become so concerned about the outward that we forget about the importance of the inward. We forget that our souls matter more than our stuff, and thus are shocked and horrified when we have a message saying that maybe not everything is as right as it should be.

I would rather be a poor woman with joy in my heart than wealthy and miserable. And I would much rather have an empty day of silence than a busy day of noise.

I want to teach my children that being alone isn't a bad thing; that taking time out of a busy schedule to be alone is a blessing, not an annoyance. I want to teach them the futility of facades.

And I want to be sure to thank their teachers personally, every year, for the unknown number of lives they have saved.

Education means more than you know.