Please... no apples!

School is winding down... teachers everywhere begin to have normal heartbeats again... parents begin to breathe erratically. What an amazing person is a teacher. I know there are a few who heard there was a job that had summers off and enlisted immediately, irregardless of their dislike of children... but for the most part, it is an amazing group if individuals who rise like cream to the top of the jar.

We spent three years going through the foster care program in order that we might adopt again. Even moved 15 miles south of our lives in order that we might get a house big enough for all these lil eggies. Foster care never takes this long... three years to get approved is unheard of. They just kept messing up. So now child # 2 may be moving out and we could get a smaller place in our own home town again... life is so weird... lessons to be learned. I could never be a normal foster parent though. These people are not human. They are amazing aliens or something... They take in a child that is not their own, love it, care for it and send it back to the parents who abused it to the point of it being taken in the first place. It kills them, but they knew the rules going in. I am one of those people who would move to Brazil with the child and hide there till they forgot about us before I ever gave it back. I can't give my love away completely to something that isn't mine. I would hold back... not wanting to be emotionally crushed, and the child deserves so much more.

I say that thinking of the teachers. My daughter is one of those who will deeply love each child and will suffer loss each year as they move on. Not all teachers truly love our children, but what they do is an act of beauty. Child # 3 has some serious ADD problems, but he is very intelligent and gets good grades so we don't yet want to medicate him. I think (in some cases) medicating them, keeps them from becoming who they are supposed to be. What if God had a huge self control lesson lined up at age 15. They wont need it, cause the medicine will do it for them. What if they had relational troubles... social troubles... what if that created in them the most compassionate heart that formed their life and career choices one day? I don't know... I'd do anything to take away their pain... but it is through trials that we become strong.

Child # 3 had the greatest teacher on earth this year. She was so understanding and kind to him. She has an ADDer at home herself. She "got" him. Maybe at some point in her life, she struggled herself and grew a compassionate heart. I am a bit of a pill popper... necessary, but still. One thing I haven't wanted to do though was to take a pill for emotional issues. I may not be able to control my thyroid, but I do want some control over my mind. I mean if I were at the point of suicide or a point where I simply couldn't function, sure... but it seems there has to be room left for suffering... for growth. # 3's teacher got that... she said we should do as we felt lead. I loved her for that.

So to all you teachers out there who are hanging on by your fingernails during this last week... what you do... when you do what you do right... is gold! Gold I tell ya!!! You may not hear it enough, you may not reap the benefits here on earth either... but for every kid you got through another awkward, painful, embarrassing, hurtful year of life... all while teaching them and throwing in a few good memories... there is no profession like yours... there is no one like you! You Rock with a capital R! And from someone who is incapable of giving my love to someone and then giving them away... thank you, thank you, thank you, for making that effort!!! We love you. We appreciate you. We honor you.