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So today, I was eating fruit with my family (We call it "Fruity Time" because that's what I used to call it when I was youngin') and I suddenly blurted out to my mom, "I really appreciate you." And the reason is this:
If you know me, I dislike children and children dislike me. It's a mutual relationship. In fact, I'm downright terribly awkward with them. And if you know my mom... Well, she was the director of Cubbies up until last year, and she's the brave woman on Sunday mornings who deals with the kids with mental disabilities. Those are the kids who scream, scratch and pull your hair with no regard to anything and are near impossible to keep under control when they freak out. Being the daughter of this amazing woman, I'm pretty much obligated to be involved with children's ministry.
This summer, I told myself I would get over my... well, fear of children, which is why I decided to help teach Summer Sunday School. I'd love to say that the children in my Sunday School class are slowly melting my icy cold heart, but I can't for the time being. Maybe if I got one of the classes full of cute little girls who want to draw all the time (those teachers have no idea how lucky they are) I would love working with children... But no, I got the class with one girl and all guys. Guys who love to wrestle each other to the ground and find some kind of joy in running out of the classroom while we chase after them. It doesn't help that Jancy's been in California and hasn't taught a class in about a month, and Mason's in our classroom on average 3 minutes a week. It's pretty much just Oscar and me left standing there wondering why the lesson didn't take as long as we planned. The thing that fustrates me the most is that nobody believes me about my class. They're smart kids. The moment there's more than 2 people (aka, not just me and Oscar) in the room, they're angels. For example, today Petey popped into our class and he actually got shot down so bad.
Petey: Hi guys, I'm Petey.

Class: ............
It was pretty funny, but seriously, that was the quietest our class had been the entire day. I'm thinking about keeping Petey permanently in our class at all times.
Everytime class is over, Oscar and I look at each other and say, "Thank God we survived that." Although, in a strange way, I do look forward after service. Even though half the time, Oscar and I are distressed over what to do with the kids, the other half of the time, they make me smile.
"Kids do the darndest things."
It makes me so glad when we do something the kids actually like. When they get excited, it's like the whole world lights up. I think it's God's way of telling me that kids aren't so bad. I hate how He always tells me things I'm too stubborn to listen to.
On another note, one thing I'm really glad about is how Oscar and I are making a pretty good team. This has been the first time in a really long while that we've actually been able to talk and work together since our fall-out two summers ago. I was really worried about it before but yenno.. Things take time. I would be happier if it didn't take two years, but I'm quite content with the ways things are right now. :]
-Rebekah