I Make Kids Cry

My girls at work are hilarious. No, seriously. I generally have 5 and 6 year olds, and they are so hard, but so funny. It's really easy for me to get frustrated because they don't listen and they flail their legs around and kick me in the face all the time. Since I am actually trying to accomplish teaching them gymnastics and keeping them safe, it's a lot harder to have fun with them than it is at camp. I am really trying to find joy in every girl this semester.

Today, one of my 6-year-olds was getting upset because her friend was doing better than her, and apparently making a big deal about it. So she came up to me and was like, "Miss Haley, she did her handstand for 4 seconds and she keeps gagging about it." "I'm sorry, what?" "She keeps gagging about it!" "Bragging?" "yeahh!" As if that had been what she was saying the entire time.

The next class, I had 3 four-year-olds, 2 five-year-olds, and a six-year-old. Talk about the crib! They lined up in front of me at the beginning and every single one of them was jumping up and down. Just bouncing. For no reason. Later one of the 5-year-olds came up to me and was like "I just sprained my elbow." "Do you even know what that means?" "No..." Yeah she was fine.

The adjustment from kids at camp to kids at work has been interesting. I've had a few girls who were at camp, which is so cool! It was so great to be able to talk about Bubble Bobble with a camper once again.

Yesterday I told a girl to sit down on her watermelon. And I got very confused stares from the entire group back. It was awkward.

I have trouble responding to kids calling me by my real name, too. I'm so used to telling myself not to turn around when I hear my name that now I am having to tell myself to turn around, after I tell myself not to. Sad, I know.

In activity classes and sports clinics, we would always start out by going around the circle and saying "My name is Troggie, I'm from Plano, and my favorite _____ is _____". So today, I was introducing myself to a group I had not had before, and I was like "My name is Haley..." And a REALLY long, REALLY awkward pause followed, because I had to stop myself from continuing with where I was from. Finally, I was like "AND I want to know YOUR names!!" They laughed at me. But I guess they are in first grade.

I also sat down my girls, who were being rude, and told them we were going to work on being patience and kind that day, and asked them what it meant to be patient. I definitely wouldn't have done that before having to do it all the time this summer. Gymnastics class turned into a fruit of the spirit seminar.

And it's weird to go back to making a kid cry at least once a week. Today was this week's turn. She was so mad at me for not letting her do a back handspring. O well... I wasn't about to let her do it.

"He wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a 'Christian' without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd." -- Crazy Love

Is there such a thing as a non-fruit bearing Christian? That's what I've been chewing on recently.

And, this is really convicting. It's from Crazy Love, too. Take 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, and replace "love" with your name. Does it feel like you're lying? Shootdang. I am definitely not an adequate representation of Love.

I've been learning what it means to love God and not His stuff. My only purpose is to bring glory to Him. I should be striving to know Him, to be like Him, to abide in Him, not because He is my way to Heaven, or because He will take care of me, but because that is the ONLY reason I'm here! Even if Heaven didn't come with it, being a living sacrifice is still my only reason for living. He deserves the glory regardless.

FIRST FOOTBALL GAME!!
sic 'em

Where Lacey should have been