sleep

I had never seen bags that size under my own eyes.  The complete exhaustion that was so utter in fact that it left me sleepless when I laid my head down for that long-awaited 5pm nap on Friday came after our January "Super-Shift," which is the delightful time once a month when we work our full shift + the shift our alternate usually works.  We get a few preceding days off before this starts to "amp up" for the experience, which always seems a little backwards.  These are great shifts in that they give you long stretches of time with the girls to really establish relationships, structure, etc., but because of the 24/7 nature of our work, they are also completely exhausting to the whole self...especially when they include extraordinary circumstances.  This was one such shift.  We welcomed a sibling set of 4 sisters the night we went on shift and spent two full days trying to in addition to assimilate them into our home, get their school enrollments squared away and take care of our mandatory initial appointments x 4 (we are currently navigating some interesting waters with the school district, so yes, I mean two full days).  We also had two more youth come during the week and a few leave, as well two incident reports.  I made two Emergency Room visits on consecutive nights, the first ending up only being a very badly sprained ankle and the second being an emotional breakdown requiring further hospitalization.  (Sidenote: Tip for all!  To expediate your ER visit at any time, be sure to enter the ER in a very dramatic fashion and do not allow your child to let up on any of the crying, screaming, or antics for the entire stay.  This helped us bypass the first 4 "rooms" they send you through and got us straight to the room without even trying!)  Anyway, for some reason, it was also this week that all doctor appointments totaled minimum time allotments of 3 hours each (I think we had at least 3).  I am still unsure how I stumbled out of bed Friday morning and completed the last hours of our shift without ripping any hair out (of my head or anyone else's), but thanks be to God, somehow I had some strength left.  But the bags.  I saw them in the mirror after I had gotten myself up from my attempted napping to get some dinner with the hubby late Friday.  They looked like little grey balloons.  They were actually hilarious, and we both got a good, delirious kick out of them.  But I was glad for them.  They were my tangible proof to myself that I was not in fact going crazy but that what I had just endured was in fact completely taxing.  And that in the midst of it all, there was still joy and laughter in our home.  There were still earnest prayers uttered and answered.  There were hugs and tears and encouragement and life.  And as I counted my blessings, I realized I would not have traded any of the opportunity for freeing myself of any of the exhaustion.  I count among my deepest blessings the opportunity.  The life I am able to live. 

[Please use the above as my explanation of the absence of blog posts other than this one the last two Sundays.  Will try to post sometime this week something more meaningful than my rants on utter exhaustion...]

Prayer Pleas(e):
-Please pray for the youth from our home getting some additional help this week at a hospital for the emotional difficulty she has been through lately.
-Please pray for wisdom and that God will multiply my time as we continue to work with our oldest youth to prepare for college in the fall and get financial aid and scholarships, etc. squared away.  FAFSA complete: PRAISE!
-Please pray for strength and pockets of rest for Michael & I...and opportunities to immerse ourselves in the heart of God.
-Please pray for our organization as a whole as it enters a new accrediation process and makes many huge decisions, changes, etc...that this will only bring us closer to our mission of bringing Christ's healing love to families and children in crisis.