**WARNING** lots of complaining ahead.
Sitting in class.
Should be listening.
Don't feel like it.
Keep fantasizing about a day along the lines of "Farris Beuler's Day Off."
Professor keeps alternating between saying phrases like, "developing post-industrial democracies" and "Beuler... BEULER."
*SIGH*
I'm feeling grumpy about class today... can you tell?????
*pout*
So... lots of changes going on, mainly at the church. Here are just a few that will be taking place over the next month:
Buses have already stopped.
New policy: Parents are no longer allowed to drop children off and leave. Parents must stay on the premises, where ushers can locate them, if we need them.
New Policy: Children's church will no longer be 1st-6th grade. As of April 1, children's church will be K-5 through 5th grade. 6th graders are moving up to the youth group and KinderKids are moving out of the preschool class and into children's church.
5th and 6th grade leadership team will be dis banning until the end of summer.
N, my lil' bro, will officially be Youth Pastor as of March 9.
Lots of stuff.
Lots of stuff.
I'm feeling a little bit hopeless when it comes to our Wednesday night program. All the volunteers that had signed up have now bailed. My "church parent program" and my "rotation schedule" program are being flushed like bad crap.
So I'm back at square one.
I DO think that once these new things are in place, things will be better.
That's my only hope right now.
This past Wednesday night, the buses did not run.
We had the SAME NUMBER OF BUS KIDS at the church.
While I feel blessed that they so much want to come, I also get the impression that we are being used by the parents as free babysitters.
And that would be fine, if their kids behaved decently.
Then, within the last two months, I have had TWO emergencies where I needed to get in touch with Parents of bus kids (or kids who get dropped off). In both situations, I could not get in touch with the parents. In one case, it was an extreme disciplinary problem. Because the parent wouldn't come get the child, there was a HUGE fight on the bus that night. In the second case, the 4-year-old had an athsma attack and did not have her inhaler. On the permission form that her mom had filled out, under medical information, athsma had not even been mentioned. Luckily, our preschool teacher that night is the head nurse in one of our city's hospitals. So she knew what to do.
*sigh*
I am just feeling a bit tired... overwhelmed... burnt out.... on this whole bus ministry thing.
I just can't do it anymore.
I LOVE Sunday mornings. Really,I do.
I LOVE my job on those days when it's the kids who WANT to be there. They LIKE being at church.
I have several of those kids whose parents have come up to me and said, "We weren't going to come to church today, but [insert child's name here] said we couldn't miss!"
I mean, that's like music to my ears. That shows me that the Lord is doing SOMETHING in that little room.
But on Wednesday night, more often I have heard:
"I don't think we'll be back on Wednesday night if it's going to be like this."
or
"[Insert child's name here] always has a tummy ache when she gets home on Wednesday nights. Is there something going on that I should know about?"
or
"Is it always this bad?" - from a first-time visitor.
*sigh*
I just feel like we are not accomplishing anything on Wednesday night.
And so these changes have to happen.
They have to happen.
They have to.
I should note too that I am lacking in sleep today. That always makes a difference in my ability to deal with these issues.
B has had a really bad cough the past few nights. He finally got up and slept on the couch last night because he knew he was keeping me awake.
Not to mention... I keep having nightmares about the stuff at the church.
*Deeeeeep breaths*
Ok... I'm gone.
Class is out.
"Beuler????"
hehe.