Wet Feet, Warm Soul

I am sitting on my couch enjoying some potato chips with my kitty sleeping next to me. As I reflect about the past week and a half I realize that so much has happened. First there was so kitty trauma in our home. My dearest Jack was injured while falling off of my bed last week Wednesday around midnight. He hurt his back right leg and I think that it might have been more traumatic for me than for him. He cried and limped pitifully around the house. So Thursday morning I took Jack to the vet with the moral support of Katriina with me. He ended up being fine but I realized how much I care for him. Even though he is just a cat, he is my friend.

Also this past week my team and I hosted our first Spring Break group. We planned a great week for the students from Malone University. God had different plans though and gave us a blizzard that lasted for 3 days. Many of the cool and exciting things that we had planned had to be canceled because of the snow. Even though we had blizzard conditions and we warned not to travel by the police we still got work done. We helped out at the school, at my church, and at other churches in the Pine Ridge community. It was a week of 15 hours days and being on demand at all times. I am tired. I learned so much about myself though. It was hard and the things I learned about myself weren’t easy lessons to learn but I wouldn’t give up learning those lessons. I now see more clearly the love I have for my community and the people living here.

Today is probably the best day I have had this past week and a half. I just got back from the playground in Manderson. I went to Pinky’s to get some potato chips and I saw one of my students walking to the playground. So after I made my purchases I ventured over to the playground. I had on tennis shoes and I had to walk through thick, wet snow in order to get over it. So by the time I made it to my student my feet were soaking wet. Maurice, my student, greeted me with a hug and a huge smile. He then introduced me to all of his cousins that were there playing with him and his little sister and brother. I then sat on the bench and Maurice asked, “Teacher Emily are you going to watch us play?” as if it was such a foreign concept that an adult would willingly sit and be there with him. So I sat and watched him play and the other kids play. Soon all of the kids on the playground were saying, hey watch me or look at what I can do. Some would come and sit with me on the bench and engage me in conversation, others just wanted a hug. As I was leaving one of the girls asked if I would come back and play. I said yes, so we made a date to play again on Monday.

I love my community and I love the children who live here. I felt so blessed sitting there watching them play. Even though my feet were wet, my soul was warmed. I was physically uncomfortable but I felt so refreshed and blessed by being around those kids.