So you know how when you put something off for one reason or
another and suddenly you are staring at a daunting pile of lots to do? And you know how you feel like it’s such a
big pile that you don’t even want to start?
And that just makes it even harder to start…
Welcome to the life of a blogger, Andrew! We have been without internet in our house
for somewhere around 2 weeks, and because of this, I’ve put off writing a new
blog post. Unfortunately, each day adds
more material to my arsenal of thoughts that I want to share, and at this
point, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that if I don’t just write something
about the major happenings since my last post, it simply won’t happen at
all. So please enjoy as I try to
remember anything from the past few weeks!
Christmas was a bit sad because I missed people back home,
but New Year’s Eve made up for it completely.
Becky, Steffi, and I invited friends up to the house for the
evening. We made pizzas, played games,
watched television, and engaged in some merry chitchat. And then the fun started. We moved from the house to the cottage to
watch fireworks from the balcony overlooking Belfast. There was no great display of fireworks or
anything, just some small ones bursting here and there, but it was really fun
to stand out on the balcony with friends and hearing the ooh’s and ahh’s as we
watched bursts of light pop up all over the city. Awhile later, we found ourselves sitting
inside listening to Jonny play guitar, and suddenly, the mood turned. We sat around the room, and for no reason in
particular, we began singing praise songs together. Have you ever been in a moment where you
consciously think to yourself “things couldn’t be any better?” I was the happiest, most content and at peace
that I have been in recent memory, and I wouldn’t have minded if I didn’t sleep
at all that night. And I think that if
we hadn’t run out of songs that we knew, we would have continued to sunrise. It brings a smile to my face just to remember
the night.
Then it was back to work a day later, and to be honest, I
was happy to be back to work. After a
week and a half, I was missing seeing the boys and girls. Things returned to a normal routine for the
most part, and the children were as silly and fun and difficult as always. One night, one of the afterschool boys
sitting next to me during snack time suddenly leaned over to me and wiped his
buttery face right on my shoulder and then turned back to the others without so
much as a thought that this was out of the ordinary. I would have paid to see the surprise on my
face. Another night, I was driving one
of the buses, and we drove over a section of road which vibrated the whole
vehicle. One boy exclaimed, “The bus is
tickling my tummy!” Man, I love these
kids!
How else do I know I love these kids? Because one group of them leaves us at the
end of this week and that makes me sad.
After four and a half months of being here, I have grown extremely close
to many of them, and knowing that I won’t be able to see them after this week
breaks my heart. They are my friends as
much as the people from NYE are my friends.
It’s even harder knowing that many of them need a place like Quaker
Cottage to give them a break from life’s hardships.
[Time out - Everything I wrote before this break was written
several days ago - Time in]
We just had our first leaving party. I’m a bit gutted to be perfectly honest. I have kind of been dreading this evening
because I didn’t want to think about saying goodbye to one boy in
particular. He and I made this
connection that I didn’t really have with anyone else. I could go on describing how great he was and
how much his friendship meant and how I know he really looked up to me, but I
don’t feel up to it at the moment. All I
will say is that I had to hold back tears at least four times throughout the
evening. Oh, and we also said goodbye to
four other children tonight, each of whom I’ll miss loads for separate
reasons. *sigh… Two more days of saying goodbye to the rest of this group.
I guess I’m pretty sad about saying goodbye, but you know what?
I’m actually really happy that I’m
feeling sad. That must mean that I’m
doing my job. I’m here to love these
kids, and if I feel like this, then I really do.
(There, see! I’m happy, so please don’t worry about me!)
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| This picture is not me. It's from Google. Because we are not allowed to share images of the children from Quaker Cottage, it's purpose is to help you visualize the children we said goodbye to and the feelings that were expressed. |
