My sister Colleen emailed me the other day with some antidotes from daily life. You know...the days when you find your children eating cat food or secretly sneaking loads of dirt into the house for a caterpillar farm? Ah, motherhood! I sent her the following email which she said I should put up on my blog...yes, this is my life.
lol, hello! Yes, well, I understand. Yesterday within the first ten minutes of being at work I had a small autistic overactive child jump and cling onto my back for dear life..I'm talking arms and legs wrapped around me and he definitely had wet his pants recently. Great, urine on my back praise God. Minutes later, I narrowly missed stepping on perhaps the biggest piece of crap (pardon the crassness) I have ever seen anywhere (yes, it was from a human) and then the autistic boy ran up and grabbed my hand and when I turned around I saw that he had spread feces over his faces and his hands were covered in it. And then this girl with her breakfast, and who knows what else, all over her shirt ran up to me crying and buried one of the most moist faces I had ever seen in my shirt. Thank God I have scrub tops and they are multicolored. Lord, how do I love these children again? The thing is all you can do is sigh and clean them up (or get someone else to do it) because its not like they are malicious. so...Emily eating cat food?? These kids are eating things I would never put in my mouth let alone touch...and they haven't died yet. yes, they are mentally retarded...but I think that came first...I think. If they can survive this long so will Emily. One thing is for sure...I'm probably going to become one of those moms who lets their kids do anything as long as they are still healthy. ;) just kidding... =) I know this all probably sounds disgusting but you definitely learn to see the humor in it. Maybe thats what motherhood is?
This week has been draining as I meet a ton a new people and try to understand what they are saying to me. I am doing pretty well over all...I've only cried a little twice and it was nothing to big. I understand now why Maggie put pictures of the Mustard Seed kids up on facebook. It is because quickly the children become people to you with personalities. many of them are very very funny. I can understand that she would forget how those picture look to people who do not have a personality to go with the face. Mentally retarded kids are hilarious though. Really, they make me laugh a lot and they are easy to love because, for the most part, they don't know any better. It is still hard seeing the deformity..but I am muscling through that. It is interesting to realize that you begin to recognize a child by the sounds they are making. Before you even see them certain patterns of gibberish or moaning noises mean a certain person. Its funny...they are funny and many of them, although they have severe physical handicaps, are pretty functional mentally. Quickly you have to learn to laugh with them when they make fun of themselves or you. I have to look past the heartache of their position and celebrate the life they have, even if it is limited compared to mine own. And who is to say? Some of them could very well be incredibly holy as they have so much more than I to offer up. Most of them are extremely joy filled. It is amazing.
Well, I love you. I realize that to someone not in all of this it might be overwhelming and sound horrible. I don't want to put up pictures on facebook like Maggie did because I realize how it can be viewed by those not knowing the children. But I want to be real with you about what is going on and what I am processing. Ask lots of questions if you want. Good luck with the pickneys (children in Patois) and I think it is very funny they were trying to sneak dirt in. Maggie will laugh really hard when I tell her about it in the morning.
AMDG, Angela Grace
lol, hello! Yes, well, I understand. Yesterday within the first ten minutes of being at work I had a small autistic overactive child jump and cling onto my back for dear life..I'm talking arms and legs wrapped around me and he definitely had wet his pants recently. Great, urine on my back praise God. Minutes later, I narrowly missed stepping on perhaps the biggest piece of crap (pardon the crassness) I have ever seen anywhere (yes, it was from a human) and then the autistic boy ran up and grabbed my hand and when I turned around I saw that he had spread feces over his faces and his hands were covered in it. And then this girl with her breakfast, and who knows what else, all over her shirt ran up to me crying and buried one of the most moist faces I had ever seen in my shirt. Thank God I have scrub tops and they are multicolored. Lord, how do I love these children again? The thing is all you can do is sigh and clean them up (or get someone else to do it) because its not like they are malicious. so...Emily eating cat food?? These kids are eating things I would never put in my mouth let alone touch...and they haven't died yet. yes, they are mentally retarded...but I think that came first...I think. If they can survive this long so will Emily. One thing is for sure...I'm probably going to become one of those moms who lets their kids do anything as long as they are still healthy. ;) just kidding... =) I know this all probably sounds disgusting but you definitely learn to see the humor in it. Maybe thats what motherhood is?
This week has been draining as I meet a ton a new people and try to understand what they are saying to me. I am doing pretty well over all...I've only cried a little twice and it was nothing to big. I understand now why Maggie put pictures of the Mustard Seed kids up on facebook. It is because quickly the children become people to you with personalities. many of them are very very funny. I can understand that she would forget how those picture look to people who do not have a personality to go with the face. Mentally retarded kids are hilarious though. Really, they make me laugh a lot and they are easy to love because, for the most part, they don't know any better. It is still hard seeing the deformity..but I am muscling through that. It is interesting to realize that you begin to recognize a child by the sounds they are making. Before you even see them certain patterns of gibberish or moaning noises mean a certain person. Its funny...they are funny and many of them, although they have severe physical handicaps, are pretty functional mentally. Quickly you have to learn to laugh with them when they make fun of themselves or you. I have to look past the heartache of their position and celebrate the life they have, even if it is limited compared to mine own. And who is to say? Some of them could very well be incredibly holy as they have so much more than I to offer up. Most of them are extremely joy filled. It is amazing.
Well, I love you. I realize that to someone not in all of this it might be overwhelming and sound horrible. I don't want to put up pictures on facebook like Maggie did because I realize how it can be viewed by those not knowing the children. But I want to be real with you about what is going on and what I am processing. Ask lots of questions if you want. Good luck with the pickneys (children in Patois) and I think it is very funny they were trying to sneak dirt in. Maggie will laugh really hard when I tell her about it in the morning.
AMDG, Angela Grace
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