Only 9 weeks left with these kids

So I am all around dreading May when I have to leave these babies and when Ry officially leaves for training. Don't get me wrong, I am excited about graduation, but I am not a fan of goodbyes. I was reminded of this as my newer lunch groups get more comfortable with me and today almost all of them let their guard down and showed their real feelings of frustration, exhaustion, desperate need for attention and a fun time. One little girl in particular stands out. She is the oldest of five with another on the way and her mom isn't much older than me. At age 6 she cooks her family dinner some nights and knows more about caring for babies than any child should. She is normally very happy to come to group and very helpful to the other kids, one of whom is a selective mute who she finds creative ways of relating to. In any case, today she had major problems following directions and so much trouble understanding simple things like switching with another player in the game when you land on a certain spot and having to pick which one to switch with. She's mature and kind and at 6 is stressed out and too tired to stay focused in school. What does this say for her future? I pray she does not get lost in the system because she is exactly the kind of kid who wants to please and be loved and if adults invest in her, she will be capable of great things. However, if she gets lost in the system I am very scared for her. I only have 9 more weeks with her and I just want to take her home. That is where trust and faith come into play. Trust that teachers will care and try to help give her the childhood and education she needs and faith that God will protect and guide her. Her situation isn't to the level of abuse or neglect that would warrant reporting it, but it is still so unfortunate.

In my boys group we started talking about nightmares for some reason and it sounds like they have a lot of them. I was able to show them genuine empathy since that is something I have been battling myself and it was interesting how they were able to connect that it might be that their nightmares are because of something in real life that they are afraid of. It actually got a little theological when one of the boys said that it was because "the man way way way down below us is doing bad things with our mind" (first time I heard him described that way and no he was not talking about a downstairs neighbor). All I could really say to that was "could be" but inside I was thinking "sounds about right."

It's never a dull day with these kids and I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with them even if it's only for a little while. It might make it harder for me to care about them so much when goodbyes are inevitable, but I think they deserve to have caring adults in their life and I wouldn't trade the hurt that I know is coming in May for anything. I can only hope that God will have used me to make some kind of impact for the better even though there is no guarantee I will have made any kind of difference at all.

On another note here is the next option to give the twins mom: