Tonight was my first night to volunteer at Freedom for Youth Ministries to help with the Whiz Kids program which is for elementary age inner city children that live in the Hickman/Broadlawns Hospital neighborhood. Freedom's web site is at the bottom of my blog page under Good Seed. You volunteer from approximately 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The kids start arriving and you interact with them until 5:30 when supper is served. Then at 6:15 is a Bible story time. From 6:30 to 7:00 the Whiz Kidz Coordinator's goal is to have one-on-one time with an adult and child or one adult and two children to work on school work. I was supposed to work with two 2nd grade boys but one went with another adult so I had Vetor (sp?).
Melanie, the coordinator, told me where the boxes were that contained the 2nd grade books and educational games and I was on my own to pick something for Vetor and I to do - talk about pressure :) I thought I couldn't go wrong picking an educational game - I hoped. We played a money and time telling bingo game. We could either draw from the blue-backed cards and have Vetor add up the coins drawn on the front of the card to see if we had that monetary amount on our bingo card, or we could play with the red-backed cards and have Vetor tell the time from a standard clock with the hour hand and minute hand. Hopefully in our little time together I helped him learn some about counting coins and telling time. I know I loved seeing him smile when he "got it" and then both of us laughing when it seemed I always had either the monetary amount or time on my card and he didn't. I definitely had a big, warm fuzzy when I left tonight. I wished Mike was here to share this with him when I got home but he's not - and I didn't get teary-eyed because Mike wasn't here - I just realized I would need to blog about my warm fuzzy and say something on Facebook to share it with lots of people :)
Went to the dentist this afternoon and had x-rays this time. In walks the dentist wanting to know how I was doing and I said, "I'm doing fine....?" He could tell I had answered his question with a question to which he said my teeth looked good. So I told him that I was doing good too :) The hygenist I had today always asks about the dogs and I shared about putting Milly down last Monday night. She was sorry to hear about Milly and wanted to know what happened. I like my dentist and the people that work there - they are all really nice and very personable. The first time I had an appointment after Mike passed everyone told me how sorry they were to hear of his passing (he was a patient there too) and then today I could talk about Milly. I'm very comfortable there.
Then I had to zoom home to let Butler out and feed him (and me) before heading down to Freedom tonight. Now Butler has had some issues since last Tuesday and has peed on the living room floor each day. And he doesn't just pee in one spot - oh no that would be too easy - he starts by the couch and pees clear to the kitchen. I'm not sure if it's because he's upset Milly is gone (that could be part of it) but I also realized this morning when I let him out the last time before I went to work that he didn't do anything - no peeing or pooping. I wondered then if I'd come home to a "surprise".
And like I've said before, I always try to find the positive or silver lining in everything so here's the positive with him peeing. At least the floor isn't carpeted - it's laminate - and it's the cleanest it's been in quite a while. I'm rolling my eyes as I write this but it is a positive...........
Tomorrow is a PTO/vacation day to be lazy on a work day - spend some time with Butler - run a few errands and see what else I can come up with.
