Some Play Therapy and Some Snow

Since my last post things have gotten a lot better with ministry. Our team has started praying together regularly for the kids and see improvements not only in our responses to them but their behavior as well. I have noticed so many more good moments with them than bad over the past few weeks. Even when things get a little crazy, there are still more positive moments to remember than challenging ones. And we have seen some really awesome things happening with the kids like remembering unexpected things from our lessons, stunning moments of insight, and consciously choosing to do what's right and not what is easy. Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit would fill us daily as we work with these kids.

Petruța and I

Character Classes are going well. We are doing a unit on Emotional Intelligence and the kids are exploring what different emotions looks like, sound like, and feel like. So far we have covered happiness and anger. The unit has a detective theme so the kids are creating "Feelings Files" for each emotion we discuss.

I have also been doing individual play therapy sessions with some of the kids. I use games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders to teach about feelings and consequences for our actions. The kids really like the game Boom Boom Balloon where they get to poke a balloon with sticks until it pops. We talk about how the balloon represents us and the sticks represent things that upset us. We then discuss what happens when we don't have healthy coping skills (we "explode" like the balloon) and what we can do to help self-calm in challenging situations (deep breathing, writing, listening to music, praying, etc.). Sometimes I let the kids have free play time where I simply observe what they are doing. It's a lot of fun to see them working out problems in their head or acting out things they have experienced.

Marius free playing with Legos. He has a very vivid imagination. This started as a house and morphed into several other things before he was done.

Since the beginning of February the weather had started to get a little warmer. It was so nice to feel spring just around the corner and to see some of the snow finally starting to melt! However, that didn't last long as just the other day we had 3-4 more inches of snow. At least it didn't interfere with us going to see the kids as they were in the mountains on vacation this week.

Wednesday and Thursday were cold and snowy here!

I'm enjoying having a little break and catching up on things while the kids have been away. Next week we'll be jumping back into our emotions unit and learning about sadness. I'll be working with some of the kids on self-esteem issues, friendship building, and mindfulness in our individual sessions. I will be leading Youth Group in a few weeks as well. Pray for me as I prepare for these activities. Be in prayer for Heather as she is traveling to the States for two weeks of furlough this month and Mariana and I as we run our programing at the orphanage. Also, pray for our staff as we receive teams over the next few months and for the people coming who are serving on those teams.

As always, thank you for your prayers and support!

Make Up Your Mind

Dear Weather,

Please make up your mind and stick with it.

Love,
Me

I guess I was sort of asking for it when I posted my praises of the warm spring weather in my most recent Counting my Blessings post. Today this what my weather app tells me we are in for:

What the heck?!?! 30 degrees! Seriously?!? Last week we were in the 70's.

Normally I wouldn't complain. Actually I like the fall. I love the feel and the smells of the season. However, I think there is something about that season (and winter as well) that triggers my anxiety. I don't know if it is due to an event (or several events) from my past that happened in the fall, causing me to associate fall with stress or danger. Maybe it's the shortening of days and the fact that I have to stay inside all the time (something you would think I love, seeing as how I'm an introvert). Maybe it's the actual temperature. All I know is that after a few days of nice weather my mood has improved tremendously. I've had some anxiety provoking moments but only one full blown panic attack in the last two months. And I was able to remind myself that feelings aren't facts and pull myself back together very quickly. It's not that things don't bother me, it's just that I feel I can deal with them so much better in the spring than I could in the fall.

This morning I realized that it really might be the temperature as I slept terribly last night, had a difficult time getting out of bed, and then was not in the mood to be talkative and sociable during breakfast. It's not that I was rude to anyone I just high tailed it out of the kitchen as politely as I could before I overstayed my welcome. I know when it's time to exit stage left.

For the rest of today I'll be bundled up hoping and praying that it gets warmer quickly. And maybe looking at property in the Bahamas...