An Emotional Day

Today was emotional all the way through. Today was the Bully Prevention kick off day so we started with the most fabulous production in an assembly. It was called "Balance of Power" and talked about how life is unfair and how we can accept that and move past it. It gave examples of kids who had it rough who didn't let their circumstances hold them back. It worked in the anti bully message beautifully and was presented through music and song and people that the kids could really relate to. The kids were on the edge of their seats the entire time. Then we went to the classrooms and did class meetings and team building activities with the kids all morning and took them out to play. There was a kid in my group who was full of activity and was sort of challenging but he really got into the discussions and seemed like he had a lot of "ah-ha"moments. During the basketball tournament, he not only impressed the heck out of everyone with his athletic abilities, he demonstrated amazing leadership on the court. I watched him take a teammate who was struggling to the side and give him a pep talk and then comfort and encourage an opponent after the game! It brought tears to my eyes! At lunch my co-teacher and the health aid told about witnessing a horrifying wreck this morning. The car flipped and almost landed on my friend's car and both people were ejected from the car, one of whom landed on the pavement right behind my friend. My co-teacher got out of his car and tried to help the victims. He cried as he told me and so we prayed together. Then the whole school had an all school party and the kids were WAY out of hand and I was fired up trying to help get it under control. I did relax and had a blast at one point doing the two step with the kids. Then I received a report of a group of kids threatening to beat up another kiddo and the Principals were busy supervising so I had to take statements and call parents. This was extremely disappointing after we spent the whole day doing activities to try to prevent this behavior. So I capped all this off by coming home and watching Oprah's extreme dream show where she gave away amazing things to people who truly deserve it. I cried through the entire thing. For example, she gave a vacation to Italy to a mom who had raised her three children completely alone and held down three jobs to keep them out of the homeless shelter. Then she paid off the ladies' kids' student loans and gave her enough money to take a year off! Scott struggles with watching Oprah give so publically but I think that she inspires others by telling these people's stories and also inspires all of us to give also. So after all this emotion today, I think I'll do to bed early, I'm exhausted!