Hold on Tight!!!

I finally got to go to work today - oh my goodness...HELP!!!!  Just kidding - it wasn't that bad.  There is just a ton of stuff for me to learn, and when I have to learn it in the midst of working with 10 delinquent, drug addict/mental health kids in crisis, it just complicates matters.  Being the new gal means the kids push boundaries with me, learn my style, and make everyone's lives hellish.  Fun, you say?  Oh yes it is!  

I walked into work today to find out that three kids got arrested and taken to jail the night before, so the whole house was upset and hyper from that incident.  I find out later that all three of these kids are going to be returning to the house tomorrow.  Not fun.  Because of the incident, the whole house was put on refocus.  Refocus means that no one gets any privileges, free time, TV time, music, or anything.  This doesn't make the kids happy, and the staff gets to deal with them unhappy.  

My job today was just to be another staff on the floor and interact with the kids.  The problem is that the kids don't want to talk, play games, or do anything - they only want to get out of Cornerstone.  I spent a lot of the day just hanging out on a couch watching the kids interact with each other while the other staff members worked on intaking new kids and figuring out how to deal with last nights issues.  Ha!  Nothing like jumping in head first!

My whole way to work, I just prayed.  I have no idea how to help these kids!  I realize that I can't even begin to do anything until they want to help themselves, but there are very few times I have truly felt this helpless.  Seriously.  First of all, these kids are teens, so that in and of itself is reason for disrespect, breaking the rules, etc.  But when you add the drugs, alcohol, and the backgrounds these kids come from, it is no wonder it is so hard to help them.  Many of them don't even care if they make it to the next day.  That's hard to deal with!  I know it will get better as time goes on and I learn more about how to do my job.  But for now it is hard.  

I got my first sickness here in Juneau two days ago, and am still fighting it.  It's something like allergies, and I've heard that everyone who moves to Juneau gets it within their first week.  Bummer!  Oh, and I got my first (of many, I'm sure) mosquito bite.  They're buggers here...

As I read over this post, I realize that it is so sad and depressing - please don't think that that is my life here!  Life is good and God is great!  I'm meeting more and more people, getting enough sleep (yay!), and getting familiar for the area.  I think I could even be a tour guide now, so if any of you want to come up, I'll show you around!

Thank you for the prayers and the love - I'm really going to be needing it!  I love you and miss you all!

Blessings!