My Life at the Kids' Table

Today, a kid peed on me. Well, technically she peed in her diaper, it leaked, I was holding her, and...I got wet. 

When you're walking around with a big wet spot on your shirt (and we were on a field trip so there was nothing I could do about it), it might prompt you to reevaluate your life choices for a split second. 

I often look around and wonder, "How did I get here?"

Here...where I'm sitting in chairs that are too small and my knees are to my chin, where I'm sticky with jelly from someone's PB&J, where I'm wiping runny noses, and where I'm getting peed on. 

My life is certainly not glamorous...at least not in a traditional sense.

However, here is also where I am greeted with hugs and smiles, where littles spot me from across the room and start running straight to my arms as they yell, "Ms. Alex!," where I rarely eat with grown-ups because I'm surrounded by kids at Wednesday night dinners, and where they make me feel like a bit of a rock star. Here...where their grip on my hand is nearly as tight as their hold on my heart. 

So yes, I sometimes wonder, "How did I get here?" not because 'here' is such a bad place, but because it is a place where I am loved and supremely happy. I am so incredibly blessed to be here and somedays I just can't believe my luck.

A year ago this week, I interviewed and accepted the job at Winchester FUMC. It has been a crazy year. My job has its fair share of unpleasantness and struggles, but at the end of the day, I still love it. I know that I haven't always done my job perfectly, but I've done it with my whole heart. And while I appreciate the kiddos making me feel like a rock star, I hope that as we spend time together they'll realize that none of us are perfect, but we keep loving each other anyway because that's what God does. I hope that they always love me, I do. However, my real hope is that somewhere in something I do, they see Jesus and they love Him the most. I hope they know how much I love them, but realize that God loves them so much more. And somewhere in midst all the fun we have together, I hope they find their faith...because that they will be able to cling to long after I'm gone and they grow up.

They tell me I'm a grown up and I suppose that is technically true. However, I hope to be sitting at the kids' table for quite a while...the company here is some of the best I've found.