The Prodigals

I have three children that I want to introduce you to who really need prayer. I'll start with S.

S, like many/most of my children, comes from a broken home. I actually don't know all of the specifics, but I do know she lives with her grandmother, though her mother lives in town. It is obvious that her family struggles financially.

Of all the students in my classroom, she is my only student who will talk back to me. There is not a single student in my class who would give me the lip she does on occasion. For example, today I told her she did her assignment incorrectly and she immediately got angry and wouldn't take her assignment back. She started whining that she wanted to play and that she already did what she was supposed to do. I looked at her and said, "Are you whining? S, don't give me attitude in this classroom. I am not your mother, I am your teacher."

She is also a habitual liar. Today I told her to spit out her gum. She walked over to the classroom, put her hand to her mouth and gestured towards the trashcan. After sitting back down, I noticed she had stuck her gum behind her upper lip. Annoyed, I told her to throw it away immediately. She likes, "I did." I was really annoyed now and said, "S, you are lying to me. You always do that. Throw it away this instance." She defiantly through it in the trash can. The day before, she was irate with me because I wouldn't let her leave school early to go to the bake sale. She literally stomped her foot in anger.

Academically, S is my lowest performing student. Her reading level is mid-Kindergarten. She really, really struggles. I think the main reason that she does so poorly is that she simply does not pay attention. And she doesn't pay attention because she is utterly exhausted. She goes to bed at 11:00 because she is watching T.V. Her eyes water every day because she is so exhausted. She constantly is responding to my questions with a "huh." And unlike every other girl in my class and most boys, she doesn't like me to hug her.

S has a lot of pain, I can clearly see that. And I know that she likes my class, at least to a degree. She tells me that she loves me when she makes me notes. She also brought me a snow globe the other day. But there remains these challenges.

Finally, I would bet a large amount of money that S has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She displays many of the signs and symptoms. I am trying to decide if I should refer her to Special Ed. Please pray with me about S.

The second child that is challenging me is named M. Her story is really tragic. Her father was incarcerated when she was a baby and her mother hates her. M's grandmother told me that M's mom got very sick and almost died giving birth to her. She therefore despised the baby for putting her in danger. M has other siblings but her mom likes them. Some actually live with her. But M is treated like the outcast and has been beaten by her mom. She now lives with her grandmother and cares for her younger brother and sister.

M's family is obviously very poor. She has a constant chest cold and the clothes she wears remind me of the children of Botswana, Rwanda and Uganda. She comes to school so dirty sometimes that I have taken her into the hallway and literally wiped her down. She is also considerably overweight and has been teased about it in the past.

Socially, it seems that M doesn't have any friends. I can see that she feels like an outsider. I feel bad because she is constantly breaking the rules and the class gets impatient with her. Her form of defiance is ignoring me. When I tell her to put her pencil down, she will still write for another minute. But most bothersome is the fact that she is late every single day--and I mean every day. She has probably been on time twice since the year began. She not because she arrives at school late but because she dawdles at the school breakfast. I have to go get her nearly every day. I told her that I had had enough. I have conferenced with her grandmother and rebuked her several times. Every morning I ask why she is late and she has some other excuse.

Yesterday, after being late for the millionth time, I told her she had to sit at the reflection desk and explaining in writing why she was late and what she would do tomorrow to arrive on time. This is what she wrote,

"I will wake up early and I will come to school and go to breakfast and I will come to class early. I will come to school at 7:00 and at 8:00 to. I promass miss Brendsesl that I will come to school early because I love you miss Brendsel so, so much." ha

I fully expected this to rectify the situation. I was wrong. Today, I found her at breakfast messing around with her brother. I said, "M--- M---, get to class right now." Normally I walk with her but today I didn't wait. I returned to class and honestly forgot about her. About twenty minutes later, my aide comes in and tells me M is hiding in the hallway and ran away when he confronted her. I had to leave the class, which I was instructing and talk to her in the hallway. I told her that she could either sit at the reflection desk or in the office. She refused to move. Fed up, I told her that she had better move now or I was getting someone to move her. She knows that I have no power because I can't physically touch her. I had to go get the security officer who apparently can't touch her either. My principal was gone so I couldn't call her. She finally went with an aide and was taken to the acting principal. She was back in less than five minutes. I was so upset. When she came back, she just sat at her desk and refused to move or join the class on the carpet. I largely ignored her behavior for most of the day. At one point, she joined in with the class and I called on her, acting if nothing had happened.

When we were going to the library, she beamed up at me and said, "Do you know why I am being good. Cause it makes my grandma happy." I was speechless. We went to the library without incident. However, as we were leaving, I heard the librarian say "M, are you hiding back here?" I turned around, shocked to find M was hiding in the book stacks. With 17 kids, I simply didn't notice. I again was not happy and was thoroughly mortified. She returned to class with us and almost made the kids miss the buses (they had to run) because she was taking so long to follow my directions.

Please, please, pray for M and for me. I love her very deeply. She has a smile that will melt your heart and I feel so bad about her being unwanted. She has asked me if she could live with me and has told me that she wishes I were her mom. She normally does very well in my class aside from the fact that is slow to follow my directions and that she is late to class. She just needs a lot of prayer, as do I.

The child is a boy, though he is not in my class. His name is B. He was one of the first kids I noticed when I began to teach here. He just looks like trouble. He walks with a swagger and just breaks every rule imaginable. Someone is always scolding him. So I was very pleased to find that when he finally came to my class, he and I have gotten along very well. He participates and really seems to try to stay on task--with more success at time than at others. He misses class a lot--a whole lot, and he has performed very low in academics in the past. But we get along real well. He rides his bike very where and I ride mind, so we have that bond. He even gives me hugs some time.

But B has problems. He has explosive anger issues. Just yesterday, he went up to his teacher and said, "I am getting angry.!" He wouldn't tell his teacher why---just stormed out. He began pounding his head against the mat on the gym wall. The counselor tried to restrain him to keep him from hurting himself. He flailed and bit her. He then ran into the hallway and pulled the plug of a blow-up Frankenstein out of the wall which sent sparks flying. When a teacher came out, he screamed in rage "Get away you black F-ing, B-! The kids is eight years old. He then took another Halloween item and through it across the wall.

This was not the first time B has gone on a rampage. The odd thing is, I have never seen it. His mom doesn't know what to do. When he was a little boy, he suffered head trauma as a result of a brain injury. Doctors say that it has influenced his ability to cope with his anger. Personally, I think that this issue is demonic and I am serious. Yesterday, when he went into the rage, his lower jaw was quivering uncontrollably and he told the principal that "Some thing's happening!" I honestly think that something spiritual happens when he goes into these spells.

I ask that you would pray for deliverance for this child. I pray that if I ever encounter this sort of violent anger, that the light would pierce the darkness.

Please pray for all my children. They have so many needs.

Love,

B