A game I wish my daughter didn't have to play.

We live in a tiny Southwest Kansas town of 900 where it seems everyone knows everyone. DR and I have lived in 5 states and a variety of different communities and the one we live in now is by far my favorite! I've never lived in a community that looked out for one another like this one and where I've felt so very welcome. 

To top off living in just a wonderful community we just happen to live right across the street from Yip and Yap's school and two blocks from Yahoo's preschool. Any activity going on at the school, well, we have a front row seat for. Any game night Rebel fans cars are parked all around our house. On prom night DR and I throw open the windows and enjoy all the oldie music the kids dance to. 

This school started off with no exceptions. A week before school started the parking lot was regularly full of teachers cars as they congregated for training and meetings. 

However, a few days before school though there was some activity that raised my eyebrows. The school parking lot was full of a dozen county police officers at 8:00 am. The officers, many that I knew, didn't seem distressed as they drove in, chatted and mingled together as they went inside. They spent the entire day in the school. What on earth could they be doing in the school ALL DAY? 

Later I found out from a friend, who works at the school, that (duh) the police officers were spending the day at the school doing what I guess you would call a training procedure with the teachers. A couple of the officers were the "bad guys" and the others went through the school, room by room, in formation just as they would if an intruder were to come into the school. Then they showed the teachers if such an event occurs where students should go within each classroom. Our school is teeny tiny and logically I know that a school shooting here is extremely unlikely but I also understand that school administrators, understandably, feel the need to take precautions. (We have a GREAT superintendent by the way!) 

I didn't think much of the safety training and procedures being put in place at the school though. My boys are old enough, almost 9, to understand about why such procedures need to be in place. Sometimes dangerous people show up in schools. I haven't discussed with them in any detail the deaths of Sandy Hook or Columbine students. We've routinely discussed what to do if a stranger tries to take you and things along those lines of course, so they have a healthy level of, I don't know if I'd call it fear, but preparedness.

What really hit me in the heart this week was Yahoo coming home from preschool, which is right next to the boys' elementary school, and she was telling me about the "Intruder Game" they played at school. My heart skipped a beat.

"What's the Intruder Game?" I asked with my heart in my throat. 

Yahoo happily skipped down the sidewalk and innocently answered, "My teacher says "Intruder" and then we all go hide in the bathroom." What really hit me was that there was no fear whatsoever in her voice. Yahoo is more scared of ants biting her feet than she is of an intruder in school. She doesn't understand what it is they are preparing for.

I don't know how I feel about this Intruder Game honestly. Oh, I think the teacher is doing a great job and preparing them for a highly unlikely event with as little drama as possible and that's fantastic. 

But I'm conflicted. Should I be thankful and relieved that this class of four year old's are so very innocent that preparing for a school shooting is something they have to do by playing a game? Or should I take all of this school preparedness as a sign I need to speak to my kids more about preparing for violence against them? In my heart I feel that they need to stay innocent as long as possible. I don't want to scare them. I don't want to put those images in their head they they'll worry about. I don't want them fearful where ever they go. But I also want them prepared. Or maybe I shouldn't worry about them being prepared for violence but lovingly provide them with the social and emotional support so that if they are affected by violence they'll have a network to fall back on. 

What is your school doing different this year? Any thoughts? Concerns? 

The Joys of MUD!

We started off our visit home to my husband's family in southern Indiana. My brother in law farms down there so I was really looking forward to tromping around with the kids. 

Indiana wheat looks awesome. The color of the photo above is off; it was much greener. 

My sister Officer came down with me because there are times that she really likes to get away from the hustle and bustle of Indianapolis. I can't really blame her. We were raised on a farm and spent lots of our childhood outside romping through trees and fields. Coming to the country is a tonic for our souls I think. 

My mom had told me how swamped with rain Indiana had been. They'd gotten four inches of rain just three days before we arrived so I was expecting muddy puddles. Our first stop, before we even got to the farm, was to buy three pairs of rubber boots. What a good buy! The kids stomped all over the place and I didn't have to worry about ruined shoes :) 

The first time Yahoo saw a muddy puddle she seemed so surprised! And she even asked if it was okay to play in. I'm not sure if she thought there was something in the mud, or if I'd be mad, or what but she didn't have that impulsive instinct to jump right into the mud like the boys did. Of course the boys lived around wet and mud until they were 5 1/2. Yahoo's lived in dry Kansas since she was 16 months old. Quite a different childhood between them. 

I love my brother in law's farm. So peaceful and just a wonderful place to romp around. 

Officer and her Mini Me

This is a pic of my sister, the Officer, when she was 4 or 5. 

This is a pic of my 3 year old daughter Yahoo. 

And here they are both together about two weeks ago. 

It's eerie how much these two look alike! Yahoo sure doesn't look anything like me. 

See?? Yahoo looks more like my sister than she does me! 

 You'd think that after carrying her in my womb for nine and a half months (I swear!) and going through a C-section to give birth to her she'd at least have the courtesy to LOOK like me! 

This is my favorite photo of the two together! I have to say that the way "looks" get passed down in my family tree has always amazed me.

I don't know if I want Yahoo to grow up acting like my sister the Police Officer! That may be more than I can handle! 

Sunday Devotions - Love each other

My command is this; Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13

My sister and her husband are both police officers in a large Midwestern city. Recently one of their fellow officers was shot and killed while conducting a routine traffic stop. It was a stark reminder for their town that police work is not easy physically or emotionally nor is it always a safe profession. Police officers volunteer for this job, no one tells them they have to put themselves in harms way in order to protect innocent people they've never met.

I like to keep an illusion in my head day to day that my sister and brother in law are always safe when they go to work, but I know that isn't always the case. But if I had to choose the police officers who protect me day in and day out, I would choose them first. The majority of officers would lay down their lives to save others. What an awesome kind of love, the greatest love.  

Jesus did the same thing of course. Jesus was mortal and had the free will to choose to go to the Cross or he could have refused the will of God. But Jesus did choose to die to save people he never met, who weren't yet born, for us.

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for Jesus' love that he died to save us. Thank You for the police officers and soldiers and others in our community and country who put themselves in harms way everyday to keep us, strangers and friends, safe. Amen.