Please join me at my new website christiedrozdowski.com for updates, photos, and more blog posts. This blog will remain for archival purposes. Thank you to everyone who read my posts here and commented. Keep in touch!

Well, we have come back on shift this week to the same cottage minus one. We would have had a minus one then plus one, but, turns out, the girl who arrived last Monday (the day we go on/off shift) was not only 5 and a half weeks pregnant, but also defiant, unruly, and someone we couldn’t really help. Crossnore never likes to give up on kids, but when the child won’t comply (and at 17, you really have no excuse to not comply) then there’s nothing we can do. I’m happy to come back on shift not having an added stress. I feel sorry for the girl, whoever she was, but I feel no remorse on our part if she was just going to make things worse for everyone else. 

I will miss the ‘minus one’ I mentioned. She hasn’t moved from our campus, just to another cottage, which, as it happens, is an independent living cottage. She still has a bit left in our program to finish before she can get all the privileges of independent living, but at 18 and still on our campus, she deserves to live in a nicer and more mature cottage. She’s worked hard while she was with us, and I hope her determination continues instead of flattening out and/or getting that spoiled look-at-me-now attitude, as it happens from time to time with the older kids on campus. 

It’s tricky. That line between “I deserve nice things” and “I’m entitled to nice things.” I suppose it’s hard for anyone to learn that humility is far greater of a character trait to posses then all the possessions one could have, especially if one is feeling as if they are simply entitled to things and no longer have to earn them. 

I’m eager to see how this week will unfold with our 8 girls now. One of our girls was quite attached to the one who left, so it will be interesting to see who of the other girls she might “attach” herself to now, if she even chooses to do so. 

This image reminds me of the Misty Edward’s song. I love it.

(via artistofthesoul)

Today I feel…

After a long hiatus from blogging, (on both this site and my personal blog, although, I’ve begun blogging there again) I’ve determined that there is a need for me to start this blog back up again. I’ve given it a new look, and now it’s time to give it some fresh posts.

First, let me catch you up to speed from where I left off. Out of the six girls that went with us on our beach trip last year, we don’t have any of them still living in our cottage. All have moved on either back to their home or somewhere else, which is hopefully a good thing. I am sure some of them went back home unprepared for the tempations and pressures of “normal” teenage life, but I hope most of them are doing well.

In the month that followed my last blog posts, we got a group of girls that we basically had until December. There were lots of ups and downs during those five months. We had some good moments, but I’d say probably more troubling, trying times than good. Looking back, there seems to have been a lot of unrest in our cottage. We had girls with very deep issues and enough baggage to fill an airport baggage claim receptor. Put all of those girls together in one house, and you get pure chaos at times. I don’t think I’ve ever grown so much when it comes to ministry. Dealing with serious issues of deception, manipulation, PTSD, OCD, gossip and even one major fist fight, and sometimes just plain teenage hormonal and/or rebellion issues will definitely change you! I tell David that by the time we have teenagers of our own, we will be experts in all their tricks. I sincerely hope that somewhere in there, I was able to make a difference in their lives. I remember having moments where I know the Lord was using me while in a one on one conversation with them. And we did have some laughs and good times…

In early December, David and I took 3 weeks off, and spent time in England with his family. It was the best trip I’ve ever been on since it had been four long years since we had seen his family! We celebrated our 5 year anniversary there and even went to Poland and the Ukraine to visit some distant relatives as well. Coming back from that trip (and straight into a shift with the girls) was one of the most difficult things for me. Our number had gotten down to just four, which certainly made our work load easier, and the girls were still out on Christmas break. But I was in a sort of depressed, mopey mood for a few days once we returned. It only lasted until the start of the new year, because I decided it was time to get with the program. I was feeling like my life was still in England, sorry that I was back here at home. But I realized a new year meant new things for me, and in the end, my life is actually here, and I have to embrace that.

Once school started again, the new girls started flowing in. We got three within a week, another one about a week later, and yet another one a couple weeks after that. Our cottage has literally changed tone and atmosphere. For the most part, these girls are mostly trustworthy (I won’t ever trust any of them 100%). They are fun and love to laugh. They can be quite needy and sensitive, and it does seem to be that everyday something new has made one of the mad. But they will work out their differences quite maturely in time, and they generally respect David and I much better than our last group of girls did.

It’s nice that I’m starting my shifts these days feeling good and confident. I believe that is partly to do with the fact that we have been doing this work for almost a year now. That’s pretty hard to believe. I’m happy to know, though, that for the past year, my life has been spent pouring into the lives of such beautiful and heart-broken girls.

This is definitely out of context and sort of a throwback to this, but we were telling our girls from the group home today about some of the crazy things we did in our former youth group. I realized I had never posted THE SODA POP on this blog. So, there you go. You need to hear it. Definitely brings back great memories from that night at camp. :) 

Just click the link from the title above, and listen to it off of David’s random myspace music page. Go ahead and take a listen to David’s stuff, too. Perhaps you’ll get a good laugh out of my crazy husband. 

So anytime you’re on vacation, I totally subscribe to the idea of having a flat out chill day, meaning DO NOTHING. Today, I slept until around 11am (many thanks to the extra staff here with us enabling me to do so) and have basically lounged around the entire time. Hammocks are wonderful creations. 

Here’s the view from the hammock here at the beach house. Fitting for the holiday tomorrow, huh? 

Most of our girls had a chill day today, too. We all got quite a bit of sun yesterday, so staying in doors was preferred. We had fun making beaded jewelry together, too. And we’re going to watch movies tonight. Perfect vacay-do-nothing day. 

And this is a good opportunity to share about our amazing grill-out dinner last night. 

Ah, food pictures are the best. The one directly above makes me want to eat this meal again. I had some leftover shrimp in a salad today for lunch actually. That’s another great part about vacation - the food. It’s been great cooking for the girls and giving them a taste of some, perhaps, better quality meals than they usually get. 

After we all finished eating (outside, too), we played a little game with the lime we had sitting out on the table. (The lime was for the corn on the cob - Trista said it was a Rachel Ray thing. Delicious.) So, we took the lime, and several of us had to eat a slice quickly and we took pictures of the person’s face! Here’s one of Mark, one of the staff.

I really wish I could post some of the ones of the girls. But, alas, I cannot due to legal reasons and such. So just know that we all had a fun time laughing at each other’s faces!

I’ll end this post with a photo of Trista and I. She’s one of the case managers at the school. Lovely lady!

Out on the beach today, David met some new friends. ;) Our girls weren’t entirely thrilled. I suppose we do have some divas. They were laying out while David was playing with the birds. 

There’s also a pic of Mark, one of the other resident counselors for our cottage trying out “skid boarding” or whatever it’s called. ;) Yep. 

- one of our girls as she held the sand crab she caught here at the beach

So how much fun is it to be able to bring our girls down to the beach for some cottage “family” time? I am eternally grateful to the donor who just gave our school this beach house we’re getting to stay in! It’s lovely and refreshing for everyone to get out of our own cottage back home. The girls are loving it. 

We are especially happy to have our new “opposite” couple here with us this week for some staff bonding as well. This couple was hired just a couple weeks ago, and they dove right it to the routine. We’re all quite happy that we can discuss our work and ministry within a longer setting than just the meetings we have before change of shifts each week. The new couple are filled with great ideas, too, and we both bring a sense of freshness to our cottage. 

We also have one of the full time case managers at the school here with us this week. So, in total, we have 5 adults to 8 teen girls. That’s pretty perfect. We’re each able to relax a bit knowing that the responsibility and weight of our job this trip is quite evenly shared. I am very excited for bonding to take place with our girls. Please be in prayer for the unity of our group and for the strength we all must have to make this entire trip a success!