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.