Thought for the day… We are given a finite amount of time to do what looks insurmountable, to change the lives of children that have suffered loss, abuse, neglect and a host of other things that have caused their developmental trauma. We are given 24 hours 7 days a week in order to build pathways in the brain that will lead to a change in world view and inner working model. We take on the challenge of moving a child from not being able to access their inner selves and give them a safe place to begin to learn to know who they really are. We give them back what was taken from them; safety, health, laughter, play, rules, food, clothing, shelter and so much more. We give them everything they never knew to dream of, things like family and hope. We do this while trying to balance other peoples views, family dysfunction and a system that was not created in a way that is easy to work in (some would say it is impossible). We do it without thanks and sometimes alone. We have going against us their past and in some things our past is also going against us, giving them triggers and buttons to push. When I look at it this way, when I look at the time and effort needed to make a change that looks so difficult I am even more amazed at the fact that we still do it. We show up every morning. We stay until bedtime and sometimes cry ourselves to sleep. We stay through every weather and storm thrown our direction and we do it 24/7. We are amazing! We are warriors and we fight against all the wrongs, we fight against a system, we fight for the chance for our children to have safety and hope. It is ok that when we show up that we make mistakes. It is ok that our best is sometimes hitting about a 25% energy rate. It is ok that today was a hard day because there is a tomorrow and we will be there. So get some rest, tomorrow will come and we will fight for our kids some more…and when you look back you will know that it was worth it and you brought hope and family to a child that needed it, and you to be their warrior.