The end is near...!

Less than 4 weeks now and I'll be jetting back---wow! School finally let out for summer holidays this past Friday. True to elementary school form, the class watched a movie, played games and had a party--going out with a bang. That was a really nice day, but also a sad one. Saying goodbye to kids for what will likely be forever, wow. Clearly much harder for me than for them. They don't really understand not seeing someone again. sigh... I've been saying all year that I'm only here for one year, but just the other day, one of my students came up to me and casually asked if I was going to work with their class the next year. And I had to explain that no, I was going back to America. She then asked when I would be back, as if I was just going to America on holiday for a month or so. That was a painful conversation for sure. I have really gotten to be quite fond of some of the kids I work with, and some of the staff. But I also am a bit glad to be done; there have been some really awful problems with some of the boys in my class, being incredibly naughty, getting violent with property and teachers. yikes. The teachers have been upset about how it was handled...it's not been a very happy work place for the past few weeks. So it goes, I guess.
Another youth work thing came to an end today; Matt and I did our last round leading the children's service at Great Horton Methodist. It went pretty well. It was a young and small crowd, so we sang some songs like "This Little Light of Mine", did a skit about the parable of the wheat and the weeds growing up together, had a little chat about how God is still there even when times are tough--like it no doubt was for the wheat, and colored some worksheets. A nice one to go out on really.
I will carry on seeing some of the kids I've gotten closest with because the two community partnership run kids clubs will continue through the summer, with trips and so on. There are also about 5 kids that come and visit us, our "waifs and strays" as I like to call them. This has been going on for a couple of months now, at least. One little girl comes over quite frequently, to talk, bake chocolate cake, help me in my garden, play on Matt's guitars, draw pictures, play "gold"fish (go fish) or hide and seek. She's got a pretty sad home life; we suspect she comes over for a bit of caring. I have raised concern about her at school to the learning mentors, and they are considering contacting social services on her behalf. I hope things will get better for her. The rest of the kids are relatively well looked after, and you really can tell. It can be very fun having our little guest, but also very draining. Matt and I are getting a lot better at setting time limits and being firm about when it's OK to visit.
Other things filling up the last few weeks here include, for me, a couple of trips with Sara, my Canadian university student friend. We hope to do some serious walking and hiking on the Isle of Man and also in the Highland region in Scotland. Also "Fiddler on the Roof" is coming to town, so we'll get cheep tickets and watch from the nosebleed section. My little garden is still a'growing and I've been doing more art work lately as well--book making. Reading and baking and going on walks as always. I'm starting to prepare for one last African Women's Circle, which I'll be leading solo, at the beginning of August. Hopefully I'll stay busy up to the last.
Speaking of last; I suspect this will be my last blog update. I don't think I'll carry on when I move to Denver. I hope it's been informative and not too painful to read, or skim... Take care all, and God bless.