Praying girls

This morning I went in late because I had to take the girls to school.  When I dropped Makaila off, I noticed that one of her friends was wearing her jacket.  We have had a talk about her borrowing and loaning clothes all the time because I am not a fan. So, I told her to get it back!

I went to work and the day was normal, after work I came home and took Issy to Karate class and Makaila to church for youth group services.  (She started going to these a few weeks back and loves it- so its a regular Wednesday afternoon thing now...which makes this momma really proud and happy)

Her friend Kristen joined her for youth service this week.  I went to my class and when I got home Makaila and Kristen were at the house, of course planning a sleep over (which was dumb cause it's not happening on a school night).  I got in the car about an hour later to take Kristen home and the girls immediately gave me the "mom - we need to talk to you" preamble. 

As a mom - my first thought was "oh no- whats wrong".  The girls wanted to talk to me about a friend of theirs and were asking me for my advice on how to handle the situation.  About 20 minutes later - we were all sitting in Kristen's driveway crying together.  They confessed to me that their friend was having problems at home (her parents are fighting, her mom is sick and stressed and taking it out on this girl.  Her mom told her that she loved her sister more than her, a boy in school that she likes doesn't like her back, etc).  For any
teenage girl this has to feel like your world is collapsing around you.  Makaila and Kristen wanted me to know about their friend and to tell them what they should do or how they could help her. 

I of course told them to pray for her, I told Makaila to give her the jacket she was wearing (come to find out - she borrowed it because she doesn't have one and her mom refused to buy her one).  I asked them to help pay for her lunches when they could and to tell me if they needed more money to help with that and I would give it to them (turns out they weren't giving her lunch money either and the girl was spending days without eating - which breaks my heart).  We talked about how great friends they were and how they should work extra hard to make her feel special and loved and to remind her constantly that she is not alone.  And again - that the best most effective thing they could do for this friend was to pray for her.  I told them that being a parent is really stressful at times too and parents make mistakes too - so to pray for her parents too. 

I shared their concerns with Danny after we went to bed (who was also sad for this girl), and I prayed for this friend of theirs as well - but let me just tell you that as a mom I felt so so so amazingly proud of Makaila and Kristen tonight. 

My heart aches with pride and love at knowing and seeing that they are such kind hearted and caring people.  To know that while they can be focused on boys and gossip and middle school crap - but instead they are focused on their friend and how they can help her. They cried and were hurting for her.  That tells me that while I may not be a perfect person in a lot of ways - I have got to be doing something right for her to be the person she is becoming! 

Go to bed tonight and remind your kids that you love them and are there for them to talk to or vent to or just hold when they need it.  Love on them and remind them that they are special, and important, and smart and everything else that we all need to hear from time to time! There are far too many kids crying themselves to sleep, and living thier days feeling invisible and lonely - that's not ok!