Smoke Sitting

I am still trying to catch up on blogging which is why I am telling you about something that happened at the beginning of July. Rachel and I did a little house/horse sitting for my coworker Jamie. Jamie lives just up the hill from my parents... about 15 minutes out of town. It was quite a scheduling nightmare trying to get out there in time to feed the horse, working (my job is about 45 minutes away), and making it to all the various events of the week (baby shower for my soon to arrive nephew, working out etc). It reminds me why I am not cut out to live in the country, I am way too social. On the flip side once we were out there it was quite peaceful and it was beautiful to watch Rachel's love for Smoke, the horse we were taking care of. She really loves animals and has done some things with horses in the past so she actually knew way more than I did about what we were doing. She never complained about taking care of the horse even if it meant getting up early (and she is NOT a morning person) and scooping poop. Jamie also has a Wii Fit which was a total blast! I was obsessed with the flying game to the point where my arms were sore the whole week. :-)

The bigger picture of this house sitting week is the story of redemption that was underlying it all because Jamie actually used to be Rachel's social worker at FCNI, where I work. Jamie was the social worker for Rachel when she was in a foster care program that was a level system, and it was a really horrible time of her life. Rachel was very angry and the level system triggered her even more. Her poor behavior at that time had caused the professionals to decide that she was to be sent out of state to a group home. It was right at that time that I decided to take Rachel, which is why she did not end up at that group home. Jamie did not think it was a good idea for me to take Rachel and was of the opinion that she would be better off in a group home. It was understandable as she had really only experienced Rachel at her worst and did not see a lot of hope for her. The wonderful thing is that Jamie is a believer and she is very honest full of grace and she and I were able to talk through our difference at that time and since. We have now become great friends, which is good because my current job requires us to work closely with each other every day. Once Rachel was adopted Jamie invited us over to her home and the fact that she was now willing to trust Rachel with her home and her horse (who is like her child) is an incredible work of healing. How wonderful for Rachel to go from being that troubled kid cussing out her social worker to a responsible teenager invited into someone's home and trusted with all their most precious things (and pets).