Chicken Soup for the SLP Soul Blog Hop

Thanks so much for stopping by on your visit through the blog hop! If you’re just beginning, head on over to Speech Time Fun to begin the hop.

Let’s be real for a moment. I wasn’t quite sure what to write for this post when I signed up. And it’s not for lack of great stories about my wonderful job,  because truly, you all know I love my job.

As I was driving home one night, I started praying about this post and what I should write about. Ideas came instantly:

Let’s see…I could write about the time that student mastered his toughest goal or perhaps the time my little Melissa had told me she want to be a “speech teacher” just like me!

I came up over a hill past a park and God answered my prayer. It’s my story of crossing boundaries. It’s a story close to my heart and I debated long and hard about sharing it but I am in the hopes that it will encourage you, when needed, to take that step across the boundary.

Boundaries.  No hugging. No sharing personal stories. No loving. But… let’s face it-we’re human. Our hearts bleed. We don’t just leave our “work” at work. We carry our students’ lives home. We think about them. We cry for them.  We love them.

Rewind two years ago:

My husband and I were in the midst of going through fertility treatments. We both wanted to be parents so badly but it just wasn’t happening.

In January 2013, she entered my speech room. Let’s call her Ashley. She had transferred from another district after being placed in foster care. First grade, huge green eyes, red hair, freckles, AND giddy about speech. She was perfect.  I instantly took to this little girl and she, starved for attention, took to me. Her eyes lit up the moment I came to her classroom, hugs were demanded after every speech session and she always left saying “I love you, Mrs. Allison.”

Heart. Melt.

March came and her social worker contacted the school and said she was going to be moving to another foster family. Her current family simply could not handle all of her needs at the time.

Heart. Broken.

My husband and I prayed very hard that whole week and felt God telling us to call the social worker. Just to see.

So I did. I had no idea what to say or what to do. The social worker on the other line said that Ashley needed a family and wanted to know if my husband and I were interested. Um…yes…but a million questions flooded my head.

Was this even allowed? I felt like I was breaking some sort of rule by even calling this social worker and asking about one of my students in this way. Could I cross the boundary of being “speech teacher” to being “mommy” for this little girl? Gulp. Throughout this time, I only told one of my closest teacher friends what we were trying to decide.

Well, I can tell you it didn’t happen. Ashley needed a family within the next week and my husband and I were in complete renovation mode of our house, specifically the bedrooms. There was no carpet, no toys, not even any walls.  She walked out of my life just as quickly as she walked in.

I struggled in my prayers asking God why He would allow this to happen. Was there a reason?

A few months later, the teacher friend I had confided in said she had a student in her class who recently lost her mom. She had debated on whether to “cross the boundary.” Because of my story, she did. She became part of the Big Sister program and after clearing it with the school, was allowed to spend time with this child outside of school, taking her out to eat and shopping.

A year later, on 4/14/2014, my sweet Aislyn was born. 

 

To this day, every time I pass that park I’m reminded to pray for Ashley. I pray that she found a loving family, that she’ll grow up feeling loved and know that other people loved her as well.

Sometimes, we need to be brave and say “I love you,” give a hug, or just tell a student you care.

I hope you were encouraged by this very special story about me.  Here’s my secret number that you will need at the end of the hop:

 

 

Head on to the next blog: Playing with Words 365: