This day is finally almost over

This is going to be depressing so you may want to stop here. I'm trying to stay away from self pity but it's been one lousy day.

It was a great morning. Elcie was well enough to sing and Rebecca and Rochelle behaved through their baptism except for giggling when the water went down their necks. That got our husband and wife co-pastors giggling too. Some solemn occasion. Their thick hair doesn't absorb water well (kind of like ducks or a rain slicker). We're a very open church so their Apostolic mom, my LDS husband, and United Methodist me all stood up with them. It's more of a welcoming ceremony with us than a "remission of sins" thing. No wonder Pat Robertson is sure we're all going to hell. All that acceptance and good will is bound to be evil somehow.

Everything went crazy after we got home. Our half grown kitten broke his leg; we don't know how. No vet on Sunday unless I paid $100 just to get him to look at the kitty to say nothing of how much more after that. I didn't have it. A friend took him down to the shelter as a stray (they won't work on pets). Shame on me for fudging but I couldn't keep him here crying in pain. Surprisingly, they think they can fix the leg and then put him up for adoption. I was sure they'd euthanize him. I had two crying girls (Elcie and Rochelle) and one mad one (Rebecca). I'm sure it was her way of crying. They were glad he might make it but are sad he's not coming back. There may be an unethical way around that if he recovers. I'll have to give it some thought.

I haven't mentioned the new family across the street who have been bullying the two little girls for a couple of weeks now. We've told the girls to avoid them and ignore the name calling - just come home. Today it got out of hand and not only were they name calling (monkey, retarded, and "ho") to my beautiful Rochelle, they were screaming across the street; words I didn't even know and I thought I knew them all. We called the police. Of course it was all our fault until the police got our side of the story. Still, there's nothing they can do unless it escalates. I'm a little afraid for the girls. We'll start taking them to school for a while and I'll talk to their teachers. At least two and maybe three of the kids are at the same school. There are six girls I think and a mother who was doing most of the screaming and egging her kids on. Unbelievable.

What's really stupid is it all started when their nine year old girl got mad because my nine year old Rebecca and the boy across the street are friends. Of course they're friends, their birthdays are 3 days apart (Rebecca is the older woman), and they've known each other forever. They're not boyfriend and girlfriend, they're only 9. From what I heard, the other little girl "wanted" him. My God. It was all downhill from there. I don't know why they're persecuting Rochelle when they're mad at Rebecca. Rochelle looks vulnerable so maybe that's it. I'm sure they're all involved in a gang; we do have a couple of girls' gangs here and the red shirts, combined with the attitude, are usually a dead giveaway.

It's the first time in 12 years I've had neighbor problems. I either get along with neighbors or leave them alone. No cross words, ever. I'll just keep the girls on this side of the street for now and hope they don't come over here. Meantime my friends in their complex will talk to the landlord. It won't be the first complaint; just the first one about the girls.

Just got a comment from "Insomniac" talking about her problems with bi-racial children. We could have been reading each others minds. I'm sure "monkey" and "ho" were racist and there may have been a "baboon" thrown in as well. My Rochelle is so sad tonight. Between her kitty and the hatred, she had a rough time; especially on a day that started out so well. She cried off and on for the rest of the day and there was nothing I could do except hug her and tell her tomorrow would probably be better. I hope that's true for all of us.

As far as I know, it's the first time she's heard these racial slurs. I was praying she'd never have to hear them or the word "retarded" applied to her. She's not but some of the kids think anyone in special day classes are "dumb". Her black grandmother (I've spoken about her before) sent her a message to hold her head up and be proud. I think it helped. It wouldn't have meant as much coming from me.

Insomniac, the blog was down for maintenance for a while; maybe that's what happened. I typed an entire posting the other day, hit "save" and it disappeared. It was so profound; now no one will ever know. (lol)

I'd better close this off and try to get some sleep. Rochelle wasn't the only one crying today - I just try not to let the girls see it.