stewie

in my classroom, we have an elf, stewie.

he's the greatest discipline management i've come across yet. he's an elf on the shelf- a little box set at target that comes with a box and a book. for thirty bucks.. a little doll and a book. but whatever. the whole idea is when stewie arrives, you give him a name and that gives him his christmas magic. this means that every night when we are sleeping, stewie flies to the north pole to tell santa whether we had a naughty day or a nice day. but if you touch him, he loses his christmas magic. so you can't touch him.. ever. i made a really big deal out of this. like too far over the top.

every morning when stewie returns from the north pole, he hides in a new place in the classroom. the first person that finds him is the 'winner'. which means absolutely nothing.. but they love it none-the-less.

when my kids would misbehave i would say things like "whoa, that sure was a bad choice. i hope stewie saw that behavior." or "i may not be watching.. but stewie is always watching." i know, i told you- too far. but it worked.. and so i milked it.

because of this emphasis i put on stewie, my kids fell in love with this doll. like they love this elf. they swear they see his eyes moving and that they saw his arm move. they say he's staring at them when they're in line. and they sit on the floor and talk to him and give him messages to give to santa. whatever, i don't care as long as my kids are somewhat behaving themselves and loving one another.

one day, as i was running late to school, i realized i forgot to move stewie. big mistake because some of my kids are really early to school. aka: get there before the teacher.. embarrassing. so that morning, i told them i had some special things i needed to do and that they needed to wait in the hall. so i quickly threw stewie up on the ledge above our clock, which is near the door, and let the kids in. no big deal.

until later, when sweet shaquita shut the door a little too hard and stewie fell from the ledge and bumped off of her head and into the trash can. she came running to my desk with eyes of absolute shock and fear, "miss may!!!!! stewie touched me and fell into the trash can!!! now he loses his christmas magic and it's all my fault!!!!!!!!!" i told her that stewie only loses his christmas magic if you touch him.. not if he touches us. i was making up rules to end the crisis. but by now the entire class knew and saw poor stewie in the trash can. they were freaking out. but i made a big deal about not touching stewie even though he was in the trash can. i had to survive the last few days of school. they couldn't find out that this was a total crock just yet. i told them we had to leave him in the trash can and that i would tell the janitor not to dump out our trash so he could crawl out when everyone was in bed. they were all at peace.. so we moved on with our day.

the next morning as i was walking into my classroom i thought to myself "ah! i forgot to move stewie again!" and then i remembered. stewie was in the trashcan. i prayed and prayed as i ran to the back of my classroom and realized the trash was empty. he was gone. i totally forgot about the little guy and i was about to face twenty one precious, eager faces. and when they came in.. i told them the truth. well, sorda. i told them that i forgot to tell the janitor and that he came right after i left for the evening so stewie must have been to afraid to come out. so he was in the dump. and hopefully he would find his way back soon.

meanwhile, i'm frantically searching the internet to see if you could buy just the doll and i couldn't find one anywhere. and my kids couldn't have just any elf. they needed stewie. i needed stewie.

one of my sweet girls, viviana, came up to me after the announcements and said "miss may.. during the moment of silence.. i prayed for stewie... that he's alive... and that he'll come home soon.." welp, i felt terrible. and then as i was walking the kids out of the classroom to computer i saw a small scrap of construction paper taped to the wall over the trashcan. i pulled it off and read it as we walked. it said "dear stewie, i really hope you make it out of the dup. cuz we love you." ridiculous. my kids are too cute for words.

so i decided i had to get another thirty dollar elf box. there was no question. but that evening was my bff's lingerie shower that i had spent a loooong time planning. and there was no way i'd have any time between school and the shower to drive across town to go get the doll. emergency. after school i called kelsey, my bff, and told her about the stewie happenings of the day. we both laughed and felt bad at the same time.

well, i went to start getting everything together for the shower, took it over, decorated, and before i knew it- it was time to party. the party went great and it was super fun. but it was 10:30 and target was definitely closed. i was going to have to make up another lie and hold out til monday.

kelsey told me that she needed to chat with me in the back bedroom. she told me that she was praying for the past few weeks for something good to get me as a gift for throwing her shower. she said that earlier that morning she was still frustrated that she still didn't feel like the Lord had given her anything that would really bless me. and then that afternoon when i called, she knew exactly what to get.

she handed over that sweet new stewie. it warmed my heart and filled me with joy. the next morning my kids flipped. out. when he was laying underneath the christmas tree with a cast around his arm. it was the sweetest morning yet.

isn't it so sweet that Jesus sees our needs? regardless of how small or huge, He knows us. He knows the depths of our heart and meets us right where we are. He knew that what i really needed that night was a little elf doll. and that the little elf doll would not only bless me, but bring the little angels in my life joy and laughter- which was really what i wanted most. thanks, Lord. You see me, know me, and love me extravagantly and tenderly. even the details.

and thanks, kels.. for listening. :)