A Day in the Life of a Social Worker

Wake up at 5:45, eat my massive bowl of cereal, and watch the weather report. Since I am in the office about 15% of the day and out in the "field" the other 85%, the weather plays a greater role in my life than I would like. 80% chance of rain....perfect.

6:50 Head out the door, mentally going over my appointments for the day.

7:15 arrive at work, gather my files for my visits - it usually ranges from 5-7 visits a day. Today I have 6, a pretty busy day. Collect the paperwork and resources I will need since this will probably be my only time in the office, and stuff all of these files/documents into my gigantic "walking office" as I like to call it. Better known as a big bag that is far too heavy for any normal human being to carry around all day, pulling their shoulder out of socket.

8:00 Head back out into rush hour traffic to my first visit, which happens to be one of my very favorite families. I do some physical therapy with the baby, and talk with mom about resources, providing her with some cheaper apartment options in her community since money has been tight.

8:45 Leave the visit, realizing it's now raining. Luckily, along with my bag full of toys (did I mention this is also a gigantic bag) and "walking office" I am toting an umbrella, hair catastrophe successfully avoided. However not so successfully avoided is the pile of dog poo I failed to notice...now smeared all over my car as I hurried to get in to save my mane. Goes to show you what vanity will do.

9:00-3:30 I continue with my visits in my poo smelling car, toting my bag of toys, "walking office", umbrella, and poop residue from home to home, gathering new smells along the way. I snag lunch in my car driving between visits, which is usually melted and gooey by the time I get to it. But all of it is worth it when I walk in and see the smiling face of the little toot I have come to see, always showering me with hugs, snot, sneezes, and love as I work to help improve their lives! I may come home in desperate need of a shower and a shoulder rub, but hearing a child finally say "more please" after months of speech therapy, seeing a child take their first steps after surgery, or helping a family put food on the table is more gratifying than I can say!

Happy Happenings!

So it's been a while since I posted on here...so here's whats been going on in the Barcroft household as of late......

My oldest sister (keep track of us people, there are four....can you name us all in birth order?) Cami is having a baby! Deven Lee Matthews is due February 21 and we are so excited to meet him! My parents, Meagan, Doug, James and I all drove down for his baby shower in January and he got so many precious gifts! I am sure they will be all the more cute with Deven in them!

James has started tutoring with a program called AVID and he LOVES it! He is still working on getting teaching certified so he can hopefully be Mr. Barcroft teaching extraordinaire in the fall. We are on the hunt for jackets with elbow patches, a swanky briefcase, and studious glasses so he can play the part properly.

At Christmas we toured California/Las Vegas/New Mexico/Arizona in a caravan fit for comedy, 2 cars and 9 people (one of whom was 7 months pregnant and another just recovering from knee replacement surgery, meaning she needed an entire seat to keep her knee stretched....or so she said, I'm not sure I was convinced). Just try to calculate all the bathroom and "stretch" stops, the number would shock you. We made many wonderful memories together!

And last, but possibly greatest of all, James and I got Netflix! I know we are rather pathetic and far behind with the times, but it uploads straight to his XBox 360 and we can watch anything we want! Needless to say we have imprisoned ourselves in our quaint apartment for hours on end taking advantage of our new free entertainment. So long redbox rental, we've moved up in the world.

Stay tuned, more adventures to come!