His Eye Is On the Sparrow

I know I've been delinquent and one day, I will catch you all up on the holiday events....and post pictures. But, for now, I am just going to tell you what has happened this week.

On Tuesday, Charlie took the wrong bus home from school. He got on a bus driven by his afternoon bus-driver last year. That bus does not go to Kindercare in the afternoon, so when Charlie realized that, he got off at a subdivision a little down the road and across the street from our subdivision. He then started walking. I didn't know about any of this until 4:17 pm when I got a phone call from a neighbor. She had been paging me (my pager didn't go off) and calling about every 3 to 5 minutes beginning at 3:56 pm. An off-duty school safety officer (police) saw Charlie walking in our subdivision. She said he looked tired and was dragging his coat and book bag. She knew that the elementary children should be home by that time, so she approached him and asked if he were lost. At first he said he was just walking home, then he admitted that he was lost and tired. She said he didn't cry, and after she showed him her police badge and her uniform with patch on it, he got into her car. She asked him where he lived and he directed her in this round-about way through our subdivision and then over to another busy street. He just didn't remember our street name, which he does know. She finally drove back into the subdivision and he showed her where to turn. They pulled up in our driveway and when she discovered I wasn't home, he told her that he could go to our neighbor's house. When they got to my neighbor's, the officer told her what happened and my neighbor called Kindercare. Turns out, the staff at the day care center thought Charlie had a doctor's appointment and I just didn't tell them.

It is all so frightening. I didn't sleep well on Tuesday and Wednesday nights because I just kept thinking about what might have been. Charlie had to cross a relatively busy 2 lane road in order to get to our subdivision. I drove the distance and found that he had walked 0.7 miles. That's a lot for him. He fell asleep on Tuesday evening while I was teaching dance and was soundly asleep when I tried to wake him up to go home. He kept saying he was so tired.

He was so brave. He didn't start crying until he heard my neighbor telling me what had happened. He knew she was upset that he had been dropped off without a parent present at the bus stop and that the daycare center hadn't verified that he was with me when he didn't arrive as planned. I've spoken with the day care teachers, the school principal and the county transportation department. The principal is going to ensure that Charlie is escorted to the correct bus everyday. I am so thankful that the police officer intercepted him and ensured that he was safe, and that this has a happy ending. I know that God was watching over him and kept him safe. It is quite humbling to realize that but for the grace of God, Charlie could have had a horrible experience, been hurt... or worse. Now, I just keep hugging my sweet little boy extra tight!