Well Brad,
You have to admit, the Packer situation isn't helping much
either!  GRIN!  That could get me depressed all by itself!

Matt would love to be back at college, but he is in debt pretty deep
and is taking this year off to, hopefully, get caught up a
bit.  Plus, He may have been a bit immature to live on his own out
there.  He wasted a lot of time and didn't hit the books as he should
have.  Mom and Dad kept prodding and advising, but he thought that he
knew better.  Now he is home.  Chris loves rubbing it in that his
older brother is a failure.  That doesn't help the family dynamics
any.  Matthew basicly, didn't get any credit for last year, his
grades were so bad.  That puts him $15,000 in the hole with nothing
to show for it.  Hopefully, he is listening and growing up a bit this
year.  Our denomination's annual meeting is in Grand Rapids next
summer.  We plan on attending and Matt has set a goal for himself to
go back with us and stay out there, but he will have to take self
discipline seriously if he does.  We are charging him rent.  We
figure that that is just being practical since he wouldn't be allowed
to bumb anywhere else, we shouldn't let him get out of the
respponsibility here either.  At least Mat is pleasant and easy to
get along with and willing to help out around the house.

As far as changing things around here for Chris, he does most of his
snooping while we are at church.  I don't know how to get around that
one.  Too bad we don't have a house church like Phil's.  I could go
for that, actually, but Mainers don't change easily.
Kathy

At 04:53 PM 10/5/2005, you wrote:
>Kathy,
>
>I was just going to ask about you not having heard much from you over there
>in the corner of the US of A. I thought Matt was in Grand Rapids?? He not
>return to college this year? I pray your drama work is rewarded. Don't be
>discouraged if you do get a rejection letter, that neither means it is
>unworthy, nor that it will ever be used or published. I'm not necessarily a
>fan of his, but Garth Brooks was told to go back to Oklahoma, he'd never
>make it in the music industry... bet that agent kicked himself a few
>thousand times. Hopefully you've copyrighted your work, and you can always
>send it out to other venues, and of course perhaps there'll be no need.
>Yikes, sounds like Chris is really building up his "get out of the house"
>party with his antics. A broken and contrite heart David said is who comes
>to the Lord, some folks are thicker hearted than others. Unfortunately
>his  heart is as thick as his skull at present. Without sounding paranoid,
>when the day comes Chris does check out of the Du Bois Hotel there, you
>might consider breaking up your normal routines, as well change the place
>of your valuables. If he is stealing now having had a place to sleep, eat
>and etc. he will become more desperate when he is challenged in those areas
>based on his own initiative to overcome life's responsibilities. Glad to
>have heard from you. Praying.
>
>Brad
>
>
>
>
>At 04:23 PM 10/5/2005 -0400, you wrote:
> >Hi guys,
> >         Well, I've been quiet lately, haven't I?  Pretty good for
> >me!!  "NOT!"  Actually, Ive been keeping up with the reading pretty
> >well, so I know pretty much what is going on, but I either lack the
> >energy, or the words to describe my life lately, so I just read about
> >yours.  I guess I've just found it easier to remain a passive lurker
> >lately.    If nothing else, this does show that I can be still for a
> >season at least!  GRIN!
> >         Ned and Vinny, you will be happy to know that I finally got my
> >piano tuned yesterday.  Yea!   The humidity had done a number on it,
> >but Greg also hadn't put it together correctly when he decided to try
> >to check things out for himself lat summer when I began asking you
> >guys questions about it.  Liz and I have been rassing him a bit about
> >it, now that we know.
> >         Two weekends ago, I was at a women's retreat in New hampshire where
> >I was one of the music leaders.  At first, it appeared that I would
> >be the only musician, but God does answer prayer and we did manage to
> >get a worship team together before all was said and done.  It went
> >much better that way.  Yea!
> >         I finally heard back from the drama company about my skit on the
> >parable of the four soils and they want to see it so I'm busy
> >tweeking and polishing it and hope to get it in the mail by the
> >weekend.  Of course, I'm still dreading the rejection letter as a
> >result, but I'll never know if I don't try.  I'd really appreciate
> >your prayer over this venture for me.  I feel as though I"m really
> >stepping out in faith.
> >         I'm also busy with my knitting.  I need it for peace of mind with
> >everything that is happening around me.  I made a prayer shawl for my
> >sister and am now learning a really complicated pattern for an
> >afghan.  Well, It may not be complicated for people to whom knitting
> >is old hat, but for me, I'm pretty amazed!
> >         I wish that parenthood were going as well.  Our oldest,
> Matt, is now
> >employed at Holiday Inn on the housekeeping staff.  He likes it, but
> >Matt likes everything.  What he struggles with is being self aware
> >enough to know whether or not he is doing well.  He works second
> >shift and he still doesn't have his driver's license, even after
> >taking the test twice, so Greg still has to run in and pick him up
> >and then, of course, pick up chris from Nicki's house along the way.
> >         Chris has 27 days more to live with us and then, he is
> out!!  We had
> >a meeting with a social worker today and two people from the
> >department of corrections to try to figure out where Chris will live
> >next.  Of course, it would be easiest if he stayed here, for them,
> >but even then, if he moved out, they aren't interested in helping him
> >too much, especially with any funding.  The problem is that he will
> >still be on juvinile probation for three months after he turns 18 so
> >he will be ending up in some sort of a no mans land.
> >         While Chris's outward violence against us has stopped, "he says he
> >doesn't want to go back to jail), the passive aggressive stuff has
> >increased.  Unfortunately, most passive aggressive behaviors don't
> >break the law, just frustrate everyone else in the house hold.  He
> >has urinated in a potted plant, stolen his brother's i.d. to try to
> >buy cigarettes, stolen things out of our room, not to mention
> >retreaved things that we had taken from him that he shouldn't have
> >had in the first place.  He spends a lot of his time at Nicki's, but
> >he has lied about us so much and undermined our character so much to
> >them, that they think that we are real jerks to even want to get rid
> >of him.  He is such an excellent liar and con, I almost feel like I'm
> >living with the guy from the movie, "Catch Me If You Can."  The
> >stories get so convoluted that we can't even tell what is up and down
> >sometimes.  Other people, however, who don't know him well, like the
> >people that we met with today, don't know that, or in truth, care to
> >know that.  If they did take the time to know, they might actually
> >have to act and as long as we are around, they have more pressing
> >matters to deal with.
> >         This family counselor that the courts hired to work with us wrote
> >this really glowing report about how our family had improved
> >dramaticly with his help; no doubt insuring job security for him and
> >the agency that he works for.
> >         You know, what is so hard is that this is all just so
> >wrong!!  Nicki's parents have said that, if worse comes to worse,
> >Chris can move in with them.  Her father claims that he can get Chris
> >a job at the Home Depot, where he works, but this guy is a drunk and
> >a liar himself.  Nevertheless, Chris is clinging to the offer, if
> >nothing else works out.  The probation officer also recommended that
> >we give Chris the bike of ours,  that he has been using since he
> >doesn't have anything else for transportation.
> >         I know that I don't know the end of the story yet.  I know that
> >anything could change at any time, but this is a pretty low point in
> >the story right now.
> >         God bless everybody.  Hopefully, my life will settle down
> again soon
> >and I can be a more frequent contributor again.
> >I love you guys and I appreciate your being there, always!
> >Kathy
>
>Brad
>
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