That  is great to hear. Praying the maturing continues and relationships 
are restored. I'm still looking for the day when yawl are sitting around 
over a cup of coffee laughing about the days when Chris did this and did 
that. That day will come... I've seen it happen before.

Brad


on 12:25 PM 5/20/2006, Kathy Du Bois said:

Hi Guys,
	Well, It looks as though Eudora and Microsoft have declared a truce for 
the moment, allowing me to get a message to you from behind enemy lines 
concerning the state of affairs, better known as, life in Maine, at 
present.  All troops are present and accounted for and conditions appear 
favorable.
	We had all the kids home for Mother's day last Sunday.  Greg and I stayed 
at church for adult Sunday school, which happens after worship at our 
church, and Liz and Matt went to Bangor to pick Chris up and bring him 
home for the afternoon.  After dropping Chris and Liz off at home, Matt 
came back to church to pick Caleb, and us up and take us home as well.
	By the way, in case you're wondering, we are back down to one car because 
that little fender bender that Matt got in to at the beginning of the 
month resulted in having the car declared "totaled," by the insurance 
company.  Oh well, easy come, easy go.  Too bad too because we had just 
invested in a tune up and new tires.  Ouch!  I'm sure glad that our Lord 
owns the cattle on a thousand hills cause it looks like we may need to 
sell a few, but that's another story.  Back to family matters.
	When we arrived home, Chris had taken it upon himself to vacuum our 
living room and sweep our kitchen floor.  I had made a pot of chili for 
dinner, but I hadn't had a chance to clean up completely before church, so 
he had also cleaned the counter and stove tops.  It was really sweet.
	Chris has often complained, in the past about what a lousy driver Matt 
is, so Matt and I were both dreading what Chris would say when he learned 
about the car, but Chris didn't say anything nasty or critical at 
all.  That in itself was a relief.  In fact, the whole meal was pleasant 
and Chris is hoping that he can come out to be with us again some time 
during Memorial day weekend to have one more family gathering before Matt 
goes to Michigan for his summer job.
	Chris was open to talking about himself.  He shared with Greg and me, 
privately, about all his confusing feelings about his relationship with 
Nicki.  I asked him if he would be willing to read Doctor Laura's book, 
"The Ten Stupid Things Men Do To Mess Up their Lives."  He said that he 
would be willing. We purchased it for him on Wednesday and Greg dropped it 
off Thursday morning.  I talked to Chris for a bit Friday morning and he 
had already been reading it some and told me that he's seeing himself on 
the pages.
	He also asked Greg and I if we would be willing to help him study the 
bible.  He said that he knows that we know a lot and he wants to 
learn.  He also said that he would be willing to do whatever we asked, but 
we told him that he is an adult now and he needs to make his own 
decisions.  I think that he was hoping that we would order him to break up 
with Nicki, but we won't.  He needs to end the relationship because he 
knows it's the right thing to do, not because we want him too.  It's kind 
of like getting to the point where you need to believe in Jesus because 
it's right, not because your parents told you too.  We just keep 
respecting him as an adult and making him face the consequences of his 
decisions even though it is very hard to resist the impulse to reach in 
and rescue.
	He is being forced, by the life program that he is involved with, to go 
to the learning center at least twice a week to work toward his G., E.D. 
The program is  putting pressure on him to look for full time work as 
well.  He can get kicked out of this program if he doesn't cooperate.  He 
knows this because his roommate is getting kicked out this week for 
continuing to keep a girlfriend and baby in the apartment that the program 
is providing, so I think that Chris is deciding to take the threat 
seriously and begin to get his life in order.
	Chris is also still interested in the military so the program is also 
arranging for him to talk with a recruiter as soon as possible.  Now, for 
another interesting twist, Greg's youngest brother is already in the 
military and has been for 21 years.  David, Greg's brother, called me this 
past Monday and pretty much ordered me to tell Chris not to sign anything 
until Chris talks to him first.  David is stationed in Korea right now, 
but that doesn't matter because he uses phonage and is linked through his 
home phone in Missouri.  So, I gave David Chris's number and I gave Chris 
David's number and I think Chris knows that David means business.  We'll 
just have to see how this plays out.  Chris has told us that his main 
interest in the military is to gain self-discipline.  That is an 
interesting commentary on what he thinks of himself right there.
One other thing that surprised us last Sunday was Chris's reaction to the 
fact that we are sending Liz to Florida for a music camp at a Christian 
college there,  in July.  At first, he sounded incredulous, but when I 
said that Liz has shown real self discipline by sitting down at the piano 
for the past nine years and practicing on an almost daily basis and 
how  we had spent a lot of money on Him during his teen years, he backed 
down right away and agreed that Liz deserved this reward.  I think that he 
knew that I was referring to all the time and money that we had spent on 
counseling for him and trying to help him chase his dreams when he was in 
high-school.  This time though, instead of complaining that we had been 
stupid to spend the money, especially on counseling, which he had declared 
at the time that he didn't need, he just backed down and agreed with me 
and dropped the matter altogether.
	Wow!  This has really gotten long.  Sorry about that.  I am just so 
grateful to the Lord that our relationship is beginning to be restored.  I 
had to share it all with you guys because you have so faithfully prayed 
for my family.  I appreciate that so much.  I don't for a moment think 
that we are out of the woods completely.  There is still the matter of 
Nicki and Chris is still hanging around questionable people, but I think 
that he is glad that things are better between us as well.  He's always 
glad to hear from me when I call and that, at least, is a start.
Kathy