Kathy,

Glad it was an uneventful visit.  It must have felt strange in that room
with other people and all.  I've made visits to prisons, and it's no fun.
And those we visited weren't even flesh and blood.  Will be praying about
that letter and the two important dates.

Hugs,
Vicki

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathy Du Bois" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 7:17 PM
Subject: [ECHURCH-USA] Our visit with chris


> Hi guys,
>         Well, our visit with Chris was uneventful this afternoon.  His
> girlfriend's mother and grandmother did show up, but not the girl
> herself.  It was just strange.  You see, where we visit,, it is a room
with
> tables that can seat four people.  Right now, with Chris being only
> detained, he can only be visited by his legal guardians, which means
> us.  There isn't supposed to be any mingling among the tables, but Chris
> has already made it clear that if his girl shows up, he will find it hard
> to restrain himself.  It isn't worth it to point out that that is how he
> got in trouble in the first place.  Men and their raging hormones!!
Honestly!!
>         Anyway, I wrote, and sent a special letter to him today, that is
pretty
> hard hitting.  He will probably get it on Monday or Tuesday.  Would you
> please pray that he at least read it all the way through?  Don't worry,
> we've been writing to him almost every day, but this letter is different
> because it is pretty blunt about my feelings of parenting him over the
past
> four years.  It also, pretty much, closes the door to the possibility of
> his coming home unless we see some real change.  Please pray that he will
> read this letter all the way through.  Also, I have asked him to
> respond.  He claims that he has a lot of time on his hands so why not.
I'm
> hoping that we will finally get a lot of things on the table that need to
> be dealt with without the emotional baggage that so often happens when
> trying to have a conversation face to face.
>         Also, we have applied for a court appointed lawyer.  If we don't
get one,
> we will have to pay for the lawyer ourselves.  How's that for an ironic
> twist, the plaintiffs paying for the defendant's lawyer.  anyway, we have
> talked with a lawyer that we do know.  He used to be the principle at
> Bangor Christian when Chris attended there and he gave us a lot of good
> advice.  He said that if Chris pleads guilty that a court appointed lawyer
> will do fine, but if Chris wants to plead "not guilty," we will have to
> hire a lawyer  for  ourselves and for chris. Yes, that is two
> lawyers.   Also, the lawyer that we talked too said that with Greg being a
> pastor, the judge will pretty much already be prejudiced against Chris
> because we have nothing to gain personally if Chris is found guilty.  In
> fact, it may end up looking bad for us in the community.  I don't think so
> in our case.  Our church has been pretty supportive, but you never know
> what the fringe gossips will make of this.  It's such a juicy
> morssel!  Anyway, I am praying that we can convince Chris to simply plead
> guilty.  I think that it will go better for us all around if he does,
> including a lighter sentence for him.  You guys, a fiction writer couldn't
> have made life more strange for me right now.
>         Of course, our main prayer is that Chris will grow in Christ.  He
tells us
> that he has learned his lesson; that he never wants to be back in jail
> again, but his reasons for not repeating are more external at present,
they
> do not appear to come from a truly repentent heart.  Well, I keep
reminding
> myself that he is only 17.  Where there is breath there is hope.
> Happy pentecost Sunday everybody!  What a wonderful gift to celebrate!
> God bless,
> Kathy
>