Kathy,

I'm certainly praying for you and for Chris. Please keep us posted.

Love,
Pat Ferguson


At 01:18 PM 5/17/05, you wrote:
>Hey Guys,
>         First  of all, on a brighter note, I thought that you guys could
>appreciate the fact that  we've become bird owners.  It was really a rescue
>mission of sorts.  This kid had to get rid of his parakeet and so, bravely,
>we took it in.  We have no clue whether it is male or female, or how old it
>is yet.  We know very little about birds so feel free to give advice.  It
>has a pretty little song and it really likes talking while we are
>talking.  It's name was Sky, so I think that we'll just keep it that
>way.  this all happened pretty fast.
>         As you might expect, Darius has lent his full approval to the new
>adition.  With me taking up knitting and now the bird, Darius's opinion of
>us has been elevated somewhat, I believe.  I'm quite sure that he thinks
>that we are doing this all for him!
>         In other news, We have been denied a court appointed
> lawyer.  However, we
>have consulted with one of the criminal lawyers recommended to us and he
>has advised us to still not hire a lawyer and to appeal to the judge in the
>case as to the unfairness of the plaintiffs having to pay for the
>defendant's lawyer.  So, Greg has written a letter of appeal.  I do hope
>that this matter gets settled quickly so that the trial can proceed next
>Tuesday, May 24.  Selfishly, I just want this over with so that we all have
>a better clue as to what our future looks like.  I'm not the adventurous
>sort who thrives on the unknown.
>         Along those lines, we will be having our team meeting tomorrow, I
> believe,
>to determine what should happen to Chris after next Tuesday.  I think that
>it is almost a given that he won't be coming home.  What we don't know is,
>if he will have to serve time and where he will go after that time is
>served.  This is when being a mother is so hard.
>         We are meeting with the chaplain this evening.  He wants to go in
> with us
>when we vitis Chris to see how we interact together.  I have no clue if
>Chris has read my letter.  I'll probably find out this evening.  There's
>never a dull moment in the Du Bois household, that's for sure!
>         Oh, one more thing, my son Matt is coming home this evening!  Well, I
>mean, he's supposed to get home this evening.  Greg was instant messaging
>with him at noon and he was still packing and didn't have a ride to the
>airport yet.  He only had two hours to get everything done.  He's such a
>rotten planner.  I wish that he had received some of my genes, at least, in
>that department.  Oh well, I'm pretty sure that he'll make it.  Please pray
>that somehow, in God's mercy, we can all be together as a family over these
>next two weeks while Matt is home.  Matt will be sleeping alone in Chris's
>room and, right now, the only people who can visit Chris are us, his legal
>guardians.  I guess that that is another reason that I would like the trial
>to move forward next Tuesday.  Once Chris's future is settled, he will be
>able to have more visitors.
>Kathy