Kathy,

I'm certainly praying for you and Greg. I do understand your feelings, and
I'm praying for Chris, as well.

Love and Blessings,
Pat Ferguson



At 08:08 AM 3/5/05, you wrote:
>HI  Everybody,
>         Well, I haven't written on this subject for a while, so I thought
> that I'd
>give you guys an update.  Chris will be home in two weeks, like it or
>not.  Our phone therapy session yesterday went pretty well, at
>first.  Chris is discovering that he likes getting good grades.  He studies
>because he has to spend a lot of time in his room and there aren't the
>distractions there that there are here.  He was pretty pleasant.  The
>therapist wishes that they could have more time with him, but there is no
>money for that so, I guess, he will be coming home.
>         We had talked to the therapist ahead of time about how things
> would change
>once Chris came home and the session turned sour when the therapist urged
>us into discussing those conditions.  He didn't mind too much about not
>having a cell phone any more, but when he learned that his pay check would
>be direct deposit from now on and that, for now at least, his savings
>acount would be changed to a passbook savings account requiring both he and
>Greg's permission before money could be withdrawn, he lost it.  Now the
>therapist has two weeks to try to calm him down before he comes home.  He
>is supposed to come home on the 18th, but that is the Friday before Palm
>Sunday so we have asked if he could at least stay through Palm Sunday and
>we pick him up then.  Partly, the reason that I want him to stay those
>extra days is because, if he were to come home on that Friday, Greg would
>work at the post office the next day leaving me alone with Chris his first
>day home and I'm afraid of that.  The therapist has tried to reasure   me
>that he has changed, but the groove in the record is dug too deep for me to
>believe it without seeing it.
>         Greg and I continue to work on finishing his room downstairs
> before he
>gets home.  It's really going to llook nice.  Of course, I pray that he
>appreciates it, but there is always the fear that, if he flies off the
>handle, he'll trash it.  Can't you tell that I"m already getting stressed
>out about his home coming?  Sorry about that.
>         We've talked to another Christian school in the area run by Calvary
>Chapel.  Greg knows the pastor there.  We've given them the low down on
>Chris and they have agreed to interview him when he gets back to Bangor and
>decide whether or not they will take him for at least one marking period so
>that Chris can continue to comply with the requirements of his probation,
>one of which is to stay in school.  They're basically going to lay it on
>the line with him.  They see him at a crossroads right now.  If he wants to
>strive toward a godly life, they'd love to help him, but they aren't
>interested in dealing with rebellion.  If Chris went back to Bangor
>Christion, where our other two children are, I don't know what would
>happen.  He was expelled from there two years ago and he has failed so many
>classes in the past two years that he would have to be placed with the
>freshmen still and that probably wouldn't be pretty.  He is okay with the
>idea of not going back to his old highschool and he is saying, while he is
>at Cromwell at least, that his latest round of friends weren't good for
>him.  I just pray that he will keep that perspective once he gets home.
>         Greg and I had toyed with the idea of letting him know that his
> instant
>messaging would be monitered, but we decided that that, along with tapping
>his phone conversations, we would keep to ourselves still.  It's probably
>just as well considering how he handled the money issues.  Who knows, maybe
>he really has changed and is really glad for a new start.  Maybe I'm just
>running from a history that we all wish that we could forget.  If so, then
>I'm sorry for not sounding as though I have more hope.  I'm just trying to
>remain realistic and not be overly optimistic.
>         If we can make it through the next seven months, and help Chris
> to become
>an independent adult, it will be wonderful.  Even the therapist yesterday
>said that she thinks that Chris is going to be the next pastor in the
>family.  I can't believe how many people have said that to us.  I just pray
>that he will truly repent and fall so head over heels in love with Jesus
>that he'll have no desire to look back.
>God bless,
>Kathy
>Always for His glory