Kathy,

Thanks for the update.  Glad you had a good retreat as well as a wonderful
celebration with your parents.  My parents' 60th is next year.  Glad you
didn't miss it, in spite of what was going on at home.  Will continue to
pray for you.

Hugs,
Vicki

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathy Du Bois" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 11:23 AM
Subject: [ECHURCH-USA] Back to stay!


> Hi Guys,
>         Well, I"m back to stay now.  My weekend was a really good one, a
> gift from God.  I was able to leave everything behind and just enjoy
> my music and fellowship with other Christian women.  No calling at
> midnight to make sure that Chris is home or anything.  It was truly
wonderful.
>         In 69 days, chris turns 18, but we have no idea what that means.
He
> has been violating the conditions of his probation, especially
> playing fast and loose with curfew.  He has missed a few counselling
> appointments and his girl friend supplies him with cigarettes.  He
> was smoking them in his room, but I think that we have made that
> uncomfortable enough for him so that he either goes in the back yard
> or does it at her house.  By the way, her parents buy the cigarettes
> for her so we can't expect any help from that direction.
>         A few times now, Chris has picked up rides from strangers.  When
he
> gets in the car he learns that these men are gay.  They have all
> propositioned him.  I guess that the bike rout that he chooses to
> take home is dubbed, "pickle alley."  Chris always stops by the
> bridge there to relieve himself and that's how he is spotted.  Of
> course, they bring him home which means that people are learning
> where we live.  I fear mostly for Caleb, in case any of these guys
> are of the NAMBLA crowd which makes me very uncomfortable letting him
> play in our front yard.  The probation officer went on vacation,
> without telling us, and won't be back until next week so we just have
> to wait and pray until we can report this stuff.  Chris thinks that
> he is invinsible, so, of course, any talk of the danger that he is in
> is ignored.
>         He has a job now, working at the same pizza-ria that his girl
friend
> works at, just to keep life interesting.  He thinks that he will save
> up to move out on his own, which would be fine with us, but we don't
> know what the probation officer will say.  We have to wait on that
> one too.  However, so far, Chris has managed to save nothing and he
> still owes us money.  I smell more turbulance brewing somewhere in
> the distance.  A lot of his money has been going for cab fair.  He
> calls a cab, puts the bike in the trunk and goes to town.  Then, we
> aren't sure how often, but he takes a cab   to somewhere near our
> house and then takes the bike out and rides the rest of the way
> home.  He tried telling us that he was tired and that that is why he
> is late, but the truth is that, if he takes the cab, he can stay with
> Nicki longer.  A ride, one way, from Glenburn to Bangor is
> $15.  Brother.  Nicki has demonstrated to us that she is willing to
> lie and cover for him.  This past Sunday, he was more than a half
> hour late.  We called her house and she told us that he had left
> about a half hour earlier and that he thought that his curfew had
> been changed to 1:00 am.  In truth, Chris was still at her house,
> while we were talking on the phone.  Greg went out to look for him,
> thinking that something was wrong, but when he saw a cab go by, Greg
> figured out the truth, but Chris won't admit to it.
>         The vacation out to Michigan was a really nice break for the four
of
> us.  We took the kids to the beach on Lake Michigan.  There is
> nothing quite like the feel of Lake Michigan sand.  It's almost like
> powdered sugar and it is very deep.  We took Caleb to his first trip
> to the zoo.  We toured a Children's muzeum and spent a day at Fort
> Michila Macinac.
>         My parents 60th anniversary celebration was so great.  It was so
> cool to hear all my siblings talk about how great my parents
> are.  Even my big brothers couldn't keep from breaking down and
> crying when they talked about life in our house growing up.  Uh, I
> mean that in a positive way.  GRIN!   Every single one of us stood up
> and gave thanks that we had been raised in a Christian
> household.  Some of the grand children testified to how my dad
> stepped in as the father figure when my sisters' marriages
> failed.  Afterwords I just kept thinking about how close I came to
> missing everything because I almost chose to stay back in Maine
> because of Chris.  The night before the celebration, Chris had been
> out until 2:00 am and we eventually had to contact Nicki's mother at
> work to go out and look for him.  Nevertheless, I am so thankful to
> the Lord that I was there.  It was truly wonderful!
>         Now, it is back to the grind stone of life as I know it in
> Maine.  Thanks for your prayers and your care.
> God bless,
> Kathy
>
>