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